There are so many things I can’t get over about my Holy God. I always marvel at the thought that God took the trouble to come down to earth like an ordinary human being just to impart His great Love and gracious Will to the benefit of the troublesome beings like me whom He made in His own image. The song that often comes to mind when I think of this is Something beautiful, something good. All my confusion, He understands. All I have to offer Him was brokenness and strife, but He made something beautiful of my life. Maybe I should start adding songs to my blog. But for now, you can google the song using the words I have provided. While is His ultimate demonstration of His Love, so many others trip me almost as much
For example, the thought that He promises to answer a prayer of agreement between only two people; that He promises to be present when only two or three gather in His Name. Yes, these are great, I also marvel at the way He intervenes mightily in my personal problems that many would consider insignificant, just in the same way that He intervenes in serious ones. The song that this always brings to mind is Mercy Chinwo’s Excess Love.
And just imagine! This special, impartial, unconditional, gracious, incomparable Love is available to all who desire it! All that is required is to believe in the God who so loves the world that He gave His Only Begotten son, that whosoever believes in Him may not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16). Once you recognize your need for it and and reach out and take it in faith! And I speak with authority here as one who has received it and enjoyed all its benefits for many years now. How I wish I had done so sooner!
And to top it all. God has given all those who accept His Love everything that is required to live a godly life!! (1 Peter 2: 3?????). For it is not by works but by grace so no one can boast about living a godly life (Ephesians 2: 8?). I have experienced this awe over and over again in my life, even before I gave my life to Christ! But this is for part 2. In any case, it was this kind of awe and delight that I experienced at the end of a trip where everything that could go wrong did. Here is how it happened.
I love to travel and by the grace of God, I have done quite a lot of it in my life. It started in my secondary school when I first got the opportunity to travel out of my country of residence to attend a summer vacation course in a another country in the same continent. Since I ended up in a university in another State in my country, I did a lot of travelling while in the university. During this period of my life, I also enjoyed the privilege of visiting more countries south of the Sahara, even spending a whole year in one of them as part of my course of study.
My horizons soon broadened at this time to also include relatively long stays in several European countries, and thanks to the course I was studying, I even managed to squeeze in a South American country at some point. I thereafter was able to add a North American one to this list while still on campus, thanks to the support of my loving father, and my oldest brother who had relocated there.
After graduation, I did my one-year compulsory national youth service in a State in my country that was far away from my state of residence and seized the opportunity to visit many other States in that area. After I started working, I would save up for trips and during my vacation, never hesitated to empty my savings just to purchase a ticket to travel to far away places. You could even say that I worked all year just to be able to travel during my holiday.
Fortunately, my savings made it possible for me to buy a second hand Honda civic which I only learnt to drive in one day, when I it dawned on me that the person I was counting on to teach me had a different agenda! Within the next few years, I got to know my city of residence very well, but my jobs also expanded my opportunity to travel to yet other States of my country.
I suppose it shouldn’t come as a surprise that at some point in my working life, I ended up living for about twelve years in a neighbouring country! And would you believe that when I did return to my country, it was to a job in yet another State, and it required me to travel to no less than fifteen different countries south of the Sahara, and several others beyond!
I imagine you may be wondering by this time what my wanderlust had to do with awe I experience when God intervenes mightily. I always considered myself a pretty laid-back person, even sometimes to the point of indolence. However, when travelling is concerned, I must have become extremely rigid – maybe even to the point of obsession – about certain details. You see, although I love to travel, I hate the stress of going through formalities at airports. I had therefore perfected the art of reducing stress as much as possible.
When my trip was official there was very little stress as I would probably be part of a group assisted by protocol officers who would take care of a lot of the formalities. However, when I was travelling for personal reasons, I had adopted the strategy of arriving at the airport very early such that I was seated comfortably at the lounge minding my business for no matter how long before the boarding started. As a result, I had perfected the art of keeping busy while waiting. A good book was usually enough, and when cell phones and internet became the vogue, I also used the time to catch up with tasks or friends and family.
This approach has mostly worked perfectly for me and I thought I had it all worked out… until this particular incident some four years after I retired.
I had been staying with family friends whose residence was some two hours from the airport where I landed. It was not my first time staying with them and so far, pick up on arrival and ride to airport departure had gone smoothly enough. But when I had no control over the arrival and departure arrangements, I get quite edgy. So about a week in advance, I was already informing them about my departure. This was particularly because my flight was in the late morning so if I was to arrive well in advance as I wanted, I would have to leave at dawn. My first discomfort came when I discovered that my host and hostess would also be travelling on the same day!! I got more edgy.
Further discussions revealed the fact that my flight was much earlier than theirs. I played seriously with the idea of leaving a day before but I simply couldn’t afford it. Then, to my shame, in spite of the additional expense, I started pushing for separate arrangements for the ride to the airport, since I wanted to leave as early as 5am.
