Am I Missing Something — Part II

This will require a little explanation so bear with me….

Typically (or so I’ve been told), when soldiers come home for R&R, they fly a charter plane to one of four or five major airports in the U.S. and then take a regular flight on to their final destination.  The soldiers coming to the Fort Stewart area usually fly into Atlanta by charter and then take a commercial jumper to Savannah where their loved ones are eagerly awaiting their arrival.  I have also been told (OVER AND OVER) that the flight into Atlanta arrives around 7:00 a.m. every time and then the guys race to their next gate hoping to catch an early flight by stand-by rather than waiting around for their scheduled flight in the afternoon.  Usually, this puts them into Savannah around noon, giving them an extra 1/2 day of R&R. 

See…officially, the R&R time does not begin until midnight of the day FOLLOWING travel days.  So, the clock for someone arriving on a Monday in Atlanta at 7:00 a.m. and arriving in Savannah around noon does not actually begin ticking until midnight Tuesday, thus virtually giving them an extra day of R&R.

Unfortunately for us, S travelled for 99 hours to get home for R&R.  And because of flight delays, technical difficulties, and so forth, he did not arrive in Atlanta until 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday.  He then tried to get on stand-by as quickly as possible but was actually scheduled for the 8:30 p.m. flight to Savannah.  He did make the 6:30 p.m. flight and arrived in Savannah around 7:30.    We finally made it home around 8:45 p.m. and his R&R clock started ticking 3 hours and 15 minutes later.

Although we were so excited to have him home, I felt cheated, robbed!  Oh yes, we still had the full 18 days of R&R just like everyone else…but we didn’t get to take advantage of the travel day afternoon.  I cannot explain how upset I was.  I really felt cheated.  When you only have 18 days after 10 1/2 months of being separated and are facing 3-4 months of more separation…EVERY MINUTE COUNTS!!  And I wanted my minutes to begin at noon on that Wednesday…not at 7:30 p.m.  I feel like we lost at least 8 hours of time together.  8 hours….that may sound pretty silly but 8 hours is EVERYTHING when you are standing at the airport 18 days later saying goodbye. 

So I was missing time…time spent just being together…another meal together, another movie, another walk around the block…another 8 hours of time spent with the one I love.

I wonder if that’s how God feels when we miss our time with Him.  Without even realizing it, we cheat ourselves out of so much when we miss precious moments with Him each day.  I wonder how much time I have missed with Him in my too busy schedule…what has delayed me from being able/willing to spend time with Jesus?  Makes me want to make sure I don’t put God on stand-by…I want to carve out as much time as I possibly can to spend with Him each day.