Tuesday, March 13, 2007

EUROPE: Day 1 (Well on my way...a.k.a. Getting there)

I just got back from one of the most amazing trips I've ever been on in my life and I wanted to share each day with you while we were there. Unfortunately, I never had internet access after the second day. Fortunately, I was able to write about each day and save it on my computer until I got back. So, that's what you are about to read (should you accept the mission). Hope you can get something good out of the different posts. I tried to be as descriptive as I could without giving away too much. There is an underlying theme to all of the blogs. Let's see if you can find it!

And away we go!
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I'm going to try to do something I've never done with my blogging. I'm going to attempt to write a new blog entry for every day of this 10-day mini-tour. I hope it's as entertaining for you to read as it is for us to experience.

It's been a wild ride so far, and getting here has been the bulk of the excitement. We met at the Nashville airport at 11:00 Saturday morning for a 1:25 PM American Airlines flight to Chicago (to be followed by a 3.5 hour layover and then a 9 hour flight to Frankfurt, Germany). I always say "It's not a trip unless something bizarre happens." Well, it was a trip from the time we got to the airport because our flight to Chicago was cancelled because of bad weather. We were re-routed to New York City, however, on a flight that would leave Nashville at 3:55 PM, putting us into LaGuardia at 7:05 Eastern. We would then need to get transportation from LaGuardia to JFK, check into Singapore Airlines and fly to Frankfurt. The fun part was that we would leave JFK at 9:05, a two-hour window to land, get our bags and equipment, get to JFK, check in (to an international flight, mind you) and be ready to go... Yeah... No sweat.

Before we left Nashville, a couple of us started calling around and trying to find transportation so we could just meet them at baggage claim and go. We had big plans. It was gonna work. So we get on the plane and we sit and wait for the pilot to push back so we can get there. Things start looking ugly (wouldn't ya know it). One of the gauges on the plane is not working properly, but come to find out, there's no problem. No problem at all, except that it has to be signed off by a licensed mechanic. He's not on the premesis yet. And so we wait.

Fast forward to 4:45. We're finally taking off. Yay! Now all we have to do is get to our connecting airport, checked in, through security, and on the plane in an hour and twenty minutes. Oh goodie! (What do you think we were doing in the meantime?) Hello, Doubt. Our lovely flight attendants had very little faith that we would make that flight (and we were starting to believe them), but they hooked us up a little bit. As we were exiting the plane, one of the flight attendants gave us 3 vouchers (and made some well-timed phone calls) to get us 3 Lincoln Town Cars to take us to JFK. We got packed into the cars (barely) and sped off. (I love New York. You can drive like you are in the middle of the Indy 500 and, if you look important enough, not even get pulled over.) So we get to JFK at 8:20. Forty-five minutes before take-off on a six-hour international flight. We hustle up to the counter and, wouldn't ya know it, the line is empty! By the way, I forgot to mention earlier that I had been praying for a mighty work to happen so we could make this flight. He'd done it before, He could do it again, if He wanted to. So we check in (and for the second time that day, didn't get charged for our equipment being over weight) and literally run through JFK to get to a long security line. We can see our gate from the security line, it's not far away, still we can't get to it. This can't be happening! From the moment we stepped foot into the airport, they were calling for people to board the plane to Frankfurt. By the time we hit security, it was last call. Nerves were overreacting, tensions were rising, complaints were flying. It was so scary. We finally get through security and high-tail it toward the gate.

Remember how I prayed for a mighty work? And remember how God answers prayers (even those from we who doubt)? Well, He did it again! I was the last person on the plane and we arrived in Frankfurt just before 10:00 AM local time.

It reminds me of Romans 8:28 where it says "God works for the good of those who love him." It's so good to be loved and cared for by a God who is madly in love with us, regardless of how we feel about Him. So I'll end this by saying that God is good all the time, and all the time God is good. Pray for us!

Peace, Love and Chocolate

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