Storytime:

I wish to thank Jacob in Genesis 29 for showing off his superhero skills for Rachel, the shepherdess, by removing a huge stone from the mouth of a well while other dudes sat there chewing the fat, waiting for someone else to do it. Indeed he has reminded me of Keith.

A number of years ago, Keith & I had a layover at Heathrow in London on our way home from, I believe, Angola. May have been Egypt. We were walking the long stretch from our arrival gate to our departure gate. The corridors had moving sidewalks like those in most large airports.

We’d chosen to walk it instead of taking the moving sidewalk because we wanted to stretch our legs & because the moving sidewalk was packed with people & Keith doesn’t particularly like people. I’d like to add that the only thing moving on the moving sidewalk was the sidewalk.

There are certain rules of travel with which an impressive number of people are unacquainted. One of them is that, if you are on the moving sidewalk and do not wish to move a muscle one iota, you stand to one side and allow those who want to walk on the walking sidewalk to walk.

Alas, a wad of people had obviously used their last ounce of energy stepping onto the moving sidewalk. A human traffic jam. Keith & I were flying past them, absurdly pleased with ourselves, looking like Eric Liddell in Chariots of Fire. Yea, when we ran, we felt God’s pleasure.

We couldn’t take our eyes off of the human clump & the hordes they’d annoyed to no end behind them. They finally neared the exit of the moving sidewalk. A woman leading the clump had her suitcase in front of her rather than beside her. It failed to navigate the exit successfully.

When I say I’ve never in my life seen a bigger pile up than what commenced before our very eyes in a lifetime of TV football, I do not lie. Suddenly, Keith darted toward the pile up and began pulling people over the plexiglass railing - listen carefully to what I’m about to say -

with one arm then the other. You getting the picture here? One arm per person. Fast as lightning. And every single one of them landed on their feet. The exit was cleared and Keith rejoined his bride. I handed him his carry-on & we walked to our departure gate in complete silence.

We got in line to board our flight. Not a word uttered. We got to our row, put our carry ons safely in the overhead compartments and sat down in our seats. Stared straight ahead. Flight attendant told us to make sure our seatbelts were fastened low and tight around our waists.

We both scooted around in our seats to find our belts and fastened them with simultaneous marital clicks. Then, still looking straightahead, Keith spoke. “Lizabeth, did you see that?”

Yeah, I did. Baby, yeah I did.

My dude.