Sitting next to the smelly person on the plane. It could happen to you. I mean, you being the smelly person someone has to sit next to.
I spent 5 days of straight travel from ATL to Lusaka, Zambia. Getting here has not been easy; not in the least bit. It didn’t take long for me to realize that I could be the stinky person you’re sitting next to in a plane, train, bus or car. Our squad slept everywhere from airport floors to tent city hostel camps.
Unfortunately, it didn’t take long after landing here in Lusaka that we in all of our short term memory forgot what it was like to be stinky. Or maybe we never thought we were? We’ve been using the public bus transportation for travel within Lusaka, and that can get very up close and personal. Each bus has it’s own unique stench, if you might. But the funny thing is, with all the walking around we do, sweating profusely in the sun, we should remember that we too are contributing to that stench. Lesson #0422, have grace on stinky people.
Sometimes our walk with God can be that way. God is making us new every day. He has replaced our filthy rags with white robes. By His grace he does this for us. Sometimes we forget the amount of grace extended to us and we can get into a mode of blindness where we hold our noses and wince at the perceived stench of others. We point them out to each other and we agree, “Oh yeah, those people stink.” Worse yet, we ourselves forget that we need daily grace and that our own stench contributes to the overall environment.
It was a long road here, but we made it. I’m thrilled by the opportunity we have to encounter so many people in our Kingdom work. My prayer request for myself and my teammates is that we can learn to be as Paul teaches –
“Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”
I also hope that if you encounter me in any public transportation, from plane to train, that you will have grace on my possible stench. You never know how long or difficult my journey has been. Just know that I am trying.
