![\"PassportDec3115\"](\"http:\/\/www.doorposts.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/PassportDec3115.jpg\")
We\u2019re living in a trailer.<\/p>\nWe\u2019re living in a trailer.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s not enough room in our trailer for a file cabinet. That\u2019s why, several days before I was supposed to fly to a conference in Canada, I went out to my son\u2019s garage (where many of our things are stored) and found our temporary file box<\/em>. I pulled out my passport, took it back to the trailer, and tucked it into a basket next to our bed.<\/p>\n It was a challenge packing for my first plane trip since our Great Trailer Adventure began. It took longer than usual, and we ended up leaving for the airport uncharacteristically late.<\/p>\n As my daughter Bethany drove me to the airport, I mentioned my nagging feeling that I was forgetting something important.<\/p>\n \u201cDo you have your passport?\u201d she wisely asked.<\/p>\n \u201cYes.\u201d I had taken it out of the basket and put it in my purse when I first started packing, and I had my purse in my lap.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have your passport. You have clean underwear. You\u2019ll be fine.\u201d That was comforting.<\/p>\n Usually Bethany just drops me off at the door. Today she parked and went in with me. It was unusually quiet as we rolled my suitcase up to the ticket counter. The attendant pointed out that I only had five minutes before the cut-off for checking in. That was cutting it way closer than my overly-cautious nature likes to do. Good thing we made it!<\/p>\n I handed the man my passport.<\/p>\n He handed it back.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is not a passport.\u201d<\/p>\n What?!<\/p>\n He was right.\u00a0There on the counter was a benign-looking, dark blue, same-size-as-a-passport Moleskine notebook (a smaller size of what I use for my Bible study notes).<\/p>\n Frantic pawing through my bag confirmed that I had unknowingly taken the Moleskine, instead of the passport, out of my basket. I was supposed to board a plane in less than two hours and I had no passport.<\/p>\n They wouldn\u2019t let me on that plane without my passport.<\/p>\n It didn\u2019t matter how much I thought I had brought my passport with me.<\/p>\n It didn\u2019t matter how sincere I was.<\/p>\n It didn\u2019t matter that a generous person had donated their flyer miles to buy my ticket or that I was supposed to speak at the conference or that the conference was a fundraiser for a pregnancy resource center.<\/p>\n It didn\u2019t matter how badly I wanted on that plane.\u00a0I didn\u2019t have what the airline required and they didn\u2019t let me on. So I missed my plane.<\/p>\n After a stressful hour of trying to reschedule my flight before my plane took off and we lost the credit from my original ticket, I had twenty-two hours to mull over my humiliating mistake before returning to the airport.<\/p>\n I thought about how easy it is to grab hold of counterfeits in life.<\/p>\n We don\u2019t have what God requires.\u00a0That\u2019s why He sent His Son to die for us.\u00a0He did what we could not do while we were dead in our sin.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the good news of the gospel!<\/p>\n Most of us would readily agree with this truth. We need Jesus\u2019s perfect sacrifice if we\u2019re going to come into God’s presence.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s easy to live as though it\u2019s all up to us. We start trying to hand God our Moleskines instead of our passports.<\/p>\n In practice, in our daily lives with our daily struggles and our daily failures, we often try to give God the wrong thing.<\/p>\n We go to Him and lay our Moleskines on the counter \u2013 our own works and our own strength \u2013 when what He is asking for is our passport \u2013 our complete and joyous trust in Christ\u2019s finished work on the cross.\u00a0There is nothing<\/em> we can do to earn<\/em> His gift of salvation.<\/p>\n And there was nothing I could do to earn my seat on that plane.<\/p>\n I had to call my friend, the lovely lady who was organizing the conference I was supposed to speak at, and admit that to her.\u00a0The travel agent I was talking to on the phone was quoting horrendous prices to reschedule my flight in time to be there.<\/p>\n I had to tell my friend that we had a half hour to schedule another flight or we would lose the credit for my ticket.<\/p>\n I felt terrible. And stupid. And totally helpless.<\/p>\n It took several phone calls back and forth while her husband was on the phone pleading with Air Canada. But eventually this gracious, patient lady called and told me it was all taken care of. I was scheduled for the same flight the next day.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t know how they did it.\u00a0She wouldn\u2019t tell me how much it cost when I told her I wanted to pay for it.<\/p>\n Right then I saw that her response was a picture of God\u2019s grace to me.<\/strong><\/p>\n She quietly told me to quit feeling bad. It was all taken care of.<\/p>\n That\u2019s what God wants us to know.<\/p>\n Our sin is all taken care of.<\/strong><\/p>\n We can quit feeling bad. We can admit our helplessness.<\/p>\n We can quit trying to earn our salvation, even after we claim we\u2019ve placed our faith in Jesus.<\/p>\n We can set aside our burden of guilt and rest in Christ. Then we’re free to serve Him out of love and gratitude, not out of fear or duty.<\/p>\n We\u2019re about to step into a new year.<\/strong> Let\u2019s go into it with our Passport in our hands. Let\u2019s not rely on counterfeits. Let’s steep ourselves in the Word, where we’ll see God’s holiness and God’s grace over and over, and where we’ll be reminded again and again that our sin is taken care of, that in Christ — not by our own works — we are made righteous. Let’s serve Him with joy<\/em> because we love<\/em> Him.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n
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