The other day while at work, I crossed paths with a co-worker of mine whom I haven’t seen in quite awhile.  As a TSA security officer at the airport, I often exchange conversations with various employees throughout the airport; such is the case with this co-worker of mine who works for Delta.  Greg, is his name.  I call him the “preacher man”.  In fact, every time I would have to do a security procedure or have to patrol the baggage ramp area, that’s where I would often encounter this jovial fellow.  Always, cheerful, always smiling and always would have a word for me and for whomever my TSA work partner was for that day.  He would always say, “So what’s the word?”  Before you could answer anything, he would go right into his little sermon and give you an encouragement from God’s word.  And every time it was always something that I needed to hear.  Recently, I have been going through some difficult situations that have caused some stress in my life, so when I bumped into him on my way to the baggage area to conduct a screening procedure at one of the employee doors, it was such a welcomed sight to see him.  The first thing he asked me was how everything was going.  I was honest with him and told him my situation.  He smiled, looked at me with those Jesus eyes of love and everything that came out of his mouth were words of hope, examples from scripture, such as Joseph having to endure his prison to get to the promises that God had for him.  He encouraged me to thank God for what He was going to do and then he got on one of those ramp trucks and drove off.  There I was, left standing at the employee door perspiring in the extremely hot conditions along with my fellow TSA co-worker, in the baggage area.  Just when I was processing all that Greg had said to me, about five minutes later, he came back, stopped his vehicle and handed me and my partner two cold bottles of water.  Encouraged me some more and then drove off.  Then just minutes after he drove off, another airline employee, stopped loading bags onto his cart and came over to us and adjusted one of the big air fans to face us.  He didn’t have to do that. That fan was for him but he did it anyway.  So there we were, drinking cold water and feeling refreshed by the breeze of the fan blowing on us while we stood at the employee door screening employees.  I couldn’t help but cry.  I had to turn away so my co-worker wouldn’t see me.  All I kept thinking to myself, was how God is so good.  It was as if God was saying, “I notice you.”  Even in the cargo area of an airport, the dingiest and hottest of places, I felt His presence reminding me that He was there with me and that I was not forgotten.  Then a song came to my mind.  A worship song called, “Sovereign Over Us”.  In one of the lyrics these words kept replaying in my mind.  “Even what the enemy means for evil, you turn it for our good.”    

Maybe that’s you today?  Maybe you feel like you’ve been abandoned, or forgotten?  Joseph in the Bible could have felt that way.  Especially after being abandoned by his brothers, sold to slavery, falsely accused of being something that he was not, and thrown into a prison cell.  But through it all God used all of those trials to teach Joseph to trust Him and as he did, God was faithful to Joseph.  He made him second in command to Pharaoh, and eventually reunited him with his family again.  Joseph realized looking back that God was working for his good and for the good of all of Israel all along.  “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about the present result, to preserve many people alive.”  Genesis 50:20. 

I don’t know what you are going through, perhaps you find yourself going through something that it just seems like you are stuck in your prison cell and there is no way out.  Stay encouraged.  Just like with Joseph, God is at work for your good.  You are not forgotten.  He reminded me of that in the most unlikeliest of places; that even in a hot, dimly lit, dungeon of an airport called the baggage area, He gave me water to drink and a fan to keep me cool.  If God can meet me there, God can meet you where you are at too.  So, when you are in the midst of the heat, remember, to drink up the bottle water of His Word to replenish you with stories like Joseph, and others to remind you of His faithfulness. Allow Him to point in your direction the fan of the Holy Spirit who will blow upon you His refreshing breeze, cooling you off with His peace and His strength so that you may be able to endure, knowing that His plans are still to prosper and that He has not forgotten.  He is sovereign over us!