Monday, October 27, 2008

Divine Intervention

It must be the nature of our society. We want to control every little thing about what we do and where we go. I recently had to fly to Austin for a conference. I booked my passage both ways, with layovers in Memphis. The trip to Austin went without a hitch. Coming home was a different story.

I arrived at the Austin airport in plenty of time and hurried through the security check so I could get to the gate and have some time to read and study. I no sooner sat down than a message flashed on the monitor in front of me: my departure was going to be delayed by thirty minutes. No! That would make me miss my flight from Memphis to St. Louis. I searched for an agent of the airline I would be flying on and nobody was in sight. I finally gave up and went to eat an early lunch.

Arriving back at the gate an agent was there and booked me out of Austin on another airline about twenty minutes later. Unfortunately, it took me to Dallas, where I would have a three hour layover before catching a flight home. I worried about transportation problems in St. Louis because of the changed schedule. My daughter could no longer pick me up and my son was on his way to New Jersey. However, my daughter-in-law made arrangements to pick me up at the airport.

Now, here's where it gets really cool. I arrived in Dallas and spent my three hours reading and window shopping in the terminal. As I was getting ready to board the plane I looked up and saw a friend I had not seen in over fifteen years. He was in Dallas for a meeting and would be flying back to St. Louis, too. I had a great opportunity to visit with him as we waited to board our plane.

I was switched to another airline and routed through a different airport because of a mechanical problem that put my original plane a half hour late. Was it fate or a coincidence? I don't think so. I think it was divine intervention. My heavenly Father made it possible for me to meet up with an old friend. Now I think that's pretty cool.

No comments: