PASSPORT: Apply Six Months Before Expiry.

sIf you’re looking to travel abroad and need a passport, you’re not the only one. Currently, the rush of applications has pushed the wait time to several months.

“We’re getting 500,000 applications a week for passports,”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said March 24, calling the renewed demand for travel “unprecedented.”

The State Department warns it is taking 10 to 13 weeks to receive a passport and the expedited process, which costs an extra $60, will take seven to nine weeks. Staffing shortages are being blamed for some of the delays.

Trying to get an appointment at one of the 20 passport centers in Clark County, Nevada is leaving some people frustrated. Applicants say they are being told that an appointment may not be scheduled for months, and if you plan to walk in to submit an application, be prepared to wait hours.

The Secretary of State reports in the 2022 fiscal year, a record 22 million passport books were issued and the government is on track to break that record in 2023.

Passport demand always increases from March through the summer as travel ramps up but this year is unusual.

The U.S. Travel Association reports 52% of Americans plan to travel in the next six months and with around 500,000 passport applications being submitted weekly, it probably won’t slow down any time soon.

The processing times had been going down for the last couple of months but with the surge again for the seasonal travel it has bumped back up. So the problem is just the backlog of the number of people coming in

For those who apply by mail, the delay will be longer. It might take up to four additional weeks for an office to receive and then mail back a new passport, according to the State Department — meaning the total processing time may be more than four months for a routine application.

Processing times are likely to rise further as the busier travel season approaches, the department said. Since applicants generally must send in their current passports, they’d be unable to travel abroad for that length of time, too, Leocha said.

The department has been hiring staff to boost processing capacity — to ensure customer service phone lines are manned, for example, Blinken said. It has opened satellite offices and authorized overtime pay, and there’s a federal task force to marshal the efforts, he added.

The parable of the Good Samaritan is told by Jesus in the Gospel of Luke. It is about a traveler (implicitly understood to be Jewish) who is stripped of clothing, beaten, and left half dead alongside the road. First, a Jewish priest and then a Levite come by, but both avoid the man. Finally, a Samaritan happens upon the traveler. Although Samaritans and Jews despised each other, the Samaritan helps the injured man. Jesus is described as telling the parable in response to a provocative question from a lawyer, “And who is my neighbor?”, in the context of the Great Commandment. The conclusion is that the neighbor figure in the parable is the one who shows mercy to their fellow man.

Some Christians, such as Augustine, have interpreted the parable allegorically, with the Samaritan representing Jesus Christ, who saves the sinful soul. Others, however, discount this allegory as unrelated to the parable’s original meaning and see the parable as exemplifying the ethics of Jesus.

The parable has inspired painting, sculpture, satire, poetry, photography, and film. The phrase “Good Samaritan”, meaning someone who helps a stranger, derives from this parable, and many hospitals and charitable organizations are named after the Good Samaritan.

Jesus answered, “A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who both stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. By chance a certain priest was going down that way. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. In the same way a Levite also, when he came to the place, and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he travelled, came where he was. When he saw him, he was moved with compassion, came to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. He set him on his own animal, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the host, and said to him, ‘Take care of him. Whatever you spend beyond that, I will repay you when I return.’ Now which of these three do you think seemed to be a neighbor to him who fell among the robbers?”

He said, “He who showed mercy on him.”

Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

MORNING AFFIRMATION

PSALM 91:11 NIV

For He will Command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.

You were created by God for a purpose. Your creator has the blueprints of how you function. To fulfill your purpose in life, you need to fulfill God’s purpose. God’s purpose is your purpose.