In the words of one of my favorite movies, "When God throws a curveball, don't duck; you just might miss something." How true that is. After driving several hours to JFK airport, we unloaded all of our bags and said goodbye to our driver. Unfortunately, when we weighed several of our bags, they were over the 50 lb. allowance and we had to do some quick maneuvering to get all our bags under the limit. We then proceeded to the new self-check-in system which was only a slight headache but we pressed on. Our team bonded rather quickly, especially with the help of several funny sights (including a Mr. Miyagi sighting) and it was a blessing in disguise that we did because our team didn't even make it out of the airport before we had our first challenge. Due to some "technical difficulties," our flight that was scheduled to leave at 6:45 didn't leave until 9:45, making us late for our connecting flight in Budapest to Bucharest. However, I found myself turning to God in prayer. Actually my prayers were a bit schizophrenic. At the beginning they went, 'Dear God, I know you have everything under control so I place all my worries in Your hands. Give us wisdom and help everything to work out.' to 'LORD PLEASE HELP! WE'RE LATE AND WE'RE GOING TO MISS OUR FLIGHT!' I think some of you can relate. Yet the fun was just beginning.
Our initial flight was 8 hours and our plane left us with much to be desired. Unfortunately the plane had no personal viewing screens for each passenger and the movie that was playing on the screens in the aisle suddenly went black 45 minutes into the flight never to return again. I'm not sure if anyone reading this has ever flown multiple hours on a red-eye flight with no entertainment, but if you have, you understand the restlessness that imprisons you; it's worse than the 10 inch wide seat your sitting on. As uncomfortable as I was with the conditions, I tried to console myself with journaling and sleep only to be awoken by one of the multiple screaming children on board. I can hardly blame them for being fussy; I would have been in their shoes. However, it was hardly the sound any bored, tired flyer wants to hear. Thankfully, the Lord sped our plane up and we arrived sooner than expected. We arrived at Bucharest, rented our car, and rode off into the sunset. Ok not even close. We ended up getting lost twice which turned our 7 hour car ride into something closer to 8 or 8 1/2 hours but PRAISE GOD we finally made it to Suceava. Tired to the point of delirium, we lugged our suitcases up to our rooms (after waking up the entire Pensiunea, I'm sure) and passed OUT! God was not finished with us yet, though.
Sunday morning, we were had breakfast with our missionary contact, Melissa, and she took us to the church she attends. Although we were still exhausted, God had an amazing thread to weave into the fabric of our trip. The pastor preached a sermon from Nehemiah 1 & 2 and said a few things that reset my attitude with truth. "Is your heart so broken for the work God has for you that you weep? Then does it cause you to act?...If we don't let go of comfort, we cannot do the work of God." All of a sudden, God had my attention. It wasn't the annoyances that were wrong; it was my heart in the midst of them that was wrong.
Nehemiah had it right; I was in the wrong. I told everyone that I was coming half way around the world to help children but what is the point if my attitude was not that of Christ? Talk about a reality check. This is what I asked for and I'm up for the change; my prayer has always been and will always remain, "Lord, change me so that you can use me." You know, I have a funny suspicion that He is going to uphold His end of the "changing Lindsay" bargain...
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