ordeal

Since April, I've spent about half of my time away from home (and most of that half out of the country). Thankfully, except for some snootiness from the German airport security people in Frankfurt, my travels this year have been unsullied by problems of the airport variety.

Until this trip to Oklahoma.

Last night at church, when they heard I had trouble getting home, people made comments about the tightened security. Actually, security wasn't a problem at all (except for the part where I had to check luggage just because I like my shampoo and toothpaste). Instead, the problems that delayed my flights were a couple of big storms, an unknown technical difficulty (on that flight, before they made us get off, they "rebooted" the plane; that was interesting), and a broken fire extinguisher.

You never know.

I don't like flying on Sunday since it usually means I'm missing church at home. But as I look back at all the times I've ended up flying on Sunday anyway, I see that the Lord has blessed me with very precious times of worship while looking at His creation from the air.

Yesterday's flight (when it finally worked out, a little over 12 hours late) was in two parts, and I arrived home awed by what God showed me in each.

The flight from OKC to Denver was the closest you can be to first class without being in first class, with tons of leg room and a cushy seat, and an empty middle seat, and all that good stuff. It was peaceful and restful, especially in contrast to the hassle before it.

And what came after.

The flight from Denver to OC was one of the sharpest experiences of spiritual oppression I've had since being in Edinburgh. The man and woman sitting behind me walked right out of Romans 1, and loudly perused more perversion (both spoken and photographed) than you would've thought two hours could hold. The classical music turned up full blast on my headphones wasn't enough to block them out before the beverage service came by, and certainly couldn't do the job after.

Ugh.

I took out Romans 1 and had what felt like a dialogue with Paul, he was answering all my questions so well. And then I looked out the window and saw what must've been the Grand Canyon. It was awesome.

"His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse . . ."