I’m in the Atlanta airport when I look down at my text messages to retrieve my boarding pass with the gate number, when I notice there is no gate number.  So I now find myself already on a train that is rushing through this huge airport while I’m trying to get online to research further what gate I’m supposed to be at.  Finally, I’m on the airline’s homepage online and my scheduled flight appears; I look at my little iPhone screen & see that my gate is D80.  Whew, that was fast and this train is “now approaching concourse B,”  so I’ve got a few moments to relax.  Later, when the doors open to concourse D I quickly realize that the gate numbers stop at D46!  That’s a long way from 80.  

“What is going on?” I ask myself, as I furiously attempt to get back online while riding the 2-story escalator up to concourse D.  Oh, I see now….gate D80 is the gate I’m ARRIVING at in Pittsburgh, not the gate I’m departing from in Atlanta!  I’m supposed to be at A6, and my flight started boarding 25 minutes ago!   I rush back onto the train and wait 4 more stops until I finally exit into Concourse A.  Of course, the numbers go down so A6 seems like a mile away.  As I approach the counter at my gate it says in all capital letters FINAL BOARDING.  I rush up and the gentleman standing there says “Jamie Shaver?”  

“Yes, yes that’s me, I’ve been all over the place in this airport trying to find where I’m supposed to be!  There was no gate number on the boarding pass you texted me, and …”

“Well, you’re here now Mrs. Shaver and you were the last one, we’ve been waiting for you, we have a full flight today,” the gentleman said.  

As I boarded the plane and walked the 25 rows to the back of the aircraft, I felt like everyone was staring at me.  There it was, the only empty seat left and it was mine.  I heard the stewardess close the door to the plane behind me.

God says in Romans 11:25 NIV  “I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in,”  

That phrase “until the full number of the Gentiles has come in” reminds me that God knows exactly the day, time and the person’s name who needs to “come in” to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ before He brings about the next phase in His plan.  I pictured that seat and all the others on board just waiting for the “full number of passengers on that flight to come in.”  Like my experience I even imagine God saying the name of the person; knowing that their name is written in the Lamb’s book of Life and saying we can’t move until this last one “gets on-board.” And God knows exactly where they are right now.  Perhaps they are on a train seeking to know Him and the gateway of salvation and I pray that when they learn what “gate” they can enter through; Jesus Christ, that they will run to it like I did.  By the looks of today’s headlines and the current state of the world, I’d say we are in the FINAL BOARDING stage!

“But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Matthew 7:14

Blessings to each of you.  Who do you know that is lost; following the wrong information or may need an escort to the gate that leads to eternal life?  Share the gospel with them today!

Written by Jamie Shaver