For me, one of the more intriguing passages of scripture takes place in the book of Acts when Luke recounts how it was that Paul ended up going to Macedonia to preach the Gospel in Europe after having found that the door had not been opened to him in other provinces of the Roman Empire in Asia Minor. The text does not tell us how it was that Paul recognized that the door was not open to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of God in places like the province of Asia (home to important cities like Ephesus and Pergamum as well as other noted cities that would later become famous in the Bible like Colosse, Herodias (now Pamukkale) and Laodicea, among others, or the province of Bithynia and Pontus. Paul simply finds himself at the coast in Troas and has a vision that shows him where he needs to go, and once he knows that God wants him to go to Macedonia, he travels according to that will.

In the contemporary world, it is perhaps less difficult to know when doors are closed and when they are open based on transportation, especially through airports. And twice within the past week I have found that people I care about a great deal have found their travels either allowed or at least delayed by the opening and closing of airports that let them know that the door is open or closed for their travel plans. Without getting too personal about things, I thought it would be worthwhile to share my observations on how this takes places and why it is that it is so striking that airports should be marked as open and closed, and also add my own limited experience with such matters, such as it is, to comment on the results of the opening and closing of such doors.

A dear friend of mine found herself for most of last week stressing out about her flight from Tehran through Dubai to London, to begin work at a new job and to find her way in a new country. Most of the time, it must be admitted, even in Tehran, there is no great hurry to close a country’s main international airport. Yet these are not normal times, and the conflict between Israel and Iran where Israel has shown a marked willingness to attack Iran’s expeditionary forces in areas like Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, as well as Syria and Yemen, has brought a great feeling of insecurity to people in Iran as well as any terrorist-adjacent person who uses pagers and walkie-talkies. After having launched more than 100 ballistic missiles at Israel to much sound and fury but very little practical effect on the ground, Iran closed its international airport in Tehran as a precautionary measure for several days. For two days last week it was open, and on one of those days, my friend managed to make her trip out of Iran to Dubai, before the airport closed again in fear that Israel would attack vulnerable transportation infrastructure in its conflict with Iran, but as my friend had been able to travel while the airport was open, there was a sense of relief and appreciation of God’s providential care.

On the other hand, a different threat is currently affecting the travel plans of my mother and stepfather, who had planned to meet me in the capital of Cambodia but who now face the issue of having their local airport closed when they were supposed to leave because it is directly in the path of what is now among the strongest hurricanes ever, and which promises to be big and strong when it comes ashore sometime on Wednesday afternoon or evening somewhere on the Gulf coast of Florida, where my mother and stepfather (as well as younger brother) live, with storm surge that may be up to 15 feet or so with winds expected well above 100 miles an hour with large amounts of rain on already saturated ground that is full of debris from the last hurricane to hit the state not very long ago. While it is unclear at this time what sort of damage will result from the storm, it is pretty clear at this time that a lot of damage is expected, and as a result the airport has been closed down starting tomorrow afternoon as I write this, with it being unclear at this time when the airport will resume operations, and unclear when or where I will be able to meet up with my folks, or what sort of travel arrangements they will be able to make as a result of the storm’s effect on our plans. For the moment, at least, my travels appear to be a bit more lonesome than I expected them to be, alas.

Although I have done a fair amount of traveling in my time so far, I do not have much experience with having airports closed. One time, though, I was traveling back from New Jersey, where I had attended the Feast of Tabernacles in Wildwood in 2005 and was supposed to fly from Philadelphia through Miami back to Tampa, where I lived at the time. Miami had just been hit by a major hurricane, as it happens, and was closed, and so my flight was rerouted through Chicago, with a layover of about half an hour in which I had to rush to catch my connecting flight but my luggage did not make it and had to be delivered to me the next day when it arrived. Although not having my luggage (including a large amount of clothes) for a day was a bit annoying, the trip was also notable for me in that it was the first time I had ever been able to fly first class in an airplane, with nice seats and unlimited snacks and bottled water, which was very much appreciated by this always-dehydrated traveler, at least. When one door closes, very often another door opens, as long as we know where to look for, at least.