God's grace, protection, and answered prayers

Sunday, June 3rd / 1:45 AM Waco, Texas time

This is my rev down after a long day that actually began yesterday (Saturday, June 2nd) when we went to bed at 2:30 AM (Seattle time). Four short hours later we got out of bed and finished the process of packing up four sleepy girls and paraphenalia into the van for the airport. (Thank you Erica Reckling for a delicious breakfast and the entire Reckling family for your gracious hospitality!)

It was only as we stood in line ready to go through the x-ray machines that we realized that Sophia and Lydia didn't know that daddy was not going with us. Woops - not so good with the parental communication. It was a very rough good-bye as Jay left us at the airport. The five girls headed to Texas. Later that day, Jay headed for LA and then for Kansas City where he will spend two weeks on his DMin studies.

It was to be a very eventful day. Our seats were scattered across the plane so the attendant went to work re-arranging seats which when everyone had boarded caused great confusion! Do you know that people actually cringe when they see a mother with four children getting on the airplane? You can actually see their lips moving in devout prayer, "Please Lord, don't let them sit near me."

In Phoenix we had to leave our stuff on board and leave the airplane to re-do the seating fiasco for the second leg of the journey. I had 10 minutes to single-handedly get new seats, take the girls to the bathroom, and buy supper - we are still reveling in the European airlines who actually serve their customers meals on the plane. It was 2:00 in the afternoon by then, the girls were hungry, and we still had a 2+ hour flight. So, having visited a sandwich shop, the toilet, and the ticket counter, we re-boarded (again the prayers go up). For this leg, our seats were at the other end of the plane so we gathered all of our stuff and moved to row 32. We took an entire row save one seat. A shy little man hugged the window trying to put distance between the single mom with all of the kids. I took pity on him and sat in the middle to buffer him from Jenna's antics. Halfway through the flight, I was up with the girls taking them to the toilet for the 10th time in an hour. When I returned, my seat was wet. The frightened man had spilled soda on my seat. Would you believe that two different stewardesses asked me if he spilled it himself or whether the girls had been responsible! I replied brightly that my girls had been no where near his cola can when the dirty deed occurred. To date, we are innocent of spilling on any passengers (save ourselves).

Finally we landed at Dallas and all that was left was gathering the luggage, catching the shuttle to the rental car company (where I had reserved a car on-line) and then a 2 hour drive to Waco lay ahead of us. We were supposed to arrive at 7:00 but our plane was a little late and by the time we got to the rental car company, it was closer to 8:30. When our turn came, we were happily informed that there was no car reserved for us. Here I am, a single mom, four tired girls who have been traveling all day and a bevy of bags. I had mistakenly made the reservation for a car company across town (thus the really good price on our vehicle).

Thirty minutes later and $35 dollars poorer, we arrived at the correct car company via a taxi. I know I should have taken a shuttle but it would have meant lugging all the girls and baggage up a flight of stairs, into a shuttle which would have travled 10 minutes to a different shuttle which would have taken 45+ minutes. I just didn't have the heart to transfer all those bags and girls two more times.

By 9:00ish, we were finally in our vehicle and now faced with another problem. My mapquest directions were from Dallas International across town. Those of you who know me, know how hopeless I am with directions. And now we enter into the grace, protection, and prayer part of the evening.

I left the busy car company in a foreign vehicle with no idea where I was headed. A Texaco up the street was no help. The neighboring 7-11 gave vague directions about I-35 South which I followed but all of the signs said I-35East South. Was this the right interstate? How should I know? I kept driving in search of my I-35 minus the "East". I drove until I realized that I was in a part of town that I didn't belong in. For those of you thinking I should have glanced at a map - totally helpless with maps - absolute gibberish - no idea what to do with them! The next gas station resulted in a variety of very kind individuals giving me directions. The problem with these kinds of individuals is that they actually understand how roads and maps work and they talk to people like me in a language that makes sense to them. What they don't realize is that, if that language made sense to me, I wouldn't be asking them for directions!

Armed with their directions, I set off again on the interstate (turns out 35E South and 35 South are actually the same (go figure). I was good for, say, 2 minutes, before I veered the wrong way and ended up on another highway. To be honest, there were a lot of confusing highway options. To make a long story short, I made a lot of wrong turns, we were hopelessly lost for over an hour, I was praying, we got directions from a homeless guy, two guys off the street, and finally ended up in another section of town where we definitely didn't belong. I saw two police cars and I was desperate for help. I was now hopelessly far away from I35 South. As I sat at a light, I looked to my left to see a grandfatherly type in his car and I rolled down my widow, 'Where is I35 sir?" He motioned to the on-ramp, "Your best bet is to take a left onto 45" was all he managed before the light turned green.

From the back of the van, I heard Lexi say, "Mommy, should we pray?" "Yes, honey, that would be a really good idea." At this point, I was very frazzled, I was aware that we were in a dangerous area of the city, I had no idea where we were going, and it was now almost 11:00 at night.

As Lexi finished praying, Sophia prayed, and then Jenna. Less than one minute (no exageration) from the end of Jenna's prayer, a big sign loomed in front of us that said simply, "WACO". God had lead us to I35 E South and we were on the right road. If you had been in the car tonight, you would know what I mean when I say, "God answers prayer". In the coming miles, there was a juncture that caused insecurity, had I gotten off of my beloved I35 E South? "Mommy" came Sophia's soft voice, "Should I pray again?". "Yes, honey, that would be great" I acknowleged. "Dear Jesus, please help Mommy to know if we are on the right road so we can get to the hotel safely." I make no exageration when I write that within a few seconds, the first sign confirming that we were still on the right road appeared. And from that point onward, every few miles, there was an I35 marker that confirmed we were still headed in the right direction.

God's grace and God's protection surrounded us today on a very long journey. He answered our prayers when we were truly lost. Tonight, as I write this blog, I compose to the sweet rhythm of of four cherubs safely tucked away in slumber. I am so grateful for that sound.

Today (Sunday), we will do two services in Waco while Jay does a service in LA and then flies to KC. Before we are together again as a family, 9 days will have passed. The girls and I will have spent a week at Texas teen camp, covered the miles by car to Oklahoma for services next Sunday, and then travel to KC.

Please pray for us - for God's grace and His protection to carry us through. As I end this blog tonight, I take a final bite of my Burger King whopper (purchased 5 hours ago as we left the car company) - it is the first Burger King I have had this trip back - it tastes good to be home.