Monday, June 19, 2006

What if?

Well I have been tracking their flights for the last month, ever since I noticed in the newspaper that Cirrus Airlines was not functioning well. Of course the chances of missing my connection in Frankfurt seems to be in the highly-likely to certain range, as I have a scheduled flight with them soon and one would think that knowing ahead of time would help one avoid the trauma of missing a connection, but not necessarily.

I already have hotels, cars and such scheduled on the USA side. But since I can't be certain 100% that I will miss my flight to the states, I can't cancel all the stuff on that end. I thought about booking a hotel room in Frankfurt but that too seems premature for the same reasons. What if Lufthansa puts me on a different flight to Dulles even though me coming in late on Cirrus is not their fault? What if a miracle happens and I actually get to Frankfort in time to make my connection?

As you can see from these "what if" scenarios, the virtually endless combined possibilities make prediction all but impossible; travel can be a nightmare. Even someone with many many years of living out of suitcases and endless traveling cannot resolve this dilemma . . . there are too many undetermined factors that will come into play that very day and force decisions. The "what-if" game makes one old before their time.

The "what-if" game gets played out in life much the same as it does in traveling in the hairy arm-pit of Eastern Europe. Much of life is simply a series of what-ifs. No one reaches my age in life without wondering what their life would be like today, if they had made a different set of choices along the way. Yet, no one can survive long if they continue to engage in this process of a what-if fashion. Life cannot be lived in this manner.

That is why the only way to live is by principles, and of course the best place to get those is in God's Word. Now I wonder where I might find a biblical principle with which to deal with Lufthansa and Cirrus? Perhaps Matthew 24:20?

1 comment:

Chris Howard said...

Nice verse!