In Me I Trust

When you travel every week you develop certain random skills. You learn how to pack with extreme efficiency and where to park so as to hit the shuttle schedule just right. And you learn just how close you can cut it, so as to spend as little time as possible sitting idly at a gate waiting for your plane. Of course when your last meeting goes long, there’s an accident on the 405, and LAX is under construction, skill only gets you so far. As the rental car shuttle inched along in bumper to bumper traffic, I began to anxiously watch the clock tick closer and closer to boarding time. I decided to move from the back of the shuttle to the front, initially asking the driver “is this type of traffic normal?” Quickly my questions escalated to “can you tell me exactly how long until terminal 5?” Finally, with my bags in hand and now standing over the shoulder of the driver, I asked “Do you think I’d be better off just making a break for it?” The driver, half annoyed and half sympathetic, just looked at me and replied, “Who do you trust more to get you there – you or me?” Without even waiting for my response, she opened the door and off I was to the races.

After taking out several tourists and children in my path, I noticed the shuttle passing me somewhere between Terminals 3 and 4. My driver friend saluted me as I tripped up the escalator. Waiting at the gate for my now delayed flight in a puddle of sweat, I had plenty of time to reflect on the question I had been asked earlier and my desperate desire to be completely self-sufficient. In my travels of faith and leadership, how willing am I to trust in others to get me to the destinations that really matter? When push comes to shove, and the stakes are high, how quickly do I abandon the bus for the certainty of my own two feet? Does my reliance on the Lord only go as far as I can run, or do I really believe He will deliver me? My shin splints gave me one indication. Here’s to trusting in Him this week and beyond.