Status Lost

“Sir, let me escort you to the express security lane so you and your wife do not have to wait in line.”  Jennifer looked at me as if to say, “This is how you travel?”  Well, yes it is my dear. 

We were in London’s Heathrow International Airport on our way home via direct flight to Denver and Jennifer was about to experience the perks of frequent flying.  After being whisked through security and finding out our flight was slightly delayed, she started to sulk.  After all, she was 8 months pregnant and we had spent the better part of a week walking around the sights of greater London.

“Come with me”, I said as we entered the private Red Carpet Club.  Here, away from the crowds was an oasis of comfort and class.  Free drinks, complimentary food and personalized travel service all safely tucked away from the huddled masses.  Fine wine, hors d'oeuvres, flat screen TV’s and soothing music filled our waiting minutes. This is how I rolled.  I was special, I was significant.

 Flying 85,000 miles a year has its privileges.  Premiere check-in areas, special security lines and first class upgrades all fed my needy ego.  The best part may have been the early boarding process.  I would board the plane early, get comfortable, order a gin and tonic and await the riff-raff to pass back to the cattle cabin. 

I loved their looks of envy as they walked to the back of the plane wondering why they were not so privileged as to sit in such luxury.  I was a part of the “haves” and they were not.  Suckers. My arrogance knew no bounds.  The final coupe de grace came from the stewardess, who seemed to take great pride in slamming the curtain shut separating the two cabins, as if she were telling the losers in coach to ‘stay out’!  It was the life, at least for 2 hours or so each week.

The façade came tumbling down yesterday.  I received an email from United Airlines telling me that I did not fly enough miles this year to qualify for Premiere Executive status.  Significance lost.   

It’s amazing what little it took to make me feel important, to make me feel like my life was worth something.  A free drink, more leg room and a shorter line was enough.  I am such a jackhole.   But we do this all the time.  Whether it be the cool new car, the shirt with the horse on it, or the house with the pool; every day we are tempted to find meaning and importance via the temporal.  Part of being human means we are in constant search of things that make us feel valuable.  We are all on a quest for satisfaction.  We need to feel whole and complete. 

Blaise Pascal was a 17^th century French philosopher who made radical doubt the cornerstone of his belief system.  He wrote about such a feeling in his book, the Pensees:

        "What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace?  This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself."

Part of viewing life from a Biblical perspective requires us to ask the question, 'what does it mean to be human' and 'how do I find meaning and significance in this world?'  There appears to be a deep connection between the knowledge of God and being fully human.  Genesis 1:27 says "God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him."  We are the crowned jewel of His good creation.  Therefore, the human person has intrinsic and eternal value, which cannot be measured by man, or his relationship to other human beings.  But what does this mean and how does it help us fill the vacuum within?  I'd like to explore this a bit further and see how it helps us understand what it really means to be human.

See you next time....