Even in Burbank, CA

Boy, traveling these days by the airlines is such a hassle; parking, ticketing, security, stuffed airplanes, delays, lost baggage……….. aaagghhhhh!!! But, we know that the Lord causes all things to happen for the good for those that love Him, right? Right!!

So, I’m sitting in the Burbank, CA airport waiting for my flight to Vegas and, then, Providence, RI. Waiting and waiting and waiting until a 60ish woman sits beside me and we begin a conversation;

“Hello, how are you?” She says. “I’m fine, just waiting and waiting.” I say. And we begin to share who we are and what we do, etc. etc. Seems like a nice California lady, living and working in Los Angeles, in fact, she manages the State supported farm co-op in Los Angeles. Interesting. So, we’re having a nice conversation and she begins to read the newspaper. The article that is blazoned across the front pages is about the Proposition 8 decision on Nov 4th and the subsequent protests throughout California by those that did not support the final decision which was to support the bill calling for a legal definition of marriage as that between one man and one woman.

She can’t believe it and is disturbed that so many ‘minorities’ supported Prop 8 which tipped the scales for it to be passed. This, apparently, is not the will of the people of California, but, of those folks that turned out to vote, supporting Obama, who also voted FOR Prop 8 and, thus, Prop 8 was approved. How dastardly, I thought to myself… NOT.

She stated something like; “It’s the ‘right’ of people to be able to live together and to have legal rights relative to ‘marriage’, etc. etc.” I stated the worldly focus of the disruption of traditional laws and administrative issues like, insurance and retirement plans, estates, etc. etc., but this met with a blank stare from my new acquaintance. So, empowered by the Holy Spirit, I began to explain the design of God relative to ‘one man for one woman’. It was gutsy on my part, but I felt emboldened and free to express my opinion sharing my own testimony about failures as a younger man with my relationships before my marriage and the example of my oldest daughter who waited until marriage to have sex with her new, also virgin, husband and how their marriage was an example of modern day love, compassion, respect and honor versus their friends who had tempestuous marriages with tremendous difficulties, separations and divorces.

As usual, I was pretty heavy relative to the conversation. I could see a slightly different look on her face now. She didn’t come back at me with any argument. She just had this look on her face as if she was somewhat surprised that I had gone in that direction. I could even sense a bit of an epiphany that may be going on in her mind. I am a little whacked in this regard, but, I sensed she was reflecting on her life, her relationship with, maybe, her husband (she had no wedding band on) or her other relationships in her life or whatever, but I got an incredible sense that she was having to deal with something very close to her that was touched by this differing outlook by her newly made acquaintance.

That was it, she turned back to her paper, the people on my flight began to bustle around the gate and we began the loading process. I wished her well, shook her hand and went on my way to mangle bodies together, get poured into a too-small seat for a 4+ hour flight to the east coast and meet my next new friend traveling from Las Vegas to Providence; Fred Flintstone…. It’s true. More on that later.

I wonder how my acquaintance in Burbank was effected by our conversation. The Lord only knows. Amen.