TRAVELER'S ALERT

Last Sunday night I boarded a flight for Dubai, via Bangkok and Doha. My four days in Dubai were spent with pastors, spouses and others from a variety of Asian and Middle East cities. All of them are committed to ministry among expats in their countries. Some pastor in congregations that number in the thousands; some work with less than 100 people. Some are in countries that are very peaceful and stable, while others have experienced recent serious unrest up close.
On Friday I flew from Dubai, via Amman, Jordan to New York City. With the time change, Friday became a 32 hour day. In New York's JFK airport I took the AirTrain, the subway and then a taxi to get to Jeannie and Chris' apartment. What a delight to see and hold tiny 5 day old Amara. Neither Jan nor I got to hold our other grandchildren in their first weeks of life. There is something very special and endearing about newborns.
I was reminded that when you travel you need to stay alert. On Wednesday with others I took a taxi to a shopping centre for lunch and then took the same route right back to the hotel. We took two different types of taxis, both with meters. Because we did not check beforehand, one charged $7 while for the same return ride the other charged only $3. Foreigner's mistake.
Then yesterday I made a bigger mistake. A very polite aggressive young man on the street helped me flag a taxi in front of Grand Central Station. He helped me put my bags in the trunk. And then (when I was not thinking) he suggested he pay the $7 taxi fare for me. Of course you don't pay until the end of the ride. But on little sleep, I handed him a $10 bill and it looked like he paid the driver. Only he did not.
Hmmm, this unwary traveller was "taken for a ride" in Dubai and in NYC. I stay alert in Saigon but was caught "napping" in both cities. Fortunately not a lot of money was involved.
Let's stay spiritually alert. I Peter 5:8 "Being taken for a ride" through spiritual sleepiness can be a lot more costly than my two mistakes this week.