Flight of the Aggravated

Do you ever get angry? I do. One of my greatest struggles in life has been learning to control my temper. It is only by the grace of God that I have control over it now. But every now and then I have one of those days. You know what I’m talking about when I say “those days”, one where nothing seems to go right and everyone is against you. I had one of those days, the final day of my vacation. My vacation was coming to a close and it was absolutely perfect. Not a single thing went wrong the entire trip until the last day. I love to travel. There is only one problem with that, I hate airports.



The lines, the crowds, and the waiting all add to the anxiety of surviving an airport. Airport security always seems to make me a little nervous, even though I know I am of no threat to national security, I still get uneasy standing in that line. It’s my turn, I have emptied my pockets, removed my laptop from its case, and now it is time to pass through the metal detector. Since neither the TSA guy or myself could find the source of alarm, I was taken to an isolated area to receive a quite aggressive pat down, in my underwear I might add. I was clean, go figure? The TSA agent was so rude and I could feel myself getting ready to fire of a sarcastic comment. Instead I snatched up my things and stormed off toward my gate. I arrive just in time to hear the announcement that my flight was canceled. Then I heard an announcement over the P.A. " Passenger Matthew Walker please come to the service desk." The anger is growing. The airline employee begins her long and insincere apology for my inconvenience. She went on to tell me that she would put me on standby for the last flight to Dallas so that I could catch the last flight to Birmingham or I would be stuck over night in Houston. "The flight to Dallas is full but maybe we can get you on.", she said in a cute little voice as if she were talking to a small child. I was not happy. An hour later I boarded the plane. I arrived in Dallas with about 15 minutes to reach my gate for the connecting flight, so needless to say I was in a hurry. I was on my feet as soon as the seat belt sign was turned off and within seconds all of belongings were collected and I was ready to exit. Yeah right! I had never seen so many old ladies in such a small place. About 10 minutes later I was finally out of the jet way rushing to the screens to check my flight info. "DELAYED" in flashing red letters was what I was greeted with as I found my gate number.



My excitement faded. After 5 gate changes,3 hours worth of delays, and a greasy airport Chinese Food dinner, I finally left Dallas. It was 10:00 P.M. when I boarded the plane. As the attendant took my ticket she said "Have a nice flight sir." to which I replied "Yeah right.", this was not going to be a "nice flight". I usually try to get an isle seat so I can stretch out my legs. Usually the attendants say excuse me when they are coming through with the drink cart, but not on this flight. I was half asleep when my knee was rammed with the cart. I almost lost it. The flight attendant didn't say a word, no apology, nothing.



The flight was almost over and I couldn’t get back to sleep so I reached into my backpack to find my book. I pulled it out to find that it was covered in shampoo. "How could this get any worse?", is what I was thinking when I pulled out my laptop. It was covered in shampoo. There were no words to explain how angry I was. I didn’t say another word to any one, claimed my luggage and went storming into the parking deck. My friend dropped off my car and gave me directions on where to find it. He told me the wrong floor so I walked all over looking for it when it was right above me. I was furious. I got into my car, slammed the door and then looked at the clock. It was 12:30 and I still had an hour drive. The next events of my night involved screaming obscenities at the top of my lungs and beating the steering wheel. After it was all over I took a deep breath, put the car in drive, and started the drive home. Anger is something we all experience. Sometimes we are angry and we don’t even know why. In the book of James chapter 1:20 it says “a man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.” We waste a lot of time angry about things that don’t even matter. My anger did not change my circumstances, if anything it made it worse. Life is too short to be angry all the time.

In Christ

Matt Walker

Anyone who starts their newsletter article with "I enjoy eating-- too much" is probably a fatty... haha

I enjoy eating -- too much, I guess.

I really enjoy shopping at Sam's Club especially on the weekends, the free sample days! As you come around the corner there they are in the little Dixie cups or on a tray with colored toothpicks, displayed in all their glory by a hostess at the end of an aisle.

"Buy one get one free today. Wouldn't they be great for dinner?" she suggests, hoping I'll put some in my cart. I don't know why though, it's not like she gets commission for selling frozen fajitas. But I must confess that little sample does make me think they would be great for dinner.

