More than ten years ago, airport security took a major step forward. Lines of passengers passing through the metal detectors to get to their respective gates were exceedingly long. There were some early programs like CLEAR that provided memberships for frequent travelers – cutting down the wait to get through to the airport concourses. This was due to a pre-screening and finger print check that allowed those of us who flew almost weekly to avoid the long waits. It was great – until CLEAR went out of business.
The government then instituted its own security program – Global Entry – that afforded frequent travelers the same benefits – virtually worldwide – but only after a substantial background check, finger prints and personal interviews. I remember how daunting it all was. Janet and I actually had to go to Chicago for our arranged interviews finally resulting in our being accepted into the program.
Several other government programs followed, including the wildly popular TSA Pre-Check – good for travel in the U.S. and, subsequently, around North America. Of course, security around the world continued to tighten up and five years ago we renewed our Global Entry memberships. Clearly, with Covid, we haven’t travelled as much and now we have been notified that it is once again time to renew for another five years.
But this time there are other considerations. We don’t travel internationally as much and with the increased security issues and number of applications occurring, it could take a year or longer to receive our renewals. Or… we can forget about that and go for TSA Pre-Check – starting all over again – heading to interviews here in Indy – but with the assurance we can get through the process in less than a month. We would, however, have to change all our airline info and travel agent stuff to reflect a new “Known Traveler” number.
Tuesday, we stopped by the local TSA office to discuss the options. They don’t take walk-in traffic but they were very kind and the on-site manager spoke to us in detail about security protocols these days. When we were finishing our conversation, I asked what he would recommend.
Without skipping a beat, he said that he would stay with Global Entry. He told us that we have already met all the requirements and it is the best program out there. I rested easy in his comments and we have decided to renew rather than start over again with TSA.
The truth of the matter is that Global Entry is good throughout the world and is without limit as far as these programs go. Anything else would be a step down and, as the manager noted, we have already done the heavy lifting to get into the program in the first place.
I started to think about all this in terms of our faith and our relationship with God. For those of us who are believers, entrance into the kingdom of God is quite easy. All we must do is believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior – assuring us an eternal place in heaven. No background checks, no application to fill out, no fees to pay and no need to ever renew our membership. And… no wait to join. Membership is open to anyone who professes belief – anywhere in the world. I guess you could say that God has a program called Kingdom Entry!
Tonight’s verse is from the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, written by Moses. We are told, in Deuteronomy 10:14, “To the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it.” So not only does God own the globe and everything in it, He also owns the Heavens and everything in them as well. The Kingdom of God includes everything – period. God owns it all.
My encouragement this evening is that God wants us to be in community with Him for all time. He has made it easy for us to spend eternity with Him. My prayer is that once you are a member of “Kingdom Entry”, you will realize how very special it is and that you will never worry about the need to renew your membership – you’re good for all eternity. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…