I'm in the airport waiting on a
flight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A delayed flight. I am in the airport waiting on a
delayed flight. Again.
I got invited to the Baylor Bowl game in Phoenix with Kenton's (LOVELY) family this week. To clarify for you Kenton's role in my life, I'll use my mom's explanation: he's my "special friend." (We let it slide.) Anyway, the trip was so so so great. An awesome week with incredible people! And then we tried to leave.
Exiting Arizona Attempt #2 began about 4 hours ago (it's 12 pm on Saturday).
To most accurately surmise my past 48 hours, I'll provide you our current score board:
Number of times dropped off at the airport: 2
Number of times picked up from the airport
at 2 am because our flight got cancelled: 1
Number of trips through airport security: 2
Number of flights booked between 2 different
airlines: 6
Number of airport meals consumed: 5
Number of hours waiting on flights: 19
Number of times lining up to board flight: 3
Number of flights actually boarded: 0
Number of times I cried/laughed hysterically/sat
frozen in defeat/fought my alter-egos Bad Attitude and Entitlement/wanted
to end it all by overdosing on peanut M&Ms and Pinterest: (too many to
confess without being admitted to a psychiatrist)
SO. Here's our new flight path after the one day layover:
Phoenix --> Las Vegas --> The Promise
Land
Wait. ***NEWS FLASH*** The new plan is now the old plan. You're getting real time updates, people. Literally as I am typing this, my handsome and patient and wonderful and
helpful and selfless "special friend" comes
up to me and announces that the Vegas flight for which we're waiting has been
delayed (again) until 1:20 pm, which just so happens to be 2 hours and 20 minutes
past its original departure time, which just so happens to get us to Vegas 2 hours after our
connecting flight leaves for Austin. I promise I'm not making this up just to add drama. To fabricate travel torture this elaborate would be a crime. And actually, brb, I
gotta go research new flights really quick. I shall not. I will not. I can NOT
spend the night in Vegas tonight.
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Update: still in travel limbo. We're not
sure what we're going to do. But in a terminal packed full of helpless (and frustrated)
wannabe flight passengers, I pray.
"God, I trust You."
I did this on our first attempt leave Phoenix (such
good times) after about 8 hours of waiting and instantly felt tension release.
Worked this time too. It's like telling the all Powerful and Good and Loving Creator God
of the universe you trust Him with your crazy circumstances instead of grasping
onto stress and control and anxiety actually WORKS. What a concept. Wait… brb,
gotta go book new flights.
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Well it’s now three hours later and we're sitting
at a different gate for a different airline with a couple hours of waiting left
to dottle. But this brand spankin' new direct flight with this brand spankin’
new airline is going to work. Yes. It will. Uhhh-huh. Yep, I shall see you tonight,
Austin. No, we don't need hotel rooms for another layover in Phoenix tonight.
Yes, I will be at church tomorrow. No, we don't need to talk to the airline guy
behind the counter to figure out a plan B. YES COLIN PLEASE PICK US UP FROM THE
AIRPORT IN AUSTIN WE PROMISE WE WILL ACTUALLY BE THERE THIS TIME.
God, I trust you.
To act like I know the Lord's grand purpose for these silly travel shenanigans would be like saying I know who won the national
championship in college football this year. (Wait, has that even happened yet?)
Either way, I'm positive I'll never know all God did these past two days until
I get to see Him face to face one day and ask for the exact play by play. But to say I can't see some of the ways
God used this for His good would be a lie so big it would be like me telling you that I haven't been obsessed with horses since I was 7 or I've never
had a cavity in my life. Heinous falsities. Horses are my actual FAVORITE (proud of it) and
cavities, well, I've had a few (plus like, a lotttttt).
The point is that TRUST opens doors to see things
that are unseen. TRUST turns Bad Attitude and Entitlement into backseat drivers
you shut up with duct tape wrapped 30 times around their nasty little heads.
TRUST turns "Whaaaaaaaaaat is going on howwwwww are we getting home whyyyyyyyy is this happening?!?" into "Despite this current
obscurity, I have peace." Trust turns “this sucks” into:
- - one
GREAT story to tell my friends/share at church/fodder for a (LONG) blog post (sorry)
- - countless
honest conversations with people in the airport
- - extended
(PRECIOUS) time with Kenton's family
- - opportunities
to affirm verbally abused airline employees who face the raging crowds with bad
news but just can’t help what they can’t help behind the scenes
- - choosing
JOY over MISERY
- - choosing
SUBMISSION and HUMILITY over I WANT I NEED I GET I DESERVE
- - a day
and a half extra time in sunny and 70s Arizona versus cloudy and cold Texas
- - eyes
opened to what I didn’t expect God to do with a situation I didn’t want to be
in
I know there are worse travel woes out there that
make mine look like a walk in the park, but this is still kind of a drag. A drag
that makes me release my idols of Comfort and Security to instead grab hands with
Trust and Peace. I like the hands of Trust and Peace. They’re strong but
soft. Much unlike the hands of Comfort and Security, which feature sweaty palms
and white knuckles.
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WE BOARDED AN ACTUAL
PLANE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’ve never been so gleefully giddy to enter a tiny tube of
recycled air and sit in a disturbingly worn in seat and strap on a constricting seat belt and pay
sharp attention to a safety demo I’ve seen approximately 39184 times and eagerly stow
away my computer and cell phone as I was just now.
Yes, I’m leaving Arizona 46 hours later than I
had planned. But, God, You are still good and I trust You. Because if I
don’t trust You, I’m just playing pilot of my own 747. And there’s no amount of
hours spent in an airport that could teach me how to do that without crashing
and burning.
Brb, gotta actually stash my computer so we can get this plane off the ground. (!!!!!!)
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Praise the Lord, I made it home. Feeling
so blessed to have this little nest complete with a hoard of unused
candles (thanks Mom), a fridge freshly stocked with my favorites (double thanks
Mom), an awesome roomie (hey Hil), another awesome roomie off to be the hands and feet of Jesus in Haiti (believe in and miss you Chels), and a bunny rabbit named after our 27th President.
As these past few days have been the definition of insanity, I’ve conducted tests and have conclusive results for you: every single time Trust beats Narrow-Mindedness
by a landslide. Like, Trust decks Narrow-Mindedness so hard that when he wakes up (hopefully never) he'll need a new haircut. Trust is currently dancing around my heart to the theme song from Rocky. And I gotta say, I'm dancing too.
Trust is the pathway to Peace in even the grimmest of circumstances. And if you don't believe me…. well, then you’ll just have to trust me.
Trust is the pathway to Peace in even the grimmest of circumstances. And if you don't believe me…. well, then you’ll just have to trust me.
