Are You Watching for Jesus? - An Airport Lesson

This post is something I wrote 6 years ago when my granddaughter was 5 years old.

Matthew 24:42 "Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.".

1 Thessalonians 4:17-18 "Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.  Wherefore comfort one another with these words."

Recently my daughter-in-law went to Japan for a week. For the last three days she was away, I went to their house very early in the morning to babysit my 5 year old granddaughter.  It had been arranged in advance that my son would be home to look after her for the first four days, followed by myself.  I told my granddaughter that on the day that I came, it would be a very short time before her mother came home.   "two more sleeps, and mama will be home."

Needless to say, on the day before, my granddaughter got up pretty early and asked if mama would be home, so I told her one more sleep.  The next morning she was up at 6:30 am asking if it was time to go to the airport.  She was so excited,  she had a bath, washed her hair, brushed her teeth, picked out a pretty dress, and soon it was time to head for the airport.  On the way she saw a plane in the sky and remarked that we must be getting close to the airport.

As we entered the international arrival section, there was a large crowd of people gathered to meet loved ones.  Everyone arriving had to come through customs, which took at least a 1/2 hour after the plane touched down.  They had to pick up their baggage, and then they came through doors and down a narrow, enclosed passageway to the opening where finally, there were greetings with embraces, flowers, what have you.  A lot of people were looking at the monitors that had been set up so they could see their loved one entering through the doors that were quite a distance away.. 

We had arrived at the time the plane touched down, and we were first sitting in chairs, and then standing at the railing separating us from the passageway.  It seemed a very long time that we stood there, and my granddaughter was getting discouraged, asking "where is mama?" and I kept telling her that soon her mama would be there.  At first I was aware of all the people waiting, but as time passed, it was like they disappeared, and my granddaughter and I were the only ones there, so focused were we waiting for her mother.