The Shredded Suitcase

If you fly in an ariplane very much, I think that we have all been there. As the airport carousel begins to churn out the suitcases, there is always that moment of fear. Did your bags make it? Will they come out? Will something be broken?
There was this man and woman that were in this very boat. Their plane had just landed from their vacation that they had looked forward to for some time. They watched as bag after bag came out, including the husbands.

When the ladies bag never showed itself, they walked over to the baggage claims office.

"Oh, maybe this is your bag over here," said the worker.

The worker went back and brought a big plastic bin that held a shredded up bag with a bunch of loose miscellaneous items. It was the ladies bag. The couple filed a claim to Americian Airlines.

Within 24 hours, they recieved a sincere apology, a check for $3,500, as well as a $300 travel voucher. American Airlines resolved the conflict with the couple and started investigating what happened to the bag.

Despite all the damage that occured, at least one thing is good, American Airlines worked quickly and deligently to make it right.

We all make mistakes. We say things that we shouldn't have. Sometimes we do things that are not right.

We may even participate in things we had no business being a part of. What we do after the mistake is what really makes the difference.

When Cain sinned, he tried to hide it. When David sinned and was confronted, he immediately took the balme. When Peter sinned against Christ, he came back to Christ and made things right.

Facing up to our mistakes is rarely a pleasant experience.

In the end though, it clears the conscience, gives a sense of relief and hopefully smooths everthing out. From time to time we will wrong people. When we do, let's quickly make it right.