Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: THE WHOLE WORLD IN GOD’S HANDS (not the song) (05/28/15)
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TITLE: My Little World � Invaded and Invigorated | Previous Challenge Entry
By Noel Mitaxa
06/04/15 -
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It was a warm Sunday, and despite the blessing I’d seen during three weeks of chaplaincy on a Latin American cruise, Fort Lauderdale Airport was parading a selection of traps.
Leaving the salad bar, I was looking for my chainsaw as I turned a chicken salad sandwich over and over―an innocuous sandwich encased in packaging thick enough to protect the whole universe from nuclear waste!
But hunger wasn’t my biggest issue. Communication challenges were ganging up on me.
A power failure in the customs hall had delayed the shuttles from our cruise ship, but that was only the beginning. My cell phone’s international SIM card had worked through Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Panama and Colombia. But now it was not working―and refusing access to USA operating codes.
No phone.
How last-century, I hear you say… But last century has no access problems for an eternal God, even though I needed to contact an airline-captain friend in Denver Colorado. I was to stay that night with him, and he had also arranged family-discount rate fares for me from Florida to Los Angeles.
Despite the crowded airport concourse, I risked accusations of using a vague pick-up line, asking a lady who looked vaguely familiar, “Were you on the ship?”
“Yes,” she replied. “I went to the services you held as chaplain.”
I explained my difficulty, and she loaned me her phone.
While she went shopping, I called my friends; then found some hoped-for opportunities to continue ministry with other passengers: particularly a mother who had earlier shared with me her heartache over her drug-addicted son; for now I was able to share a scripture that had slipped my mind. Thank you Lord…
Later, at the departure gate I discovered my expected flight had been oversold; and my discount ticket only had standby status. “But please wait over here sir, and we will book you in if any ticketed passengers don’t arrive.”
I watched a cheerful line of passengers arrive, be processed―and fill the plane. As the door closed, my offer to take a deck-chair on the wing was politely declined.
After watching that plane depart I booked another same-status flight at the ticket desk―this time via Salt Lake City. And this time I obtained the very last seat. Thank you Lord… But I could not call my friends with the news.
“All the Mormon the merrier―or maybe all the more off!” I thought, watching everyone disembark at Salt Lake City. The plane was continuing to Denver, so I stayed on; having had so much trouble securing a seat. I even greeted the new cabin crew―explaining my fantasy of one day possessing own private jet. This comment clicked with Rick, the chief steward, who spent the whole flight wandering around chatting with everyone on board.
I’m sure that Rick―like me―receives many requests about his humour; and―like me―he keeps the humour coming in spite of these requests. His introduction was memorable, “Welcome aboard ladies and gentlemen. If you have carried anything on board, please place it in an overhead locker or beneath your seat. But please ignore this request if what you carried on board were your children!”
Flying on to Denver was otherwise unremarkable and, on landing, my neighbour generously loaned me his phone so I could call my hosts.
“We’re waiting for you at Baggage Claim,” came the reply.
And there they were. No trace of “bagonising” (the anxiety that can seize you while waiting at airport carousels!) They knew my arrival time and even my seat number on this second plane, having accessed their company’s internal computer system. It reminded me of Jesus’ Matthew 10:29 promise: that not even a sparrow falls to the ground without the Father noticing. Even though my descent had been more controlled…
The following Tuesday evening I left Los Angeles for Melbourne; a fourteen-hour flight that crossed the International Date Line through a non-existent Wednesday. And after almost half the world had spun away below, I arrived on Thursday morning; thankful for how God had revealed his infinite control and his intimate fine-tuning in ways I’d never seen coming.
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Glad to see you in the challenge again.
This was great.
A chainsaw for a chicken salad sandwich wrapper? Hilarious mental picture.
A deck chair on the wing? I'd like to read the ad that promotes that! Would it be cheaper or would you have to pay extra for all the duct tape you would need just to stay seated?
Bagonising... what can I say?!
:)
Wing His Words
Well done as always.
God bless~