Here’s a quick update on my church’s Rwanda/Uganda trip: Yesterday, we’re flying east from Seattle, and shortly after passing over the Rocky mountains, the plane turns south. The pilot then tells us that there’s been a problem necessitating that we land in Denver instead of Chicago. As a result, we miss our night flight to Belgium, and hence our ongoing flight to Kigali. We were supposed to be there right now, but instead we’re in D.C., where we arrived via Denver, via Chicago, at around midnight last night, falling into our beds after 1AM.
This, though, has provided our team with some much needed time of creative planning, time that was unavailable prior to our departure. We sat at a lavish buffet breakfast (courtesy of United Airlines) for three hours, eating our fill, and working through the details of the trip, the messaging and vision of spilling hope, and some of the key deliverables and answers we’re looking for on our journey. We now have a common lens through which the four of us will be looking. It was, more than we knew, a much needed meeting.
Which begs the question: Is this really a delay, or is this a sovereignly provided agenda for the maximizing of our trip? Why yes, of course. The times are never fully ours. We make plans, says the wise man in Proverbs, but God has the trump card. It’s not always clear why there are delays, setbacks, dead-ends. We’re not invited to introspect, trying hard to understand the “why” of every event. To do so would be to overly spiritualize, and thus sanitize, our lives.
On the other hand, sometimes God makes the reasons for delays and setbacks perfectly clear, if not instantly, at least eventually. When that happens, the best thing we can do is say “Thank You” – and get on with it, which is what we’ll do right now: 1. return to airport 2. quick “air and space museum” tour at Dulles aiport 3. supper at aiport 4. 5:30 PM (e.s.t.) flight to Amsterdam 5. 7:00 AM arrival in Amsterdam 6. 10:00 AM departure to Kigali 7. 9:30 PM (Wed.) arrival in Kigali 8. Thursday morning: hit the ground running….
PRAYERS: 1. for the arrival of our luggage, which is, literally, “God only know where” 2. for strength and health in the midst of prolonged travel 3. for the capacity to both see and serve with the eyes of Christ
cheers….