Tuesday evening I left the Dayton airport and flew to Scotland. A mini holiday, 3 and a half days of walking around and exploring Edinburgh, then returning home on Sunday and work on Monday!
Ok, so then this volcano exploded and grounded me in Scotland. I hadn’t been watching tv or the news so I literally had no clue about it. It wasn’t until I was in a ferry over the Loch Ness, searching for the monster of course, that an Australian couple asked when my flight back to America was because I should probably contact my airlines and blah blah blah. I figured it wasn’t as bad as they were chalking it up to be because 9/11 didn’t even ground flights for 5 days, what natural disaster could? And then I saw the news and realized the severity of the issue! Sure enough my flights were cancelled and rebooked for Wednesday the 21st and that is being optimistic. News reports here aren’t sure ash will clear until middle of next week. Now, World Race community, i am alone! and nervous! and only allocated funds and lodging and clothes until today! I awoke in a panic this morning after talking to the airlines about plan B if Wednesdays flights don’t take off…they basically said ‘good luck, you’ll be in queue behind a hundred thousand other people this happened to and will hopefully head home middle of next week”. My darling mum was quick to come up with plans, buy a universal charger, buy a netbook so you have internet, research ferries to belgium and ireland, visit the travel offices, email your boss, i’ll email him for you if you can’t…i mean she was brilliant. So, I spent the entirety of my Sunday researching how to get home and really…there are no options! Plan B can’t even logistically begin until Wednesday when it fails.
I felt defeated and highly anxious.
BUT! The reality of the situation is not as hopeless and out of control as I was letting it snowball into. This is the reality: God is sovereign and I am under his control at all times. The weather is fantastic and the woman who owns the B&B i’m staying in offered the room until at least Wednesday evening. After I let the urgency of the situation pass, I began to realize this blessing in disguise has grounded me in one of the most beautiful countries in the world. My house church is praying for my return, my work situation is out of my hands, and I will eventually get home! I should have taken my anxiety to God immediately, but my over zealous desire to make my own plans and see them carried through got the best of me. They always do. What an awesome reminder and lesson God has given me. Another life event that takes me back to these tried and true verses:
“Therefore i tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?…Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Matthew 6: 25 and 34
Cheers!
