it started at around 4:30am...actually it was about 2:00p yesterday afternoon when my first flight was delayed, but all of that last night led to a 4:30a start to my day that really was about a half an hour too late. I shuffled around my room trying to get my head on straight and then scurried around my room when I did the math on how much time I'd have when I got to the airport. a 6:20 departure time was looming huge so I got to the lobby, called for a cab, ran up to my room to get something I'd forgotten, ran back down, waited for the cab, rode in the cab, paid for the cab at 5:52a and literally ran through the airport and fortunately was met with no line at the security checkpoint and boarded my plane with about 10 minutes to spare.
I was surrounded by people over the last 24 hours who were in the same predicament as I was and yet I heard very little complaining. I mean, we talked about the inconvenience and then laughed about how the story would sound later. We all were going to get to where we were going eventually. It was better to be safe, on the ground in an airport without a place to stay then it would be to be thousands of feet above the ground in an airplane that wasn't safe.
I tried so hard to get onto other flights and make it to where I wanted to be last night and there was nothing I could do to get there. I couldn't get home and I couldn't get to a close hotel, and I couldn't get to my required meeting today until about two hours late. I don't know why exactly. I may never know why. I got to have a couple of conversations with people in the airport. I got to meet a great cab driver from Ethiopia. And I got to eat a cinnabon for breakfast this morning with an ice cold americano with one pump of classic from starbucks. I may never know why my journey included those things today, but I'm amazed that God would take me the way he does, safe every step of the way. And tonight, one night later than I expected, I'm home with my family and loving every minute.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
spare
A few days ago on our way to lunch I needed to get some starch, some chewing gum and some toothpaste. My friend had to go meet with a lady who was without a steady income, had just lost her baby in a fall and was heading in for surgery this week to remove some cancerous tumors. She didn't know me, it would be awkward if I were there so he dropped me off at Target to get my things. I prayed for him as I went in asking God to use him to speak His words into her life.
It takes less time to get starch, chewing gum, and toothpaste than it does to sit an talk and pray with someone so I browsed a few of the shops in the outdoor shopping center as I waited. I looked with feigned interest at some GPS watches at a running store, smelled the inticing aromas of a metro diner, held a spatula that cost more than my dishwasher and browsed a sports clothing store. The girl at the sports clothing store was trying to get me to buy a pair of astronomically expensive shorts to wear home from my workouts when I was rescued by a call from my friend who said he was on his way. "fifteen minutes," he said.
I ventured out of the store only to find three older ladies gathered around the back of a car whose heads all whipped around and asked me almost simultaneously "would you change our tire?"
I told them I would and they were ecstatic. The ladies needed to be to the hospital in an hour and wondered if I would be done before that. I assured them that if it took me that long, I had done something horribly wrong. I changed the tire and was finishing as my friend drove up. He helped me tighten the lug nuts as I lowered the jack. I loaded the faulty tire back into the trunk and was gathring my starch, chewing gum and toothpaste when the lady tried to hand me money. I assured her that it was completely unnecessary and in a flash she was reaching to stuff it into my pocket. I tried to dodge to no avail...that's an awkward place for a lady to be reaching, you know...
My friend laughed when we got into the car and asked me how much the lady had stuffed in my pocket. I looked at it and it was twenty five dollars. Just enough for lunch. He had a smile on his face so I asked him what was up. He told me that over the last several months that he had been giving this lady he had visited and her family money and gift cards to help them get the needed groceries and to pay their bills. He said each time he told God that this was a gift for Him and that he knew God would keep his promises to give back. He told me of how last month he had given her the $200 that he and his wife were going t use for an aniversary getaway to help her out and that the next week someone had given them a two night stay at a resort and then someone else had given them like $200 to spend while there. He told me that right before he had called me to say he was on his way that he had handed the lady's sister $20 to cover a cab ride to the airport and some food on the way. He told God he was interested to see how that $20 would find it's way back into his pocket...meanwhile I was changing a ladies tire and God was paying for my friend's lunch.
Some people believe there is no God.
It takes less time to get starch, chewing gum, and toothpaste than it does to sit an talk and pray with someone so I browsed a few of the shops in the outdoor shopping center as I waited. I looked with feigned interest at some GPS watches at a running store, smelled the inticing aromas of a metro diner, held a spatula that cost more than my dishwasher and browsed a sports clothing store. The girl at the sports clothing store was trying to get me to buy a pair of astronomically expensive shorts to wear home from my workouts when I was rescued by a call from my friend who said he was on his way. "fifteen minutes," he said.
I ventured out of the store only to find three older ladies gathered around the back of a car whose heads all whipped around and asked me almost simultaneously "would you change our tire?"
I told them I would and they were ecstatic. The ladies needed to be to the hospital in an hour and wondered if I would be done before that. I assured them that if it took me that long, I had done something horribly wrong. I changed the tire and was finishing as my friend drove up. He helped me tighten the lug nuts as I lowered the jack. I loaded the faulty tire back into the trunk and was gathring my starch, chewing gum and toothpaste when the lady tried to hand me money. I assured her that it was completely unnecessary and in a flash she was reaching to stuff it into my pocket. I tried to dodge to no avail...that's an awkward place for a lady to be reaching, you know...
My friend laughed when we got into the car and asked me how much the lady had stuffed in my pocket. I looked at it and it was twenty five dollars. Just enough for lunch. He had a smile on his face so I asked him what was up. He told me that over the last several months that he had been giving this lady he had visited and her family money and gift cards to help them get the needed groceries and to pay their bills. He said each time he told God that this was a gift for Him and that he knew God would keep his promises to give back. He told me of how last month he had given her the $200 that he and his wife were going t use for an aniversary getaway to help her out and that the next week someone had given them a two night stay at a resort and then someone else had given them like $200 to spend while there. He told me that right before he had called me to say he was on his way that he had handed the lady's sister $20 to cover a cab ride to the airport and some food on the way. He told God he was interested to see how that $20 would find it's way back into his pocket...meanwhile I was changing a ladies tire and God was paying for my friend's lunch.
Some people believe there is no God.
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