After months of preparation, lots of prayer, hours of time put into fundraising, a week of training, a long weekend of more training and tearful goodbyes, the morning was finally here and it was time for launch!! We woke up early to get to the Atlanta airport where we then arranged to fly into New York and then connect to our 14 hour flight to New Delhi, India, which would end with a 2 hour flight to Bangalore, India, where we are staying for the month.
At least that was the plan.
However, the more I spend leaning into the plans I have made or the ones I am given the more the Lord shows me how unreliable they are. What actually happened was a little different than we had planned for.
We flew just fine from Atlanta to New York. We took advantage of our layover and connection in the airport with the last bit of American food we could find (which has to hold us over for the next 11 months) and then got on our flight to Delhi. From New York to Delhi is about a 14-hour flight. We spent 7 hours in the air without any problem and then were startled with the news that we were making an emergency landing in Oslow, Norway. Yes, Norway. There was a man on our flight who had heart complications while we were in the air so he needed medical attention. From there we spent the next 5 hours sitting in the plane on the runway in Norway before taking off again for the remaining 7 hours of our flight to New Delhi. We missed our flight to Bangalore, so Air India put us up in a hotel and yesterday morning we left New Delhi and have safely arrived at our contact in Bangalore.
Although we signed up for the All-Asia route, our squad’s first stop was in Norway. That sure wasn’t part of our plan.
However, the Lord so graciously reminded me that no matter the way things may work out He is always constant. His character is consistent in all circumstances and that is such a valuable piece of truth that I will hold onto in the next 11 months. We may never know where we are living next, we may never know what our next day or even next meal looks like but I do know this: Christ is my ever constant.
He is the same yesterday, tomorrow, next month and even 8 months from now. He never changes, He is the only constant that I will experience this year and the only one that I will need and there is freedom in that.
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
Hebrews 13:8
