I arose this morning at 3:30 in order to make sure I was on time for my appointment in Atlanta. I walked in the door at about 7:45 and settled in among a fairly large crowd of people who needed to take care of their international travel documentation. I was a little surprised at just how many people there were - there is a lot of travel going on these days.
Why did I go in today? Well, I am traveling to Africa next week on a Visiting Orphans trip, and I am almost out of visa pages. I could actually be turned away from a country if there's no place to place a visa. Not cool. So I took the passport in to add pages.
But the real reason I went in was that I didn't want to let go of my passport. I could have sent it in if I had done so earlier, but a) I waited too long, and b) having waited too long, I didn't want to take a chance on not getting it back.
But guess what? I had to relinquish it anyway. I filled out the form, paid the fee....and left the passport with the agent. You see, it was not going to be ready in time for me today. So I left it.
It should be okay. They said they would overnight it Friday, so (depending on weekend delivery) I should get it either Saturday or Monday. Plenty of time for the trip next Friday. That's what they kept telling me.
But I was still nervous. And then I realized - this was about control. I don't think of myself as someone who needs to control things. I like to think that I trust God and put everything in his hands. Well, Donnie, if that's so, why do you not want to let go of your passport? Huh?
That's what I heard the Lord telling me today. I may think I trust him for everything, but I still hold on to things. No, it's not just my passport. In all sorts of areas.
And so I'm going to try to listen. In this case, I had no choice...and now I'm trusting God that things will go smoothly with the shipment.
Letting go. It isn't easy. But it is necessary. Time to let go.
