Currently Watching Hairspray (Full-Screen Edition) By John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Nikki Blonsky, Zac Efron see related

Snow in October

Currently Reading The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials, Book 1) By Philip Pullman see related

A lesson in faithfulness

I just finished an incredible week at Morrison Baptist Church in Minneapolis.  The crazy people there put on a Vacation Bible School for their neighborhood.  I learned a great deal from them this week.

The church's history is scattered was a "church plant/chapel" of a big downtown church several years ago and they have forgotten about this group of people.  Pastor Whitcomb and his wife celebrate 24 years in the church next week.  When he went to the church, he worked for the Dayton-Hudson corporation during the week and was pastor on the weekends and evenings.  In 1999 he retired from his day job and is now full time pastor.  He gives retirement an interesting spin doesn't he?

The neighborhood of the church is of lower income and I felt like I was back in the South-side of Chicago when I was talking with the kids-several had their electricity cut off, they didn't know their addresses and most don't have phones.  Little babies-4 or 5 year olds-would come on the bus without any identification or even knowing their addresses. 

The members of Morrison love those kiddos the minute they walk in the door.  They listen to them, hug them, laugh with them, feed them and tell them about Jesus.  They handed out 1000 flyers the week before VBS and had 50 kids show up.  With little money or resources they are aching to reach their neighborhood for Jesus. 

The leaders of VBS this week all grew up in the church.  Instead of moving away or attending the bigger and flashier churches downtown, they are committed to this church and are raising their children there.  They are holding Bible studies for teens during the week, having Sunday School for all ages and visiting their neighbors.  What is also interesting is they have a good number of African immigrants attending as well.  It is a small international enclave in the Twin Cities.

I hung out with these people all week because they have been supporting me financially for several years.  I walked away witnessing an amazing story of dedication, commitment and hope.  I am in awe of the members of Morrison Baptist Church and grateful that they let me hang out with them for a week.

Life on the road

Spending the summer on the road allows for many adventure-some pleasant, others entertaining, others a little annoying.

Seeing friends that I haven't seen has been great fun.  One reminded me that it had been 26 years since we last saw each other!  Walking into their home after 26 years was no different than walking into it day after day a long time ago.  What is amazing is that they are some of my most faithful supporters and prayer warriors-even though we haven't seen each other for so long. 

Walking around Philadelphia gave me a greater appreciation for my heritage. It was also nice to be able to voice the appreciation and even pride in my country. Watching families from all over the country-even the world-walk around Independence Hall drove home how important the Declaration of Independence really is and how incredible it was when it was written.

Valley Forge is so quiet now it is difficult to believe that so many suffered there.  Also difficult to believe that those spending the winter there were considered terrorists and traitors.  How times have changed.

Prior to the historic of significant proportions, I visited Graceland.  We didn't put out the $25 that they wanted to tour the house but we walked around the gift shops area.  People were from all over the world were wandering around shelling out big bucks to take the various tours and pay ridiculous prices for t-shirts, pens and dancing dogs. Stuffed dogs that dance while they sing "Hound Dog" was rather entertaining to say the least.

Currently Reading The Caged Virgin: An Emancipation Proclamation for Women and Islam By Ayaan Hirsi Ali see related

My airport story

Since I travel so much, I knew that the odds of a flight going haywire was pretty high.  So far, nothing had ever happened that would drive me crazy.  Well, that all changed this past weekend when I tried to leave Prague for Chicago.

The first thing that was unusual was I actually had friends on the flights-that never happens to me.  I always end up flying solo and sitting next to screaming children or boring business men.  My prayer is always to have an empty seat next to me or someone who sleeps the whole way.  This time, the Bowden women were returning to Chicago on the same flight.  How fun!

We were scheduled to leave Prague @ 1240.  We ended up sitting on the plane for a couple of hours and listened to drilling noises from down below. They finally had us unload the plane to sit in the gate lounge while they decided what to do.  Now, those of you who know Eastern European cultures will know what came next-no information for the next several hours.  No one wanted to take the responsibility of telling us what was going on with the plane. 

They eventually told us to reclaim our luggage and re-book.  That would involve a trip through customs.  As we lined up, the first customs dude closed his booth and left with 20 of us in line.  The next dude did the same thing after we moved to his line.  By this time a few people from that flight were refused reentry because their visas had expired for the country.  Never dull.

After waiting for our luggage another hour, then waiting in line again to re-book we were told that the plane was fixed and it would take us to London.  After rechecking our bags, the Bowden trio and I made our way to the gate.  After sitting there for a good bit of time, we were told that there would be another delay because of mechanical difficulties.  They finally rented a plane from Czech Air and put us on that plane and we landed in London 10 hours later than planned.

After a night in an expensive hotel room-thank you BA we got on a plane and made it to Chicago in a rather uneventful way.  There were a couple of unexpected "gifts" in all of the chaos of the day:  hanging out with the Bowdens was too much fun-we had contests for everything:  when we would get our luggage in Prague, when we would get to the front of a line, would we sleep in Prague or London.  Come to think of it, I owe them some candy still.  I got to see a friend who was flying to Ireland that night and say goodbye to her. The hotel room was one that I would never pay for myself(209 pounds!) and the breakfast buffet rocked. We chatted with interesting people that we would never have met if the flight would have gone as planned.

Not sure if there was a cosmic plot to keep the Bowden women and me in Prague or not but now that I have my "airport story" does this mean that all my other flights will go as planned?

Currently Reading The Quiet American (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) By Graham Greene see related

Is the only quiet American is a dead American?