I have in my possession several licenses. I have (primarily) a driver’s license. It is a CDL with a passenger endorsement on it. I have driven a 25 passenger bus for the church I pastored, and it required a CDL.

I have a fishing license in my billfold as well. It is now expired (May of this year), and I have never used it. But, since I do live on, what I believe to be one of the most pristine lakes in Oklahoma, I purchased one on the off chance I may want to go fishing (or go with someone who asks).

The wall in my office has a Certificate of License to Preach. This is better known as a preaching license. Once upon a time men would go out on street corners, abandoned fields, or just set up a pulpit in a parking lot to preach. The local authorities required you to have a license to preach.

There are a few others I have, but there is one in particular that brought up a discussion and laughter the other day. It was my conceal carry license.

WHAT??? You carry a gun. Well, not exactly and not all the time. The thought of me carrying a gun is…scary? Disturbing? Humorous? Well, whatever your thought may be, I do have a license to carry a weapon. This all came about after the shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas at the end of 2016. Our church was right off the main highway and considered a soft target. The church leaders got together and sponsored a conceal carry class for the community. Myself and about 15 other people took the class, passed the written and target shooting test, and were awarded the certificate to apply for the conceal carry license.

Now, I realize there is no humor in this so far, but this next part is quite humorous and possibly borderline insane.

After having the license for about two years, I realized that I had never gotten to show it to anyone. They told me in the class it is not something to brag about and show off (just like the gun you carry). Upon a stop by a local or county police officer, as well as the OHP, a person is to declare to the officer that they have a conceal carry license, produce it with the driver’s license and state if the weapon is in the vehicle with you.

I had been a law abiding citizen and not been stopped recently or in quite a while, so I never had the opportunity. So, whatever possessed me to do what I am about to share with you I cannot tell you.

We (my wife, and a small mission’s team) were flying back from a mission trip in Connecticut. We were at Boston Airport in Boston, MA. We were going through security. The Homeland Security officers ask for a form of identification. I thought it might be fun to show my conceal carry license as a form of identification. I whip the license out of my billfold to give to the officer, and my whole world took a sudden turn that I had not expected.

The officer looked at the license, stood straight up out of his chair and said, “You got a conceal carry license? YOU GOT A GUN???” Whoa, cool down Dirty Harry (no I didn’t say that, but did think it)! “No gun here just a license. I’ve never gotten to show my license, and I thought it would be funny.”

Now GUN is not a word you want anyone to say in an airport and even less at an elevated voice level. This got the attention of a few other officers who started coming in my direction. I was pretty sure I was going to jail or to the room off to the side where you go and never come back.

After a few moments of assuring the officer there was no gun and that he or the others had nothing to worry about, he sat back down in his seat and passed me off to a rather large gentleman that worked with TSA. He took me to the side and watched me go through the metal scanner. He then proceeded in giving me a “pat down,” and I use that word very loosely, that I will never and still haven’t ever forgotten.

Convinced of no weapons, what seemed like hours had gone by, and I just knew I had missed my flight. Then thankfully, I was set free! Free to join my party that was wondering what I did this time. Free to hurry and get to my departing flight. And most of all FREE to think about my previous decision-making paradigm and all the flaws that it entailed.

It reminded me that is it good to have a good laugh once in a while, but not at a major international airport. Even better, it reminded me that sin is this way, too. It seems fun at the time, but we don’t think about all the consequences! And, sometimes the consequences have some disastrous outcomes!

Rethinking My Decisions Bro. Tim