Day 1 - Waiting and Traveling

July 16, 2011

"Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord" -Psalm 27:14

We made it to Miami. That was it.

The team checked into the Tampa airport at 5:00 am. Boarding went exceedingly smooth. Someone said later that should have been our first clue of what was to come. It never goes that smoothly. We made our way to the gate with only minor glitches, like Barry Dowdy getting pulled aside for pat-down at security. Still haven't heard the story there.

We got right to the pressing business of the moment which for some was hitting the Starbucks, and for others was finding a corner of the Tampa airport floor. We boarded smoothly, the doors of the airplane closed, we taxied out, and then the captain let us know there was an electrical problem on the airplane. So we turned around, went back to the gate, and waited. And waited. And waited. What was probably 45 minutes later they finally said for everyone to clear the airplane. It was going to take a long time to fix the problem.

They weren't kidding. Eleven hours later we took off for Miami.

In those eleven hours, we slept, read, talked, walked, ate, and mentally prepared for the week ahead. I was impressed by the attitude of the team. "Hey, it is what it is. God will either get us there or we will go home." In the words of a former trip coordinator for Honduras, "No problema!" Even when the pilot gave us a crusher of a landing, we took it in stride. We are really not in control here.

We found out that there was no way we were going to Honduras today. Instead, American Airlines sent us to a hotel, gave us meal vouchers, and booked us on a flight for the morning. God-willing, we will be in Honduras by 11 am tomorrow morning.

All of this has brought Psalm 27 to my mind. Not that we have wicked people advancing upon us as he wrote about, but that in adversity, he called for waiting. He knew God would deliver him as needed. In fact, he said it this way, "I remain confident in this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living" (v13). He knew God would act. He knew God would deliver. So his next thought followed naturally: "Wait for the Lord."

Today, we waited for the Lord, and the Lord acted. The Lord reminded us that our time schedule and his are often not identical. So, I write this from a hotel in Miami, not a hotel in Honduras. It's all good... in God's time.

No problema.

Remember something very important right now...God loves you, and so do I.