the airport

To keep things running with the travel theme I thought I would blog some of my people watching as I sit at the airport in Denver right now. Airports intrigue me. I love the culture, the variety, and the oddity of the airport. For instance, right now I’m sitting at a lounge with a bar nearby and there is a young woman at the bar that has been there long enough to talk two different guys’ ears off. Am I eavesdropping? Yes. I am. It’s in my nature I guess – I’m curious!

Anyway, this young woman has said exactly the same thing to each of these two guys and they are just smiling and nodding as she jibs (as in jib-jab) these guys to death. It reminds me of one of the things I heard listening to the Roxburgh Journal Podcast on the way out to Denver. Alan Roxburgh interviews a missional church-planter named Pernell Goodyear about one of the chief aspects of the Gospel that we need to preach and live is community. People are craving community. They want someone to listen to them, anyone to listen to them! Even if they aren’t really listening, this young woman is case in point. What does it look like to live missionally in such way where the community that our hurt and dieing world is longing for being lived out in a real and vibrant way? The Church needs to respond to this. As I listened to the interview with Pernell Goodyear I realized that programs and events won’t address it, but getting out there and getting our hands “dirty” where the people are, like this lounge at the airport.

This loneliness and longing for community reminds me of Jack Johnson’s song, People Watching,

Well I’m just people watching
The other people watching me
And we’re all people watching
The other people watching we

We’re as lonely as we wanted to be
We’re all as lonely as we wanted to be
Just as lonely as we wanted to be
I’m just you, you’re just me
But it’s only true if we believe

Well there really ain’t no use in stopping
What nobody never told me not to do
So I’ll keep people watching, watching me now
Finding my way back to you

We’re as lonely as we wanted to be
We’re all as lonely as we wanted to be
I’m just as lonely as I wanted to be
I’m just you, you’re just me
But it’s only true if we believe
I see so many feet going so many ways
People passing by, they got nothing to say
All on our own, just watching and confused
Nobody told me what to do
I can’t stop breaking all the rules

As I look around this gate and the nearby lounge I can’t help but see person after person that just looks lonely. It makes me wonder. Well, there is an airport insights, I pray you have a great night! By the way, that young woman is still jibbing this guys ear off and, of course, he is just watching the TV. I gotta go to the gate now!