Only a Blip on a Radar Screen?

radar screenI have a friend who describes the activities of her life as blips on a radar screen. We share about our efforts to keep only those things God has for us flashing across the array.

A travel delay transformed that image into a divine message.

I got off the plane two hours late. It wasn’t a surprise I’d missed my onward flight. Scurrying to the desk, I got the ground crew to book a seat for me on the 4pm trip. The encouragement to appear as a standby for the two intermediate flights produced a morsel of hope in the face of a six-hour layover.

I pulled out my phone to let the person coming to pick me up know what was happening. The blank screen didn’t worry me. After all, I’d turned it off on the plane.

Blank PhoneNo. Wait. I only put it on airplane mode.
Well, maybe the power off button got pushed. I’ll just turn it back on.

Push. Hold. Wait. Nothing.
Push again. Hold again. Wait again. Still nothing.

How could the battery be dead? It was full when I headed out this morning.
Okay, find a seat with a plug nearby and charge the thing.   Sigh

I did my best to keep my exterior calm, but my stomach was rolling with anxiety.
Poor Allison might be headed to the airport to get me. And what’s up with this phone?
I don’t need this kind of trouble on my way to a speaking gig.

I found a charging center. Plugged in my phone, thankful I’d kept the charger in my carry-on bag, and rested my jangled body in the empty stool.

Okay, let’s turn this baby on and see how low the battery got for it to stop responding.

Phone PlugBlank screen.
Be patient, Sandra. Settle your bags. Make sure your boarding pass is handy. Set your purse close by. Look around. Surely that’s enough time. Press the On button again.

BLANK SCREEN.

This can’t be happening. I need to text Allison. A dead phone? LORD . . . help.

The linebacker guy sitting next to me was using a MacBook Pro and had an iPhone sitting on a charger. I asked for help. He was gracious, but said he couldn’t fix cell phones. I went ahead and described my problem anyway. Surely he knows more than I do.

“Oh. Actually, that happened to me recently. Try pushing the Home and On buttons at the same time and hold them for a few seconds.”

iPhoneOkay. Well, at least that’s something to try. 1, 2, 3, 4,—

Bingo! That dead phone came back to life. Hallelujah.

Gratitude poured out to my humble rescuer as I quickly texted Allison. Then the questions started to come.

In the entire airport, the whole world, how did I end up next to a person who knew the one obscure fix for my phone? A person kind enough to share that information with me?

There are no coincidences. And I'm more than a blip on a radar screen. Click To Tweet
Radar Screen 1
Sandra Allen Lovelace Radar Screen

I’m convinced my Abba Father has a dedicated radar screen with my name on it. Yup, a Sandra Allen Lovelace Radar Screen. And it’s filled with large and small blips that He tends with as much attention to detail as taking a gracious mountain of a man through a specific experience in order to sit him on an airport stool where he could share what he’d learned with me as soon as I asked him.

And He expressed the same level of infinite love to the world through His plan of salvation. He arranged for His Beloved Son to experience life in this fallen world in order to take Him to the cross where He could offer His sin-free lifeblood to rescue mankind as soon as we ask Him.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16,17*

Have you reached out for rescue?

May your Hosanna Week be rich in The Savior’s care.
Delighting in peace under His hands,
Sandra

*NIV1984