Just recently I was called out to the state of New York to help out some colleagues finish a project they were working on. The call came on a Monday, I flew out at 5:30am on Tuesday. Needless to say the flight plans were thrown together. On my trip out I had three legs on 3 different planes: Portland to Phoenix, Phoenix to Philadelphia, Philadelphia to Albany. The first two legs went fine, I had enough of a layover in Phoenix to allow my luggage to catch up with me. But, I had to change terminals and concourses in Philly, a change that required me to get on a shuttle to get from one terminal to the other. I had less than an hour to make the change, and even made it to the gate a few minutes late. I couldn't help but wonder, if I barely made it to the gate, how was my luggage going to make it on time. Since my final destination for the project was an hours drive away from the Albany airport, I feared that I would have to drive back to the airport in the following days to retrieve my clothes and learn to make due until then.
When I arrived at the gate, there was a crowd waiting around impatiently pacing because the flight had been delayed. Apparently no one had any clear information to the nature of the delay, and none had been given from the airline staff, just a delay. I spent the time waiting and watching the luggage loading onto the plane. As the gate was opened and boarding began, I saw my bag get heffted up onto the loading dock and disappear into the belly of the plane. I breathed a sigh of relief with thanks to the Lord for having taken the time to ensure my luggage still caught up with me. The pilots voice came over the intercom as we were taking our seats, "Sorry for the delay folks, something mechanical looked out of place and we wanted to make certain everything was fine before we pulled away from the gates. Your safety is our highest priority and we wanted to be sure. Thankfully nothing was wrong and everything was fine." I couldn't help but think an illusion was created to delay the plane just long enough to make sure everything else was also ok.
On my return flight, I had a similar flight arrangement: Albany to Chicago, Chicago to Denver, Denver to Portland. The change over in Chicago was scheduled to be even worse than my Philly terminal change. I was supposed to land in Chicago at 6:01pm and take-off at 6:41pm, leaving barely enough time to get in line for the next plane, let alone enough time to change terminals and get my luggage transferred. But all of that was blown away when I arrived to the check in line in Albany. "Folks, they are experiencing high winds in Chicago and the flight controllers out of Chicago are calling for a 2 hour flight delay for all inbound flights. We are looking at a departure time of 6:23pm here in Albany, with a landing in Chicago around 8:30pm. Since this is a weather related delay, if you miss your connecting flight out of Chicago, you are unfortunately on your own for hotel arrangements for the night. We can assist you in rerouting to another flight for your final destination, but earliest flights out of Chicago are not scheduled until 4am tomorrow..." With the delay, my flight was going to be leaving 20 minutes after the time I was supposed to be landing. Making my connecting flight was an impossibility. Worse yet, I was anxious to get home and get repacked for our Thanksgiving trip out to the Oregon Coast. My plans were falling through and it was beginning to look like I would be making it home sometime around noon the following day.
When I finally made it up to the check-in counter, I asked the agent to clarify what my options were and how I was to be certain that my luggage would make it back home to Portland. Apparently there was an earlier flight bound for Chicago that was running two hours late. It was scheduled to take off a half hour before our flight was originally supposed to take off, the chances were slim, but the agent put me on the stand-by list for this slightly earlier flight. But to ensure my luggage made it to Portland, he put it on the earlier flight to give it a head start. If I were to miss getting on the plane as a stand-by customer, I would have to wait for my regular delayed flight, get to Chicago late, sleep in the terminal and catch the 4am flight from Chicago to Denver, which would get me home sometime around noon the next day. Not great, but it was a plan.
As the early flight was boarding it was very apparent that I was not going to be getting on as a stand-by customer. But, the regular flight was pulling up to an adjacent gate, weather had calmed in Chicago and my original flight that was delayed for two hours was beginning to look like it could depart on time. Eventually we boarded the plane twenty minutes late, then sat on the runway for another ten minutes waiting for take-off clearance from Chicago. My tickets gave me forty three minutes to change flights once in Chicago, but the thirty minute delay cinched up very tightly any time I had to make the transfer. Catching my connecting flight was going to be nearly impossible. But at least my luggage was on its way.
