Where can I go from your Spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I take the wings in the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast. If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night," even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for the darkness is as light to you. Psalm 139: 7-12

This summer I have had the need to go to the Philadelphia airport on several occasions. I have been dropping off my children who were going to visit relatives or greeting them as they have returned. This has (and will) happen a number of times before getting back to "regular" routines in the fall. Some people have occasion to be at the airport a lot to travel regularly for business. I like the airport! I like looking at all the people and imagining where they are going to or where they are coming from. I enjoy watching the way people wait in lines, and yes, I even enjoy catching snippets of conversations meant for someone else's ears!

I see people who seem eager and excited to be traveling somewhere new for fun. I see people who seem sad and upset, perhaps traveling home for a funeral. I see people looking bored and annoyed that something has slowed their progress. I see people embrace and offer blessings for those they are leaving. I see people embrace and offer words of welcome for those returning. I see people look lost or alone or afraid.

What is amazing to me about being at the airport, is that while I don't know where everyone is going and some people aren't sure which way to go themselves, God does know where we are. God is there with us -- when we are eager and excited, sad and upset, bored and annoyed, coming or going. God is there with us. We cannot fly far enough away to escape God's presence. We cannot get so lost or our flights so delayed that God leaves us. We cannot leave too early or return too late for God to give up on us. No, wherever we go, whenever we go, God goes with us.

So next time I'm at the airport, I will offer a prayer of thanks to God for being with me and holding me fast. And I will say a prayer for those around me that they might know, too, that God is with them.

Thank you God, for always knowing where I am. Thank you for going ahead of me, beside me, and behind me. Remind me of your presence when I feel afraid or lost or overwhelmed. Amen.

Contributed by Tracie
Sunday August 3, 2008
Liturgical Year A Week 36
Sunday Gospel reading:
Lectionary 18 (Proper 13)
Ninth Sunday after Pentecost