My Own Amazing Race

I packed my bags, drove to the airport, said a tearful goodbye to my family at the gate (which a fellow travelor told me was better than reality tv), and made it to my terminal with time to spare. It was all going according to plan, and I thought I was going to be the last flight out before the brunt of the winter storm came through and shut everything down. Then the delays started. Four hours later, they cancelled the flight, and I found myself sitting in the airport, phoneless, wondering what I was going to do until my rescheduled flight the next morning at 7am.

Thankfully, I had spent the last few hours getting to know some of the people sitting in the terminal around me. I was delighted to hear their stories and found us being fast (although temporary) friends. One of my new friends was named Steven. He is a Navy Seal in Norfolk and was kind enough to let me use his phone many times. After our flights had been rescheduled, we made our way to baggage claim together, had dinner at McDonalds (the only place still open), and began to work through what we were going to do about our stranded situation. After finding out that our flights had been postponed yet another day, I was determined to find a way to spend the next 40 hours somewhere besides the Indianapolis Airport.

I tried contacting shuttles, taxis, hotels, friends--everything was shut down, and the roads were horrible. I was about to give up when I remembered some Lighthouse teams were on their way down to stay at a hotel near the airport that night before their flight the next morning. In a last ditch effort, I called my sister who was able to connect me with the driver of the bus. In less than an hour my new friend Steven and I were on the road making our way back home. We dropped him off in Anderson, and I made it back to Upland after a 4 hour long bus trip that would normally have taken about an hour and a half.

I am SO thankful that this all worked out! Even through the snow when there seems to be so few options, God is there, and he provides :) While I wish I could already be in Mexico working with Back2Back Ministries, I know that I'll arrive in God's timing and am thankful that everyone who was going to be on that flight yesterday is safe. It's all a part of the adventure :)