Air Travel

Pam and I left for our vacation three times.

Preparing to go on vacation is half the fun they say. You know, all the talk, planning, dreaming, and wishing is so much fun.

Well, we had three times as much fun as anyone. We actually went to the airport three times in one day thinking our plane would really taxi down the runway and fly away.

Our adventure began at 5:30 a.m. when we left home the first time. Airline officials said, "Your plane had a bird strike and is being repaired. This plane won't leave till 4 p.m." So we went home.

Later we showed up at the airport ready to go at 4 p.m. But the plane was not fixed. They said, "come back later ready to leave at 1 a.m."

What, 1 a.m.? You mean 1 a.m. in the morning? So now we had another delay of 9 more hours.

Thankfully, our son Brantley called us and asked us to come to his home for dinner. What a life saver!! It was so much fun being with our Brantley family and we also used up a few more hours waiting and waiting.

Back to the airport the third time, we waited 2 1/2 more hours for the 1 a.m flight. This time it left on schedule.

Somehow that vacation reminds me of our endurance flight half way around the world to Ukraine.

On a mission trip we always prepare for the unknown, the unexpected, and the undercover problems---but not on vacation.

That night we were being stretched beyond flexible to some new spiritual lesson, I guess.

What is really amazing about this entire experience is that before we left I had just preached my point # 5 on PRACTICE PATIENCE AND WAIT.

God was turning the sermon around and now showing me what it means to wait.

Let's see, from start to finish the "patient and waiting time" amounted to 16 1/2 hours.

I can be patient but---that was just plain crazy!

I think I will wait a few years before preaching on "Patience" again.

Do you know what I mean?