Posts Tagged ‘Seattle’

Airport Adventures

Monday, March 14th, 2011

Last night I flew home from Winnipeg after a wonderful weekend with the women from The Meeting Place. My flight was delayed in Calgary, so there I sat, recalling memories of another trip back in 2008. Today I’m taking the liberty of posting a story I wrote following that airport adventure like no other. Enjoy!

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Last week I flew to Florida and Indiana for two television interviews. In all my life, I’ve never played such a game of “Good News, Bad News.”

Monday’s flight from Seattle to Chicago went well. My connecting flight to Tampa, however, experienced maintenance trouble so I sat in the plane, at the gate, for 4 ½ hours waiting for the fix.

Meanwhile, my friend Peggy was to meet me in Tampa, take me to my TV interview the next morning, and drive me back to the airport. When I phoned her about our plane’s delay, she told me that she and her husband had both fallen ill so she’d made other arrangements for me. Visions of a happy chat went “poof.”

Peggy’s fever broke overnight and we were able to spend a few hours together after all. Unfortunately, when she dropped me off at the airport, I forgot my leather coat which I’d tossed on the back seat of her car. She was long gone before I realized it was missing.

I flew from Florida to Chicago and discovered that my connecting flight to Indiana was canceled. Fortunately, I was able to buy a bus ticket to my destination. Within a half hour of our departure, however, a blizzard blew in. The roads turned icy and visibility dropped to near-zero. My bus arrived in South Bend, Indiana five hours later (the trip takes 18 minutes by air).

I had a contract for a rental car at the airport but that agency’s counter was closed when I arrived. My only option was to go outside, coatless in sub-zero weather, and wait for a taxi. What did I find? An off-duty cabdriver parked outside, waiting for his wife. He drove me to my hotel, picked me up for my TV interview the next morning, and even lent me his winter jacket to wear en route.

The “Good News, Bad News” game continued when the interview ended. My flight back to Chicago was canceled. Like dominos, that would mean missing my connection to Seattle.

Fortunately, an earlier scheduled flight to Chicago was boarding as I approached my gate. The gal at the ticket counter said, “There’s one empty seat. You can have it.” I battled the freezing winds on the tarmac, boarded the plane, and breathed a huge sigh of relief. Two minutes later, the flight attendant approached me and said, “Sorry, this seat is inoperable. You have to get off.” And so I returned to the terminal where I sat for another 3 ½ hours, waiting for the next available flight.

It’s hard to believe all those events happened within a space of 48 hours. My interviews were about Moving From Fear to Freedom: A Woman’s Guide to Peace in Every Situation, and the entire trip gave opportunity to practice what I preach.

Through each potentially frustrating and fearful situation, one Scripture verse came to mind: “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, whose thoughts are fixed on you!” (Isaiah 26:3) Rather than fixating on the annoyances and sometimes frightening circumstances of this trip, I chose to pray and praise along the way. And whaddya know – it worked! My confidence in God’s sovereignty was strengthened, and peace reigned. More than ever, I believe that focusing our thoughts on the character of God is the key to inner peace in the midst of the unexpected.

How about you, my friend? Are you experiencing peace in every situation? Keep your mind on the Lord. Trust in Him to see you through, and peace will be your reward.

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The Adventure Has Begun

Friday, March 5th, 2010

NOTE: I’ll post March’s blogs under the “Travel” category because I’m on a missions trip now. Enjoy!

Our trip to Poland and the Ukraine has begun, and so have the fun, adventures and, yes, the misadventures. On our shuttle bus between Vancouver and Seattle, the man sitting behind us talked non-stop to his seat mate. Actually, he started even before the bus arrived. Without trying to eavesdrop, I learned that he’s 66 years old, retired 10 years ago, had a small stroke, is afraid to fly, is a former high-school Latin and French teacher, and the list goes on. I also learned (four times over) that he was very nervous about missing his flight because someone told him there might be a delay going through security at the border. (I felt sorry for the guy – he wasted a lot of energy worrying for nothing).

Then there was the guy sitting two rows ahead of us. Again, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but it was impossible to miss his monologue. He talked about everything from what happens to a helicopter if bullets hit its rotor, to thinking that he’d take a bullet himself if he tried to reclaim the property his grandfather once owned in the former Soviet Union, to riding a bus in the Czech Republic that was boarded by a gang of hoodlums who were arrested and cuffed by police when the bus reached its destination. It sounded like the stuff of which spy movies are made. But he didn’t look like a spy (duh – what does a spy look like, anyway?). He resembled an overweight Einstein with white locks gone wild.  

I must say that I’ve never heard men talk so much. I thought only women used 30,000 words per day!

In all the miles I’ve flown, I’ve never spilled a beverage on a plane.

Heading out from sunny Seattle

But today my luck ran out when I dumped tomato juice down my right leg, Gene’s left leg, and on the bags at our feet. Red splattered everywhere. We sopped up everything possible with napkins and paper towels, and then we ducked into the mini-bathroom to wet-wipe our pant legs. Thankfully we were able to get most of it out and our jeans dried before we landed in Minneapolis. But my computer keyboard didn’t fare as well.

I was in the midst of typing this blog when it happened. I immediately turned the keyboard over and dabbed it gently with paper towels…and prayed. Within minutes, however, the entire bottom row of keys wouldn’t work. Try typing the words an, and or no without an n. I could do nothing but pray more and put the computer away. We figured we’d have to take it to a repair shop for the weekend and hopefully get it fixed before our overseas flight on Tuesday.

Thankfully that won’t be necessary. A couple of hours later, Gene turned my laptop on and wonder of wonders, it worked. All I can say is, “Thank You, God!”

So, here we are in Clear Lake, Iowa. In the snow. It’s beautiful. And it’s cold.

View from my window this morning

In a few minutes we’ll head to our US headquarters – my first time to see it. And later today we’ll drive a couple of hours to a camp for our advisory council meetings.

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