I boarded the crowded shuttle to the airport. We were packed like a can of sardines, and there was no room for our luggage in the rack. I held my suitcase handle tightly by my side with one hand and held onto a bar with the other hand, struggling to keep the suitcase and myself from flying with the sudden starts and stops. When a group of passengers got off the shuttle at a stop down the road, the woman next to me who had also been holding on to her suitcase, pointed out a spot that had opened up for us to store our baggage.
I was really running late by the time we arrived at the building. So, I grabbed my red suitcase in a hurry and squeezed past other passengers so that I could catch my plane. I tried to stay calm when I reached the end of a really long check-in line.
My phone rang, but I didn’t answer the out of state phone number. Then I received a text message, “Our bags got switched up on the economy bus. I need it before our flight leaves.”
Oh. My. Goodness. I have made a lot of traveling mistakes, but this one took the cake. I thought about the flight when out of nervousness, I had sat in someone else’s seat on the plane. Then there was the time that I had headed the wrong direction to get home after a different flight. But how in the world could I have not realized I had grabbed the wrong suitcase! I had even tied two different scarfs on the handle this time for easy recognition!
I told the lady in front of me about my mistake and left my place in line to go exchange the “stolen” suitcase for my own. I was beating myself up along the way, wondering if I would catch my flight, wondering if THEY would catch THEIR flight, and wondering how angry the owner of the suitcase would be. I totally deserved to get an earful.
When I reached the owners of the suitcase, I apologized. The wife said more than once, “We need the things in our suitcase.” However, she wasn’t rude or nasty. I was thankful for the mercy she extended to me.
After the quick swap, I rushed back to the line which had grown longer. I started waiting all over again. I was there for less than a minute when the woman who had been in front of me hurried over and excitedly motioned for me to follow her. “Come with me,” she said. “I talked to the people behind me, and they said you can come back to your place in line.”
I couldn’t believe it. First the family that I had caused trouble for extended mercy to me, and now these strangers that I didn’t even know extended grace to me. I totally didn’t deserve to be in front of all the people I passed up. It was my fault that I had to leave my place in line.
The mercy and grace that was extended to me that day reminds me of an even bigger act of mercy and grace that was extended to me. You see, God is pure and holy. He created each of us in his image, but we sinned by choosing to do things our way instead of his. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus.
I deserved the death penalty for my sin, but Jesus, who was totally innocent died in my place and gave me the gift of eternal life. This free gift of mercy and grace is offered to everyone no matter how bad they’ve messed up. We simply have to confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead. When we accept him as our Lord and Savior, we repent of our sin, turn from our ways to his and follow him. Through Jesus, we find forgiveness, salvation, hope and peace.
I was a little nervous to approach the person whose suitcase I had accidentally taken, but there is no reason for any of us to be nervous about approaching God when we mess up because Jesus, though he never sinned, was tempted in every way. He understands our struggle and is able to empathize. “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). “…Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts” (Hebrews 4:7).