Denver: A Great Place for Dinner and a Potty Break

I don't like to fly, but recently the Lord has been helping me see that I do not have to accept that I'm a nervous flyer. Instead, I can expect to be free from that fear because the Lord of creation says He came that we might have life, and have it to the full. For the days and hours leading up to a flight, I do not life a full life. And certainly for the time on the metal cylinder that should not, but can, propel forward through the sky, I am not living a full life or a free life.

Yesterday was different. I was scheduled to travel to Phoenix, Arizona to visit Remuda Ranch. I had mentioned this in a post a few weeks back. I had to travel alone, and my first flight to Denver was a 3-hour flight. In the last few days, I learned of some crazy weather in the Phoenix area - mudslides, severe storms, 65 mph winds, flooding, etc. This made me even more anxious, fearing a turbulent ride into Arizona.

Well, it was a necessity to get on the plane. The training in Arizona would be amazing.

God was faithful during the flight. The clear thinking I typically lack was there for me to exercise in full force. When we jostled and jimmied 36,000 feet above the (very hard and firm) earth, I reminded myself that this was normal. When the fasten seat belts sign was illuminated, I told myself this was not because the pilots were bracing for weather bad enough to send us plummeting toward the (very hard and firm) earth but was instead protocol so we weren't walking around, falling on one another and suing the airline for someone bruising our feet.

I can't tell you how liberating that experience was. The gentleman seated next to me was friendly, introducing himself and making me an addition to the party he and his friends had already started as they were headed for some fun in Vegas. I learned that the flights into Phoenix were not delayed, so that reminded me that the weather would be safe enough for me to travel through.

So you can imagine my surprise when, upon landing in Denver (and seeing mountains in the distance!), I turned on my phone to celebrate with my sister that the Lord had delivered us safely to Denver - as I could have expected Him to all along - and had a voicemail from an unfamiliar number. I listened to the message after talking with my sister and heard this record: "Hi this is Shannon with TravelMasters. This is urgent regarding your Remuda on-site visit. The on-site has been canceled. Please call me at _______. Thank you very much."

A bit stunned at the news and giddy from having survived without fear the past 3 hours, I called her back to learn that Remuda had been experiencing all the same terrible weather and could not accommodate those of us heading out for the on-site visit. After some phone calls back and forth, I was rebooked on a flight back to Dayton at 7:00 - two hours from the time I got the message.

I made my way off the plane - Joe, my neighbor on the plane - graciously allowed me not one but two of his pens as I scrambled to take down flight numbers, confirmation numbers, and gather my belongings as we deboarded the plane. He and his friends all reminded me to be sure to get my luggage - thankfully, I had taken Shannon's advice and opted not to check any bags for my short two-day trip to Phoenix - which was revised into a long, one-day round-trip adventure from Dayton to Denver and back again.

I made a few phone calls to friends and family and enjoyed the comedy and irony of the situation! I do not like to fly, and I just flew 3 hours - a big deal for me - just to turn around and go back! Well, that's not true. Apparently I was also meant to experience the women's bathroom in Concourse A and the local Quiznos Subs restaurant. At 7:00, I got back on a plane bound for Dayton. I had my row to myself and TONS of leg room. I overheard the flight attendant telling another passenger that this was a brand new plane; it looked like it. The headrests were adjustable the way they are in a car - can go up and down, and the cushion on the headrest can be shaped into a "U" shape for your head to lean against!

So I returned back to the long-term parking lot at the Dayton airport about 10 hours after I had left it. And though I flew to Denver for Quiznos and a trip to the restroom, I believe that, instead, God may have sovereignly ordained this entire experience for MY benefit, that I may have freedom from this crippling fear! I really believe I can fly again next time with the same confidence, not in myself or in the pilots' abilities (though it's finally starting to sink in how safe air travel is), but in God to set me free to be enveloped in His love and will. I got tears in my eyes as I looked out at the skies over the midwest as I headed to Denver; I could almost feel the prayers of those who had known how hard flying is for me, and I knew that the peace I had passed my understanding and my personality. To be so calm is not like me when on a plane, so that was the Lord working through me. I love it when the Lord is working in us so clearly that we know it's Him. And I feel like, because it isn't like me to be so calm, this was another evidence of throwing off the old self that we read about in 2 Corinthians 5.

So yes, I flew to Denver yesterday to eat at Quiznos, go to the bathroom - and, oh yeah! charge my cell phone in a pay phone outlet by my gate - and then come home. And I can think of no better way to have spent my day.