hello!! hi!! merry christmas! (belated christmas? )
I have a story to share!
This all took place about 3 weeks ago, and originally the message from it was so great and so full of jesus that I had a perfectionist fear in sharing it, and how to share it, afraid that my words wouldn’t do any justice to conveying what God did.
I now recognize that that was only the devil, and he has no more grip of fear on me for it! It’s never too late to share something if it carries the gospel.
So Here we go!
On a cold winter night, 30 World Racers were in an airport for their connecting flight from Colombia to Guatemala.
These 30 racers, although very capable to
pay attention to a gate change, didn’t hear, and missed their flight. You could say we felt what it was like to be in the Home-alone airport scene. or every other movie with a running-airport scene. though not an outright sin, this incident definitely showed the fault in humanity! our forgetfulness! our silliness!
so, panic. But not the normal airport-cursing-tossing-tables panic, just fast heartbeating, and lots of thinking came quickly. I heard my Squadleader Aly asking the questions in her head.
“How will we get flights for all 30 of us?”
“What will this cost ?”
“How did this happen?!”
During this time me and Aly backed away from the Avianca Desk, and had to take all of us back to re-go though immigration, and to the entrance of the airport.
After hours of pacing around, asking spanish questions, and getting spanish flight information, a price was given.
$16,000.
that was the original price that was going to have to be paid for all of our tiny yet HUGE mistake.
AHH.
calls were starting to be made concerning how we were going to pay for this and where the money would come from. the solution was that we were going to have to pull from other things throughout the rest of the trip, to cover this one flight.
this is what the youngins these days call “a big oof”
not only this, but flights that were available wouldn’t be for the next day and day after! we were going to have to find a hostel. aka, more prices that we couldn’t afford.
this was the price we were going to have to pay.
once given this information, all the scenario was going through our heads at light speed.
how did this happen! why didn’t we check and listen more closely for the gate change!
after the mistake, we did what we could, and the verdict was set!
separate flights over the next couple of days,
and now was just room to pray.
what an impossible situation it seemed. I know God was a God of impossible things, but I realized that in that time, I wasn’t sure if God was God over airport messes.
suddenly, 2 Avianca angels in red came up to my teammate Kori and I with strangely excited smiles,
and they asked us “No pajaste por los vueltos si?! Nosotros tenemos un solucion. Pienso due podemos ayuda con los precios”
“you have paid for the flights right? We have a solution! I think we can help with the prices.”
and just like that,
they walked our Squad Leader Aly over to a phone, and there was a lady to help set up all of our seating for flights the next two days.
No cost.
The 16,000 debt was taken.
Romans 4:
“Oh what joy for those whose sins are forgiven, whose sins are put out of sight. Yes what joy for those whose record for the Lord has cleared of sin.”
Not only this, but my teammate Melissa had mentioned having family members in Colombia. We all laughed at how coincidental and strange and random it was!! Family in colombia??? It was a friend of a family member of a sister of a cousin type of connection,
and yet again there was favor.
Our flights had been booked for us without price, and now we also had a place to stay the next 2 nights while we were waiting for our flight.
Overwhelmed by the *insert every positive adjective that exists* grace that was being given and shown, we get in a van to melissa’s family members house.
upon arrival, we were greeting with food, drinks, and beds. they had made room for 30 strangers within a two hours noticed. not only this, but they hosted us the next two days to breakfast, colombian got chocolate, and love.
I got to see Bogota for a day’s visit, all from the love of this family! they took us around to the best spots in bogota, and we were filled.
this is from my journal entry that night at 11 pm.
”Lord you not only answer our prayer, but you go above and beyond. you don’t just want to fill us but you want us to overflow! you want to give so much to us that we explode. just kidding. but really. i’m overwhelmed. ah. I can’t believe it! But I totally can. of course you can take away a 16k debt. of course you can. of course you can make a way when it seems like there is no way. you didn’t just give us a free flight, but you brought us food+beds+eachother + P R O V I D E D.
and you still don’t stop there! you showed me that trusting you will be an adventure, and that life with you is beautiful! you want us to see the best! thank you for showing me what it’s like to trust in you. and thank you for showing me the fruit that reminds me why there is no room for doubt. you are my God of impossible situations. you’ve made rooms for us.”
so, in the spirit of the Christmas season!
I want to say thank you to our God who came down to our level of humanity,
knew how incapable we were to fix things ourselves,
and did it for us.
in his heart to give and to be with us,
He has made a place for us and only requires to trust that He is good.
••••
thank you so much for reading and being part of the adventure!
on december 31st my squad and I had a Declaration time for this new year.
I declare that God will walk me through the fire of life and not let one bit of smoke end up on me! I declare that I will keep my eyes on Him and His power and not be swayed by what goes on around me!
Even and especially a missed flight.
lots of love!!
cami.
