sjamesho.v3

WOW! awesome! praise the Lord! within minutes of blogging the last post, i received a call from Baggage Services informing me that my big bag had arrived at Tampa (TPA). grateful to hear the great news, i inquired where it ended up. she told me that “well… it didn’t end up anywhere.” apparently my big bag was not loaded at San Jose (SJC) with my small bag and took the next flight to TPA. i feel a little sad that my two bags had to travel by their lonesome to TPA but i guess that is what reunions are for. there’s going to be a party all up in my room tonight!

okay… i think i’ve gone a little over to the weird but hey… i’m excited that my big bag is found. i’m wondering if i should peer out my window for the delivery and run towards it as it is coming. hehehe.

hmmm… i think there’s something in the good Book about lost items being found. Luke 15 has a series about it.

earlier this evening i was standing at the baggage carousel waiting for my two bags to greet me. one big, one small. as i was waiting i was looking forward to picking them up, getting into a taxi, checking into my hotel, and showering the travel “yuck” (what do they call that?) away. i stood in the middle of where the baggage appears from behind the wall and disappears and when i noticed my small bag being one of the first bags out i was delighted. it won’t be too long before the big one will follow… but it didn’t.

i realized that my small one was among the small bags and thought that maybe the big bag will be with the other big bags. makes sense, right? so i patiently waited till a series of big bags came and were taken by their respective owners. one by one they disappeared until the two doors of the carousel closed and the baggage track stopped. hmmm… maybe i missed it as it went around and one of the attendants placed it at the unclaimed baggage area. so i checked, hoping that it would be there… but it wasn’t.

i then went into Southwest Airlines Central Baggage Services counter to inform and inquire about my missing big bag. the service representative took the details and told me that it “should” eventually arrive at Tampa (TPA) later this evening… worse case scenario, by tomorrow morning… before my ship leaves port! in our conversation her words at times seemed to give a glimmer of hope that i will get it tonight… but it hasn’t.

the way that my big bag will eventually reunite with me will be revealed at the time and circumstances God sees fit for me to experience. the basic choices that i have currently is to either worry and stress over my big bag which has about 90% of my clothes and my ukulele. OR, i can relax, pray, and have faith that God is taking care of it… even to the worse of the worse case scenario should i never see my big bag and its contents again.

still it is quite the challenge to look at the time and NOT wonder, “why hasn’t Baggage Services called me yet?” faith… i have so much to learn.

the friday before Thanksgiving i started coughing. and then i coughed some more. and then more and more. even though i was coughing, i was determined and went Las Vegas where my cousin and aunts were spending Thanksgiving weekend. the friday after Thanksgiving i finally went to get my respiratory system checked out and learned that i had pneumonia.

this last sunday i finished my course of antibiotics and then on tuesday went to my primary physician for a follow up and learned that my lungs are now clear. i just have a residual and occasional cough which is slowly going away.

now i’m getting ready to go and will be leaving on a mission trip this weekend. maybe i’ll get in a post or two before i leave. now that i’m healthy again, i can get back into sharing with you all my adventures.