DELAYED. My Flight, My Plans, My Life

I don’t travel by plane a ton, but when I do, there’s one word I’m never prepared to hear: DELAYED. It sends me on a panic of elbowing my way off the aircraft and making a mad dash to the next terminal (because connecting flights are never in neighboring terminals…why is this?). This word has a more traumatic effect on me with a hubs and 4 four kids in tow. (See photo below…good times).

 

We were heading home to the southeast after a lovely, ten fun-filled days of Christmas with my coolest-in-laws-ever at their Yak Ranch in Colorado. (Check out their website for Mesa View Yak Ranch – you’ll love them too!:) One of my kiddos was on portable oxygen the whole trip due to the altitude and his weak lungs, so when we arrived in Denver from Durango at 10:00 pm, we were thankful to be one step closer to home.

 

However, the dreaded news came by way of a too-calm-about-disrupting-life-voice over the terminal intercom, informing us that our plane was delayed.

“Hazmat is looking into a problem on board.”

(Side note: when I hear the word “Hazmat,” I think a hazardous waste issue, a biological bomb or weapon, or worse—an airborne pathogen akin to the deadly killer on the movie Outbreak (a film that’s had me scared of cute little monkeys ever since).

My mama-bear brain began to wonder, “Do I even want to board this plane once they’re through with the search, rescue, and clean-up?” Of course, I do! If you’ve ever traveled with kids, you’ll do ANYTHING to get home quickly. (“You say the plane only has one wing? Can we all just sit on the right side then, and balance it out?”)

As the minutes dragged on, we realized we weren’t going to make our connecting flight to Nashville. My hubs devised this wondrous plan to fly us to Little Rock, rent two cars (they didn’t have one that fit us all), and drive the six hours home. (He’s a genius…an over-achieving genius, but a genius). I began a virtual IV of caffeine to keep me awake for the drive ahead.

An hour later, we finally boarded the plane to the news that we would arrive in Little Rock AFTER the rental car company closed. We literally slept the night in the airport. Except for me. Because, remember, I had inhaled enough caffeine to keep me awake for the next eight hours. Thankfully when the rental company opened, they had a Suburban available (we all fit), which also, thankfully, had leather seats, since my oldest son threw up all the way home…WELCOME. TO. MY. WORLD.

Want to know the craziest part?

Amazingly, it wasn’t when we sat on the runway in Little Rock for half an hour listening to our pilot try find someone at the airport who was awake to “wave” us in! No, the sanity-breaking moment was when we boarded the Hazmat-searched-and-cleaned plane in Colorado, and the flight attendant stated nonchalantly, “Yeah, someone on the last flight left a dirty diaper on board. And, you know, I’m not touching that thing.”

TRUE STORY.

HAZMAT WAS CALLED TO REMOVE A DIRTY DIAPER.

IT TOOK AN HOUR.

Where do I even begin? There was an airport FULL OF MOMMIES who’d have taken that thing without a second thought and tossed it effortlessly into the nearest dumpster. My ENTIRE trip home from Colorado to Tennessee was waylaid because of One. Dirty. Diaper.

 

Isn’t that just a perfect picture of life, sometimes? You make your plans, and then, at no-fault-of-your-own, plans and dreams get delayed. Or worse…canceled.

 

God’s Word says, “In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.” (Proverbs 16:9)  I’m DAILY learning to make soft plans and hold them openly to the One who truly works for my GOOD and delights in what brings HIM glory. I’m learning that my plans often produce fading results while HIS produce LASTING fruit!

And, as short as this life is, I want every moment, every breath, every tear, and every endeavor to count for ETERNITY. I’m in the midst of some pretty major “delays” right now. How satisfying to know that my Jesus loves me enough to stop me in my tracks to achieve “an eternal glory that far outweighs them all!” So I fix my eyes “not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is ETERNAL!” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18)

 

What might God be teaching you through life’s delays? Leave a comment, and thanks for stopping by!

*And be encouraged, fellow mamas, if only by the fact that you can remove a dirty diaper in a fraction of the time as Hazmat!*