However, it was only at the last minute that I discovered to my dismay that my hosts had planned was for us to leave together with the same ride! I had no choice but to resign myself to fate while persistently pushing for as early a start as possible on the two-hour ride to the airport.
As it turns out, I was unable to complete my online check-in the day before. Really getting concerned by this time, I pushed some more for a very early start. Nothing doing. Finally, if I recall right, we reached a compromise to leave by 6.30am instead of the 5.30am am I would have much preferred. All things being equal during the 2-hour drive to the airport, that would just about give me enough time to go through the formalities required to make my international flight. Well, as it turns out, leaving your home empty very early in the morning can be quite challenging for senior citizens.
I of course was ready on time and rearing to go. Oh, but was my patient tested! I tried to remain calm but inside me I was chaffing at the bit. But everything that could cause delay did. The last straw was when my host asked the driver to put a cold meat in his blue bag occupying the front seat! The thought skipped my mind at that time that my carry on luggage was also blue, but since mine was a suitcase and not a bag, I calmed myself down as I figured an English gentlemen would know the difference between a bag and a suitcase! How I wish I had checked but I was already making a nuisance of myself by reminding them ever so often that we were running behind! Besides, that would have made us loose more time since by this time it was already almost 7.30am!
I heaved a sigh of relief when we finally left the house. I had already clearly lost control and resigned myself to the fact that checking in was going to be stressful. I relaxed a bit as we took off, hoping for the best. But I was soon sitting on the edge of my seat shortly after we started the 2-hour drive. As it was now around 8am, heavy traffic caused by workers driving to their offices had built up. Not having left as early as planned, we were slam bang in the middle of the peak hour! Every traffic light seemed to turn red just when we got there, or so I thought. It took us quite some time to get out of this and while I was relieved, I remained very tense. I hope I hid it well. I spent the next few minutes creating scenarios in my mind on what I would do if I missed my flight.
But my troubles were apparently not over. After another 30 minutes relatively smooth ride, we reached another gridlock! Contrary to my hope that it would last for just a few minutes, we started crawling forward. This was too much for me! I do not recall if I prayed. What I could remember going through my mind was… do airlines ever reckon with local incidents like this? Would they consider delaying the flight if and when they heard about this accident on the way to the airport? Was my ticket was refundable? Can I afford to buy another ticket? Where I could stay if there was no other flight that day? How I needed to remember to cancel the plans I had made to be picked on arrival at my destination. I promised myself to avoid early morning flights in future… and to never ever again to stay in a town that was two hours from the airport! I confess I might also have considered never visiting my hosts again!
However, none of these thoughts made the traffic move faster! As we soon heard on the radio, apparently, there had been a serious accident on the way to the airport, and there was nothing to be done. I gritted my teeth, struggling inside, and strangely enough, recognizing the fact that I was somewhat of a control freak, or whatever you wish to call that mindset. I suspect I probably said some of these things out loud, but I do recall clearly that when we finally started inching closer to the airport, I spoke up: Do you mind if I rush down to the check-in counter as soon as we arrive, while you help cart my luggage and bring them to me please? Maybe I could plead to be checked in if the plane is still on ground.
I have no doubt that my hosts knew exactly how I felt by this time. Narry a murmur. As soon as we finally arrived at the airport, I quickly alighted from the vehicle and dashed for the entrance where the name of my airline was written. It was the wrong entrance.. or something. I came out and headed for another entrance. It was the correct one this time. I hurried through a space between the passengers waiting in a line to check in and, disregarding all rules, I approached one of the airline officers, and the first miracle happened!
I don’t know about you but my experience with staff at counters is that they seem to take special pleasure in ignoring your existence until they are well and ready to attend to you. But this lady paid me some attention! And not necessarily with the hostile look that you usually preceded their telling you that you were ‘out of line’ – pun intended. I quickly explained my predicament to her. Not olny did she reassure me that the plane was still on ground, but she expressed her readiness to check me in, asking me to come over to an empty counter to do so! I quickly handed her my travel documents, and she asked if I had any luggage. I told her I did and they were coming. But she stopped there and told me I had to wait until they were with me before she could check me in. I reconfirmed with her that I could pass through the lines to come straight to her when I was reunited with my luggage and she said yes. Lovely lady.
Still feeling harried, I made for the car. It was nowhere to be seen. I felt completely lost… until I saw the driver. I asked him where my luggage and hosts were, he told me that they had done as agreed and entered through the entrance I had used initially. I headed that way. No luck. I headed to the second entrance. No luck. Now felling completely lost, I stood where I was and gazed all around. No luck… until suddenly, I spotted them pushing my luggage. Alleluia! I headed for the counter, and I met someone else, a man!!! But he too heard me out and started the check-in procedure!! Alleluia!!!
