The Race for the Airport!!!!

I left southern Missouri Thursday night and drove all night so I could make it back to Michigan before my husband, Abe, had to leave on the airplane the following day.  I had the four youngest children with me for the week, and Abe had the oldest two.  I needed to get the children from him before he left for his trip... and I needed a kiss from Abe at the same time. :-)

Oh it was a rough night.  I stopped about 8 times to try to sleep; but every time I stopped, my baby would scream because the roar of our van quieted down when I slowed down.  In an effort to keep the other three young children asleep, I quickly turned the van around and got back on the highway each time.  It wasn't until 7:30 am that I finally took a 3 hour nap in front of a gas station.  That refreshed me for a while until around 11:00am when I my eyes would not stay open another minute.  The kids were all wide-awake, so I asked the two oldest children to amuse the two youngest while I closed my eyes for just a few minutes.  Those few minutes quickly turned into 30 minutes.  I looked at the clock and knew I didn't have time for any more stops.  

Because of my previous stops, I would be cutting it really close to the time Abe would have to enter the airport and board the plane.  I had been praying for our safety, but I hadn't prayed that I would make it to meet up with Abe in time...  At the realization of my time closing in, I said a prayer asking God to help me make it to Abe before he had to leave on the plane.

Keeping my eye on my time of arrival on the GPS, I hoped I wouldn't miss him by only a few minutes.  It would be close... after driving all night long, it didn't seem fair that I could miss him by such a small margin of time.  I tried to call Abe, but he wasn't answering his phone.  He was probably taking care of last minute details before his trip.

I finally arrived to our home town.  Abe and I were to go directly to the airport to meet.  I pulled up to the stop light to turn left into the airport, and there Abe was facing me at the stop light!!  He was turning right into the airport at exactly the same time.  What are the chances that we would arrive at the same light at exactly the same time?  I mean... really... the same time!!

How amazing!!  That meant I would get to kiss him and successfully get our two oldest boys, but that also meant he was running REALLY LATE!  He should have been there long ago.  He parked, kissed all of us, delivered the children, and ran into the airport.  

Only a few minutes later, he came running back out.  He had forgotten his ID at home!  Luckily we only live about 8 minutes from the airport, but it was now 1:00pm, and his plane was scheduled to leave at 1:30pm.  I raced home.  

On the way, Abe asked me to pray that he would find his ID quickly.  Since it wasn't with him, he had no idea where it was.  

I pulled into the driveway like  a race car.  He ran into the house, searched in pockets and on desks.  Meanwhile, I was praying that he would find it... he said he had a sudden thought... an answer to a prayer... his other coat pocket!!  He found it, grabbed it, jumped in the car, and we were off to the airport again!  

I have to say... I am a pretty good driver in my big, mean Ford E350 Van.  I was safe... but I was fast!  

As I drove, we were both eyeing the clock hoping they would hold the doors open for him.  We hit a red light... grrr...  There's no time for a red light!  That inopportune red light did give me an extra kiss though... how nice... a silver lining to a red light!:-)  We arrived again to the airport by 1:15!!  Record time!  Abe raced in, and we waited a while to see if a gloomy Abe would emerge from the building.  Nope!  All looked good from where we were.

Abe had a different story from inside the airport... 

As he went through security, they decided for the first time ever that Abe's shoes were unacceptable.  They looked them over for a while then finally released him and his shoes, but then they stopped and were very concerned about his bag.  Abe asked them, "What seems to be the problem?"  They responded, "Well, it looks like there's a knife in your bag.... We need to really check this out."  

They opened his bag, dug around for a while, and finally found Abe's butter knife from a previous road trip where he had packed a lunch.  They- very slowly- explained to Abe why they were going to have to confiscate this "weapon" of his.  Precious minutes passed by!!  Abe anxiously assured them that all would be fine with him if he lost the butter knife forever stating that he had a million butter knives at home.  He also sincerely assured them that it really was an accident that the butter knife was even in there.  They finally released him... only after they searched his bag one... more... painfully slow... time.  

Finally free, Abe sprinted to his gate and made it!!!!!!!!!  Yay!!!!!  They let him in!!  He was finally off! 

I believe there were a few miracles here...

*I feel like God orchestrated it so that Abe and I would meet at the light at exactly the same time.  We didn't have to waste any time searching for each other in the parking lot or in the airport.  Because it was so exact, I was able to easily recognize that it was God's hand that united us in such a timely way.  That was not a coincidence!  

*Also, if I had not been there right at that time, Abe would not have had time to get back into his own car, check it out of the parking lot, and drive home and back again in time.  I was already in my car right at the door as if I were a taxi service just ready to whisk him off.  Every minute mattered, and I'm certain he would have missed his flight had I not been there with the van running.

*Even with his delayed security ordeal, the doors stayed open for Abe to get on his plane.  As silly as his butter knife was, it could have taken even longer!!  After all, he was carrying what they considered to be a weapon!!

I thank God for daily miracles.  It was a rough night and a rough time getting on that plane, but God doesn't stress about the storm that arises on the way.  HE just makes sure we get where we need to be going... in HIS time.