We landed in Chicago at 6:37pm. As soon as I stepped off the plane I searched for the nearest flight status display board. My flight out was showing that it had already closed the gate. But I made a dash for it anyways. Now here's the point where God and I started having a short conversation. My state of anxiety and stress over the changing schedule turned into a state of curiosity. The gate to my connecting flight was once again in another terminal, this time one that required me to find a tunnel that led me underground and across the airplane parking lot. Though the status board said "Closed", the Lord's voice in my ear said, "hurry, not too fast, but don't hesitate." So I quickened my pace and ran through one of the nation's busiest airports. Yet, just as the board stated, when I arrived at the gate, it was closed, no agents anywhere to be found, no customer service to assist in figuring out how to get from Chicago to Portland now that my flight had already departed.
Then I heard the voice inside me say," I have already prepared the way for you Aaron, you just have to find it." The Lord and I play this game a lot. For those of you who have read my stories about Goodwill Shopping, you understand this hide-and-seek game we play together. So, I turned and set out down the concourse, not in a state of panic or anxiety, but in an anxious state of wonderment. What had the Lord prepared for me, where should I look and to whom should I speak? Though my original flight plans routed me through Denver and departed at 6:41pm, there was a direct flight from Chicago to Portland that was departing at 8:23pm. The departing gate was a few gates down from where I was at, so I headed that way hoping that a ticketing agent would be present to help make some new arrangements. Yet, as I headed that direction I sensed that there was no reason to head directly to that gate, I just needed to find a ticketing agent that could help. So I changed direction and headed towards the nearest gate with an agent standing at the counter. But as I approached the counter the agent left and started heading down the concourse. So I followed. A short distance down this agent stopped next to a rather important looking man dressed in a business suit and holding a radio walkie talkie. I interrupted whatever conversation had begun between the two men," Excuse me, do both of you work for this airline? I need some assistance..." and I explained how my day had gone so far and the missed flight scenario I had found myself in. The important looking man turned to the agent I had spied a little earlier and stated, "Bob, see what you can do about getting him onto the direct flight." And that was it, Bob put me on stand-by for the direct flight with the instructions that I needed to be at the gate at 8pm, no later, and wait for my name to be called. I missed my flight and the gate was closed, but I had been gifted a moment to rest and actually sit down for a bite to eat before the long flight home.
Just as Bob had assured me during our short exchange, the plane had plenty of seats. In fact it had enough seats that I didn't have to sit in the middle, shoulder to shoulder, with other passengers. Crazy enough, I beat my luggage to Portland and ended up waiting a half hour for it to arrive on my original flight out of Denver. All in all, by being stuck on stand-by I ended up getting on a direct flight from Chicago, I was assigned a seat with only two occupied seats, allowing me and the other individual to spread out and relax a little bit more comfortably, and I beat my luggage home. Had none of the flight delays occurred and the gates been open, I would have ran through Chicago O'Hare with little to no time to eat or recover before the next flight took off. I would have been layed over in Denver for two hours and landed in Portland at almost midnight.
Instead, just as the Lord has assured me, He had prepared the way for me, I just had to find it. And I made it home sooner than I had anticipated would happen at the beginning of the trip. I was expecting a long night and landing in Portland the next day, but I landed ahead of schedule.
As I recalled the trip and these assurances from the Lord in my telling of the story to my wife, I couldn't help but wonder how much bigger this message was, and is, supposed to be for me, us, and others that know us. "I have prepared a way for you...if you seek me you will find me...for I know the plans I have for you...I have gone and prepared a place for you..." When we encounter delays in our lives, or closed doors and gates, we need to react with anticipation for finding the surprises the Lord has already placed in our paths.
