Ah the first set of travel journeys! Bouncing from one uncomfortable sleeping position to another. Changing the physical clock often and hoping the biological clock catches up. The joys of the “going” to the nations.
On paper it sounds easy. In theory it sounds easy. But actually doing it takes a toll on you. I am grateful that I consider myself a great traveler, adapter, and have mastered sleeping in a chair (ah high school math class pays off again). No really, I have flown very frequently over the past 2 years and have figured tweaked my sleeping techniques to where i feel rather well after a good ole airplane nap.
Z Squad made it to Atlanta’s airport at 11am for a 1pm or 3pm flight. It was a calm morning at the terminal then 45 eager racers come into the lobby. The place livens up, the few people around start looking at us, and we take to the self-check in computers that have no lines. First handful of people get checked in fine…..then the error message starts to take over. More people are getting errors than are actually getting checked in. Delta scrambles some people to take action to resolve the situation. The easy process of checking in, you know for one or two people, doesn’t always work with a group of 45. The clock was ticking as noon approached. Those with tickets getting anxious to go through security, and those with error messages staying calm that it will be okay. This is just the first of many snags that I am sure we will encounter on this trip. Overall as a squad we handled it amazingly well.
Delta employees directed our squad to a secret security check in area so we could skip the normal traffic and we all made it to our gates with enough time to snag one last Chick-fil-A meal. It was awesome watching northerns and westerns embrace a Chick-fil-A sandwich for the first time and all the southerns looking puzzled “What! You never had chick-fil-a before!”
Flying from Detroit to Amsterdam went as smooth as possible! Delta had flush new comfy seats, touchscreen tablet devices for everyone to indulge in movies, music, and games. All we had to do was sit back and enjoy the ride. I on the other hand had the one tablet that didn’t seem to want to work correctly. As soon as I sat down I noticed the “welcome slide show” was off compared to everyone else and deep inside of me I knew I got the “one.” Sure enough it liked to freeze up 15-20mins into a movie and reboot the entire thing. The music feature worked for awhile but one can only handle so much Adele, TobyMac, and U2. I resorted to writing in my journal and reading my Bible.
Which is probably what I should of been drawn to first. So often myself and seemingly society draws to movies, music, and games to entertain ourselves. Everyone was quick to shout out their favorite movie was available and raced to the headphones. But why? Why seek to be stimulated by human creation, when God tells us He is all we need. To dwell in His word, and His presence. I read through 1 Timothy a couple times, and the beauty of it is that 1 Timothy is a book written by Paul to his son Timothy. A letter written in the form of a “how to live.” Phrases like “train yourself to be godly” (1 Timothy 4:7). It struck me like you need to train and dwell in God’s word just like you would train for a marathon, or Iron Man, or certification. That I need to be drawn first to Him, and not rely on entertainment to fill voids in my life.
I am typing this on the flight from Amsterdam to Nairobi. Where we will arrive in Nairobi at 8pm to begin a 12 hour layover. How will I tackle this perceived “down” time? Huddle around a laptop showing a movie, create an airport game, or will I choose to pour into a teammate/stranger and follow God’s path. I am not advocating against games, movies, music but rather saying where do I turn first?
Be Bold in taking the path less traveled of how you spend your “down” time.
Be Intentional in pouring into a relationship.
Update! We all made it safely to Nairobi, and enjoying the 12 hour layover. Everyone seems to be making the tile floor a comfy bed.
