Divine Appointments

I had a great adventure getting to the event in Norwich, NY last Friday. I woke at 3:00 AM to leave for the airport by 3:30 AM. I said a quick prayer “Lord, today help me to be aware of divine appointments.” I don’t normally pray that but would soon learn that God had an interesting day planned for me.

The first strange event happened just as I was about to enter I-65 south of Nashville. A police car blew past me with lights flashing just as I was about to merge onto the highway. I was hoping the highway was not shut down for a wreck. About a mile later, there was the police car with lights flashing, completely blocking the highway. There was one car in front of me and he went around the police car onto the shoulder of the road. I followed. That was when I saw that a car had been driving the wrong direction on the highway and was now stopped in front of the police car. Crazy! If I had been there a minute earlier I may have found myself face to face with that guy.

Then in the airport in Nashville, my flight was delayed several hours due to the snowstorm in Chicago where my flight was connecting. As I waited in line to board the plane I met Paul, a 16 year old kid from Maryville, TN who was also flying to Albany. He was traveling alone and was concerned about the flight delays and cancellations. The bells went off in my head as I realized this was a divine appointment. I told him that if he would stick with me, I would help him get to Albany. And we were off.

When we arrived in Chicago, the airport was a snowy mess. Our plane sat on the tarmac for 45 minutes and we watched our connecting flight depart without us to Albany. Finally able to unload, we managed to get signed up for a stand-by flight to Baltimore which would then connect to Albany.

At this point we picked up the third member of our ragamuffin band, David. David is a college student at Kentucky Wesleyan University and is an award winning football player there. He recently had surgery to repair a damaged knee and was traveling alone, leg extended as he sat in a wheelchair. He was also from the Nashville flight and was trying to get to Albany. So we added him to our group and waited for the flight to Baltimore.

We finally got to Baltimore only to find the snow storm had followed us east. We were now stranded in Baltimore trying to get a stand-by flight to Albany. For hours we waited and were finally dismayed to hear that all flights to Albany had been cancelled. We were now stranded in Baltimore.

At this point it is beginning to feel like we are caught in a Christmas movie, some sort of combination of Band of Brothers meets Nester the Long Eared Donkey and the misfits trying to get to Bethlehem!

There were no flight options going out on Saturday and the flights going on Sunday would not get me to Albany in time for the event. So the only option I had was to get a hotel, then get a one-way rental car and drive to Albany 6 hours on Saturday. So we got Paul and David’s parents on the phone, got permission for them to stay in the hotel, and the three of us crashed at the hotel around 11:00 PM. We were exhausted to say the least. I said a prayer for each of the guys and then made my way to the lobby to book the rental car.

Saturday we drove the 6 hour drive to Albany, paid a total of $30 in tolls along the way, and finally arrived at the Albany airport around 2:00 in the afternoon. Our luggage was waiting. We got a great group shot and then said our good-byes after exchanging phone numbers and addresses.

Here is Paul, David, and myself.

It was a privilege to be used by God in each of their lives, simply expressing the love of God to them, that God was taking care of them along the way. I reminded them repeatedly that it was not me taking care of them, that it was God who was using me to meet their needs. It was really cool.

Then I drove to Norwich and crashed at the hotel. The weather was still bad. We had a good service in the morning and then I headed back to the airport for my flight home.

Another storm moved into Albany and it looked like I might get stranded again. Thankfully I was able to get my flight out to Charlotte to connect to Nashville. Unfortunately, the Nashville leg of the flight was cancelled due to a mechanical issue. So the airline put me up in a hotel and I got the first flight out in the morning. I finally arrived home on Monday around 11:00 AM.

What a crazy weekend. But it was exciting to see how God had planned for me to help those two guys get to Albany. I was able to share the love of God by simply living out what I claim to believe. It was really interesting to see God at work throughout the trip. You never know how God is going to use you when you say “Lord, help me to be aware of divine appointments today.”

Go for it! Have a great day!