Now, and only now could I turn to my hosts and we took leave of each other joyfully. All’s well that ends well, right? Wrong! The Lord was teaching me a hard lesson and my, did I learn it! At least I hope so. Yes, I was checked in. Yes. I got my boarding pass. Yes. I headed for the immigration and… security. That’s when lesson 102 in relinquishing control started. The immigration was no problem at all. And security was never a problem for me. But I had a surprise coming…
The conveyor belt at security swung my hand luggage to a second one where there was a long line of bags and suitcases! So while other travelers in front and behind me collected their hand luggage and made for the gates, I joined a long line of travelers waiting in front of me. I couldn’t breathe! Why on earth did I have to be on this line. My mind coursed through what I had in the hand luggage. Just some sensitive documents and a few essential clothing in case my checked in luggage got delayed or lost baggage. Again, I got ‘out of line’ to approach one of the security officers to explain that I was late for my flight. It has been known for them not only to announce, but to help fast-track security checks for passengers running late. But this officer simply reassured me that I would be okay. Okay? I thought. Okay? Did he have a direct line to the pilot and crew by any chance? What did he mean okay? Would he be there to stop them if they were taking off?
But there were others on the line ahead of me so nothing to be done. I took comfort in the fact that the airline might announce my name if they noticed my absence. So I joined the queue. Then this hand luggage came, and about three security men gathered round and started emptying its content… cameras, collapsible tripods, metal film tubes and other gadgets of all types, on and on and on…
By this time, others on the queue had become as jittery as I was. I started chatting with some about my problem. Some were in the same predicament. Cold comfort, but comfort none the less. We soon learnt from the owner of the attention-getting luggage that he was a journalist. And that as usual, the day before, he had specifically done all that was expected of him to clear his gadgets and had been assured there would be no problem. So he himself could not understand the excruciatingly minuteous inspection of each and every gadget.
So we waited. Several times I tried to approach the officer that appeared to be the head of the team. Each time he would assure me there was no problem. The process had to be respected. Others around me too were getting tetchy. As we watched, we finally came to realize that the other officers were being trained on the job!!
My hand luggage was number 5 on the queue! And time was going fast. Finally, they finished checking the journalist. The next luggage came up and was checked. I don’t know just how bad things got with me, but it must have shown I guess. One or two people ahead of me yeiled their position so my luggage could be inspected. Unlike most of the others, the opened up my luggage and hey presto! There was the cold meat in my hand luggage. Now I understood what had happened. The driver had put it in my luggage after all, instead of my host’s luggage! Things couldn’t get worse. So now I had to explain why a pack of cold meat was in my hand luggage! And would you believe that was probably why it was directed to this queue in the first place!!!
Well at least that part was now over. I sprinted towards my gate, my heart pumping as it had not done for years. I wondered once or twice if I was going to faint. The distance I had to cover was much more than I expected, and I had to ask for directions more than once. Finally, I saw an officer of the airline ahead of me and I was about to open my mouth when she asked if I was me! She called my name. Yes! I replied relieved. Her smile was so reassuring. She told me they had been waiting for me! Then and only then was I sure I was making the flight.
For the first time in my life, I was the last person to board a plane. It felt funny but past incidents of last persons boarding flashed through my mind and finally could empathize with them. I walked into the plane, found my seat, and started loading my stuff. A gentleman offered to help me put my luggage up in the cabin. I gladly accepted, still breathless. I put on my seat belt, still breathless. And only then do I remember praying… as I always did before take-off. But this prayer was much more intense, and spattered with a whole lot of praising, as you can well imagine!!!
The plane took off. Still thanking God for His Grace and Favour, I finally relaxed. I figured I had earned a good movie and started skimming through the movies available. It was after all, an eleven-hour flight! And then the next miracle occurred! As if the Lord was giving me a candy after the very stressful experience, I saw that the movie was available on the list! It had just come out. I had read about it and was desperate to watch it. I had talked about it all through my stay, and my hostess and I had searched for it in all movie houses in the town without success. It would seem that it had premiered in the country a few months before my arrival but was no longer available.
And now, on my way out, here was the movie, free of charge. The Jesus Revolution was available! Just what I needed! I wonder if anyone saw the wide grin on my face. At this point, all the tension drained off, replaced with pure joy in my heart. I settled down to watch it. And I was not disappointed. It is based on the true-life story of the conversion of the most unlikely people to Christ. Former troubled souls and drug addicts from the hippie generation who are very much alive today, and still serving the Lord fervently as leaders in churches!
I bawled out loud while watching some scenes. At others, I wept silently but joyfully. And at yet others, I burst into exuberant laughter, not giving a hoot about what the people around me thought. And right through it, I marveled at the great love of Christ for all men regardless of their state or status. If you haven’t watched it, you need to. It will change your perspective about many things as it did mine.
What an awesome God I serve!