Like clockwork, I woke up 10 minutes before my alarm went off this morning. It seems like everyday is busy, but today is one of those days that my busy looks a lot different than normal…again. Before my trip to India I was packed a week early. I was a little nervous leading up to that adventure. Last night I started putting it all in the suitcase about 8:30. The Lord has fought and won that battle for me. I’m not who I was. I got up this morning and walked in to push the on button on my single cup coffee maker, slid in a Tully’s Italian Roast Extra Bold k-cup, my favorite when I don’t French Roast Café Bustello in the morning. Have I mentioned I really really like a good cup of coffee? Then, I sat still with the Lord, and Moses and Jethro in Exodus where Jethro threw a little wisdom down and helped Moses with some strain he was experiencing. Then spent a little time thanking God for so much I can’t express and talked with him about some other things like this trip, this day, where He is leading, how he is getting me there, and prayed for some people I love.


Then I went for my walk around the park. I love music, I may have mentioned that before as well. And there are a lot of songs I like to hear in the morning. But, today I walked to David Crowder Band’s “For A Thousand Tongues To Sing” on repeat. I have two doves that seem to live in an iris patch that reminds me of home. Her name is Harriet. I don’t know what his name is. They walk through the irises every morning as I go through there. The old me would have not thought it was possible to go for a walk before going to the airport. My anxiousness would have kept me home kind of white-knuckle praying for safety. I am not who I was, and I enjoyed my walk.
Click Here to listen:  http://youtu.be/AWekq9bHtKU




I arrived at DFW and met up with three friendly faces I work with, that I get to share this journey. All four of us with totally different histories, but for this time our paths all line up. It is nice to share (pause for bumpy going through cloud ride….we’re lifting up out of the clouds now and it is starting to get a little smoother….blue sky back in view….uhhh more cloud, more bump, my face is like this :(. I’ve been watching Pete’s Dragon on the Disney favorites channel. I haven’t seen this in years. My brother and I used to watch it. In my mind we watched it a lot, but it may have only been a couple of times, but I know we watched it together. Little sisters remember stuff like that. The dragon always reminded me of my Uncle Zeke. More bumpy flight. “I will uphold you with my righteous right-hand” I like to think of His righteous right hand under the belly of the plane, with Him flying it around. Don’t judge. It gets me where I’m going. Back to Uncle Zeke. He didn’t have teeth and neither does Pete’s Dragon. That is the kind of thing that sticks out to a little kid I think. Uncle Zeke only wore zip up coveralls, and is one of two men that ever lived that my Grandpa Corky’s dog Gretch ever bit. The other man wore zip up coveralls too. Gretch hated men in zip up coveralls. Ugh this is a bumpy flight which is why I’m rambling as I write this. I’m trying to focus on something and not freak out. Kind of like Chunk did in Goonies when the Fertelli’s were going to put his hand in the blender. He just started telling stories. I’m just typing as this plane gets knocked around. Reminding myself to breathe I just realized the bumps have stopped. Clock says 12 hours and 39 more minutes to Dubai, I hope that is the last of it.   Or you may get to read more about doves at that park (where some turbulance began) Goonies and Uncle Zeke.  He would be worth reading about, but that's not my story to tell.



Uh...That wasn’t the last of it. First of all there was a bump in the dinner as they ran out of saffron chicken before they got to our aisle. The other options were some kind of kidney bean veggie dish (public service announcement: don’t eat beans on a plane) or the lamb. I had lamb. I think for the first time ever. I don’t remember ever having lamb before. After Anne, Yasmin and I, the women of row 34 seats A, B and C (I’m in the window seat) finished eating our meals and visiting a little. I know a lot more about Anne than Yasmin, but both ladies were very nice, I decided to listen to music for a while. I listened to one song and then the flight got bad somewhere high above Canada. Pull it together Canada! It was probably the worst turbulence I’ve ever been in, Yasmin and Anne agreed. It felt bad there for a minute. I couldn’t write to distract myself…and I might have cried just a little bit. As it really started to get bad the song on my playlist changed: “Walking stumbling, on these shadow feet…” ok I like this song focus on the words...chorus: “When the world is falling out from under me…” Panic. Lord! I don’t want the world to fall out from under me!!! Not funny. Pulling my phone out to change the song the next words “Ill be found in You, still standing…” Ok. I’m going to ride out this turbulence and I’m not going to change this song. Figuratively the world has fallen out from under me before. Now I’m in a literal position for it to do so…but I’ll be found in You, still standing.” I’m not who I was. He has made me new. He makes me new. Sometimes I don’t enjoy it. Sometimes my gut drops out from under me, but He is faithful regardless of the smoothness of the ride. I kept reminding Him that He calms the sea with just a word, and I asked Him to speak calm into the wind. Then He reminded me while the guys on the boat were panicking, he was resting because there was no need to panic. The seatbelt light is finally off. It’s 2:30 am Colombo time. I’m going to try to nap and breathe deep again. I did have an opportunity to share Isaiah 41:10 with Anne and Yasmin after that was all over. So, I would go through that again. But, I really bad don’t want to.

This is what airplane dinner looks like.

I was able to get some uncomfortable sleep. It’s kind of like spending 15 hours in a 4’x1’ box. If those calculations aren’t reasonable...whatever. It’s a small space. I didn’t get to watch all the movies I planned on watching. Timothy Keller is to blame. I’m reading The Meaning of Marriage. Don’t get hung up in the irony. It is a great book that I will start suggesting and buying for friends and family. Married or not. So good. Read it. Read anything he writes.



When I woke up, I looked up the onboard map of where we were. Flying over Bagdad. That’s where we were. Out of scud range though I’m sure. I saw an oil rig in the middle of the gulf burning. That was kind of cool. And several ships that I imagine were pirates. We are now entering our final dissent into 99 degree Dubai. We’ll have an 11 hour layover and have received hotel vouchers. So I’ll go to a room now and relax and stretch. Here is what flying into Dubai looks like out my window seat 34A.

There may be some green in these lawns, but everything is really mostly sand.

It’s funny that God would take someone who never wanted adventure outside of Oklahoma, and even prayed for predictable and safe and for life to look exactly like everyone else’s (in my mind), and breaks chains, increases passion and leads me here. What he does in me, isn’t just for me, it’s so that He may be lived through me, which is what we are going to Sri Lanka to do... And He isn’t scared of anything.  I'm not who I was, because of who He is.

Pretty sure it wasn't Him in me that just paid $6 USD for a cup of coffee.  It's about a 4 oz cup. We’ll leave for Sri Lanka at 2:45am Dubai time. Time means less and less the further from Dallas we get.


Someone likes playing with Instagram. :)