Article by: Catherine Harrison

The air traveler has to get up early, get dressed and arrive at the airport two hours before her flight only then to remove most of her clothing in order to go through metal detectors.  She will fly the friendly skies with 150 other weary souls on an oversold 727 and for the next three hours breathe recycled air during flu season.  The cattle call to board comes over the garbled loudspeaker and the long line forms to show an ID and ticket for the third time.  Once on the plane the traveler’s ticket leads her down the narrow aisle to a vacant seat with almost no leg room.  Wedged into the small seat with her seatbelt securely fastened, the traveler feels an annoying, thumping sensation in the small of her back. An already restless child kicks the back of her seat until take off at which time the baby, seated beside her, begins to cry.  With her tray table down, the traveler awaits her meager ration of peanuts and Coke that will serve as both breakfast and lunch. 

The landing of the plane signals the arrival at the last travel hurdle, the “promised luggage land.”  The end of her journey is in sight as the overhead sign flashes “baggage claim.”  As fate would have it, she finds herself standing alone and angry watching an empty baggage carousel go around and around as she discovers her luggage was lost somewhere between DFW and Atlanta.  This is not a good moment for anyone.  This is Airport Hell.
For more than 25 years, I have traveled by airplane within the U.S. and internationally.  During these years, I have noticed a strange syndrome that occurs when it comes to luggage.  It can happen to anyone regardless of the culture, destination, or airline carrier.  You know what I am talking about, the anxiety over ... the baggage — bags of all shapes and sizes filled with dirty clothes, souvenirs and hotel shampoo bottles.  I have seen luggage come out of the shoot held together with only duct tape and Louis Vuitton bags that cost more than the combined value of their contents. Baggage Claim Syndrome – BCS.  This can attack everyone, Christians are no exception, without warning and it causes us to lose focus.

Battling Baggage Claim Syndrome
Many a traveler is so anxious about the luggage that she will carry it ALL on the plane with her.  She will cram the small overhead bins with bulging suitcases that should have been checked.  As soon as the plane arrives at the gate and the fasten seat belt sign has been turned off, she springs from her seat like a jack in the box, flips open the overhead bin and sighs with relief at the sight of the luggage from which she has been separated.  Other travelers get so anxious about claiming their luggage that they throw all manners and logic out the small airplane window and go into “survival of the fittest” mode.

On a recent flight, a woman with the worst case of BCS I have ever witnessed gave survival of the fittest mode a new meaning.  “Betty” was about to have the day all travelers dread.  She was dressed in an appliquéd sweatshirt with matching elastic waist pants, comfortable Reebok tennis shoes and a fanny pack, bulging with personal items, rested just above her thick waistline.  Her slightly graying hair was matted from the futile effort to sleep on the long flight and the anxious look in her eyes suggested that her pulse was already racing.  Her self-absorbed state made her oblivious to anything or anyone around here.  BCS overtook Betty’s soul as soon as the wheels of the plane screeched on the ground.

On the edge of her seat with one hand on the seat belt buckle, Betty waited for her cue.  “Ding” we all heard as the fasted seat belt sign went off.  Up she sprang from her seat and down the aisle, she sprinted to be the first one off the plane.  With her carry on bag under one arm, she used the other arm like a pro football linebacker to knock those of us trying to stand back into our seats.  Like dominos, we fell into the person standing next to us.  Betty never looked back as she left the plane.  In her wake, the passenger and crew were still reeling from her offensive and unnecessary exit.

She made no apology as she stomped her way up the gangplank and out into the wide airport corridor. She went to all this trouble and anxiety to arrive at baggage claim carousel #3 about one minute ahead of the rest of us.  Betty stood at the mouth of the baggage carousel so she would be the first to catch a glimpse of each piece of luggage as it came up the shoot.  She inspected each bag closely as it slid down the ramp and began its ride around the carousel.  Betty’s furrowed brow and tightly pursed lips revealed her annoyance that her bag had yet to appear.
Our bags came around, my husband picked them up, and we began walking off when we heard a loud snap.  The conveyer belt broke and no more luggage was coming out onto the carousel.  An announcement came over the loudspeaker explaining what had happened and informing travelers it would be another 30 minutes before they could get their bags.  Betty and many others stood empty handed, frustrated and now angry.  She had offended others, worked herself up into a frenzy and allowed BCS to change her Christian demeanor and got nothing for it except the ire of the other travelers.  Not only did she miss an opportunity to witness, she was a bad witness.

Lost Opportunities
Too bad that we often get more anxious over a bag filled with dirty clothes than we do over our personal witness or the lost soul of the person we were just sitting next to for three hours on the plane.  Perhaps the focus of our travel is misdirected and we are missing opportunities.  We don’t have to travel to foreign lands on a mission trip to be an ambassador for Christ or to share the Gospel.  I challenge you on your daily travels to refocus your sights to what is really important, an eternal perspective.

Luke 10: 27: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength and with all your mind; and love your neighbor as yourself. (NIV)
God desires that you put as much time and energy into demonstrating love and reclaiming the world for Christ as you do getting to the baggage claim. Our relationship and love of Christ transforms Baggage Claim Syndrome into Being Christ’s Servant.  Only then will you get anxious over your witness and the eternity of the soul seated next to you.  You may be the only one on earth who does.
My husband has always viewed the opportunity of sitting next to a total stranger on an airplane as a divine appointment.  Since we travel often, we made it a goal as a family to be on the lookout for opportunities that sit down next to us.  What do we have to lose?  It’s not like they can get up and leave the airplane.  We don’t know the person and chances are good we will never see them again.  We have made some interesting friends and shared our testimony with many a captive audience.  The joy experienced when serving fellow travelers in life by sharing God’s love, gospel and grace is too good to miss.
Remember to take your Christian carry-on bag with the following two necessities in it.

BCS: Being Christ’s Servant
Demonstrate a life that does not focus on the “baggage” but rather on relationships.  A sincere love for God and an eternal perspective can change our motivation, outlook on “stuff” and behavior in a lost world.  God wants us to check our baggage in with Him and leave it on the carousel. Christ has claimed it for us.

Divine Opportunities
Be on the lookout for divine appointments.  Betty is not just on the airplane, she is in your everyday life.  She is standing next to you in the grocery store line or taking your order at a restaurant.  Make the most of the encounters with people God puts on your flight.