Recombobulation
By Doug Bing, Washington Conference president
In the Milwaukee airport there is a sign located right after the TSA checkpoint that caught my attention.
You know what happens at those checkpoints. You empty your pockets of everything. You take off your shoes and belt. You place your computer in a separate tray and send it all through a scanner. You are pretty sure that you will pass through without incident, but in the back of your mind there is always a worry.
Did you forget something, and they are going to stop you and search everything you have? When you finally arrive on the other side and collect everything you are pretty discombobulated.
Thus, the TSA has a sign saying this is the Recombobulation Area. Most of us didn’t even know it was a word. But more than one of passengers around me recently stopped to take a picture of the sign. It made us all smile for a moment in the stress of the travel day.
According to the dictionary the word Recombobulation is not a word. That didn’t really matter to Barry Bateman who was the director of the Milwaukee airport. He wanted to add a bit of comic relief to the stress of travel and he directed that the signs be made and placed in the airport. Every day travelers comment positively on the signs and smile.
The definition that most have assigned to this word is this: a place to go and collect yourself after going through security. At each area are places to sit along with tables to place your things and get everything back in order.
I think that each day we should have a time of recombobulation. A time to sit quietly with God and collect yourself before you go about your day. A time as Jesus said to come aside and rest for a while. To live like Jesus and spend time each morning. Jesus always had someone wanting to talk to Him and each day He went aside to pray early in the morning. It was His recombobulation time.
I need that time. We all need that time. Please take that time.