Last Sunday morning when we took communion, I thought about it as a small portion from a different kind of Feast. I thought about the taste of the bread on my tongue and the sweetness of the juice, and I began to imagine.

I think about what it would have been like to sit there with the disciples at the Last Supper. I can imagine listening to their conversations, laughing, and just enjoying fellowship. While I wasn't there to be served personally, I feel like they saved some for me so I could have a taste and feel a part of the great fellowship of Jesus' Table that now circles the world.



Or is the bread and cup just a little taste of a feast to come, the fellowship at Christ's Table in heaven? The Bible speaks of drinking from the cup with Jesus in the Kingdom of God; of sitting down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; of participating in the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. The tiny portion I taste on Sunday morning whets my appetite and reminds me of my personal invitation to this Feast.

It's not much to eat, I suppose -- a fragment of bread and a sip, just a sip of juice. But it's enough to recall who I am. To realize how privileged I am to be able to call myself a follower of Christ. How awesome is it to know that my name appears on the guest list for the Great Feast to come?

"As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup," Paul tells us, "you proclaim the death of Jesus until he comes." Yep, it's a pretty tiny portion of the Feast, but it's enough for now. More than enough.



In Christ
Matt

A years worth of Church Newsletter Articles

Picture this--

It's Tuesday morning, the only morning during the week that I get to sleep in and I am doing exactly that. Then suddenly I hear my iPhone ring! CPC is on the caller ID (that's the church I work for). Then I realize that I have once again forgotten that it was my week to write the cover article for the church newsletter. So half asleep I answer the phone and make some excuse and promise that I will have it as soon as possible. Then starts the long and sometimes stressful process of coming up with 350 words to put on the cover of The Covenant Window (newsletter title). I'm sure you are saying "350 Words? That's it? Piece of cake!", well it's not. You have to remember my readers are mostly retirees and a great number of them are former educators. Our congregation is chock-full of former professors and educational administrators, not to mention the rest of the bunch who are also well educated. Ross is a retired English professor from the University of Alabama and he loves to comment on my writing. But with an audience like this one feels a little pressure to "WRITE GOOD." I personally think that most of my articles are cheesy and sometimes lame but aside from the occasional punctuation error or my refusal to proof read, I get pretty positive feedback. I must confess that I do on occasion read others writing for inspiration on the Tuesdays that I feel unoriginal but for the most part it is all inspired from daily events in my life. I decided to share them with you so over the next few days I'm going to post my articles. I hope you enjoy... or not whatever... haha

Parenting Teens: My experience

For the last week I have been staying with 2 teenagers filling in for a stay-at-home mom who is "out of town". The father of the boys works in TV and is currently on location filming the final season of some TV show about an ugly girl for one of those 3 letter networks... or something like that. Anyway, I have spent the last week cooking meals, washing dishes, waking kids up for school,handing out lunch money, and many other tasks that a parent of teenagers does.

I am not ready to be a parent... at all. One of the kids I am staying with has A.S.D. (Autism Spectrum Disorder) and can be a hand full if he starts having a melt down. The other is a challenge as well, but in a different way. Both of these kids are going through a lot right now but this one really grasps the reality of this situation. He sees his family struggling and cant do anything about it. I can hear the frustration in his voice when family members and friends of the family call to check on him. He told me yesterday he wishes people would stop calling. "We are fine!, and we can handle this! Why cant they understand?", he said to me last night. I struggle with finding the words to say and struggle even more to try and understand what he is going through. I try to get him to talk to me about things but when he does all I can do is listen because I dont know what to say. I pray for him daily, but I wish I had words to say that would help.
I'm really fortunate to have the family I have. I grew up with both parents around all the time, who love each other very much. We went through very few hardships (at least very few that they let us see) and had very few conflicts. For all of that I feel truly blessed. I can not relate with the problems that this family currently is facing but my heart breaks every time I think about them.
Life is hard... Parenting is hard... it seems like everything is hard. Things get complicated and sometimes we turn to the wrong places for release. We are fragile beings not just physically but also emotionally and spiritually and sometimes life can get the best of our emotional-selves. Parents, you have a new found respect from me and what I am doing this week is only scratching the surface. I hope and pray that when life gets the best of us and we feel like we have nowhere to turn, that we turn to the guy with the answers.

"Then Jesus said, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest."