Initials.

I am home.
Those are some good words.

My trip was delightful.  Saw Budapest for a few days, saw Northern Ireland for a few days. Met some people, had some conversations I will never forget. Conversations that will help make me who I am; who I will be.

God’s timing is different than ours.

My friend, Wren (who came on the trip with me), and myself had a little lesson in being delayed on our way to Europe. We were at our gate, all ready to go, one hour before take-off, when the flight screen starts blinking the word “CANCELLED.”

Cancelled?

Didn’t they mean “delayed”? Or were they actually, like it appeared they were doing, trying to tell me that I had to make all new plans? That I had to get on the phone? That I had to make things right? That they were dropping us?

They were.

So I got on the phone.
After three and a half hours talking with customer service, being told we were going to get on three different flights that same night only to re-check bags and get to the gate and see that it too was also cancelled, or delayed, or delayed too much to miss another connecting flight, we decided that we would take what was being dealt: We were going to have to wait. Stop pushing, stop forcing something that was not to be, and wait.

27 hours.

We finally flew out of the airport 27 hours after we had thought we would have. After I was convinced we should have.

What a humbling experience.

I get prepared for all of these trips I take and do the right things and pack only what I need and have all of my ducks in a row. I have tickets bought on time and agendas lined up for when we get there. I am a responsible adult.

But then something like this happens.
The control gets taken out of my hands.
Or maybe it just shows me that it never was in my hands to begin with.

It is a powerless feeling, which I suppose is God’s plan, too, considering that I DON’T have any power.

I found myself faced with my own selfishness, too. The airport was jammed. I mean, JAMMED. As in NOBODY was flying out that night or even remotely on time. Every line to every counter at every gate had at least 30 people in it. There were no seats in the terminals left to be had. Nobody was getting home that night, or getting to where they wanted to be, or seeing who they needed to go see.

But I wanted to. I wanted to bad. I was pushing for it.

I wanted to budge to the front of every line.
"Don’t you know who I am??!!” I wanted to say to them. “Don’t you know that I have to be in Budapest tomorrow?!” “I need to get MY bag off that airplane and I don’t care if you have to stall this flight!” “Me getting out of here is more important than you getting out of here!” “I have better things to do than you do!”

Isn’t that terrible?

Of course I didn’t say any of those things. I was just appalled that they crossed my mind.

After all, who in the world DO I think I am? And doesn’t EVERYBODY want to go home? Doesn’t everybody, figuratively speaking, have to be in Budapest tomorrow?

Needless to say, having it be so apparent that my potentially-lost-luggage wasn’t any more important than anyone else’s what a needed shock to the system. To be forced to say, “Ok God, I guess you have a better plan. I guess I don’t need to be in Budapest tomorrow.”

And he did.

Because he always does.

Things happened abroad for the people I was meeting and things happened here in the States that I needed to be a part of---AND WOULDN’T HAVE---if I had “gotten myself to Budapest” on time.

Lord, teach my heart to recognize that “delays” to me are actually you preparing something else. An element I don’t see yet, a better story, a stronger faith, a lesson in humility, a grace to be received. Your timing is perfect, and almost always later than expected.

~~~

One thing I wouldn’t have seen if I had gotten out on time, is this guy:

Isn’t that so funny?

Wren and I were in security and a guard comes over to us. “Hey, do you see the back of that guy over there? Doesn’t he look like a Baldwin?”
“Oh you’re right!” we say, “He does look like a Baldwin!”
“No, no, no. He IS a Baldwin.”
We Googled the Baldwins. We think he is Stephan.

Later as we were sitting in our gate we laughed when we saw him just across the way getting on a flight.

I do not usually get excited about celebrity sightings, but for some reason I thought this one was fun. A cute little perk for us after our "arduous" delays.
And this is what we imagined our faces looked like upon seeing him.

Maybe it wasn't that extreme....

Budapest is lovely.

 Opera.House.

The prettiest Jewish synogogue I have ever been in. Also the first Jewish synogogue I have ever been in.

With my aunt who lives in Budapest!

And exceptionally magical at night.

The Castle District.

Parliament.

Anyway, I think I will have a lot to tell you. I am just slightly jet-lagged at this current moment.
So this post will have to suffice.
Goodnight, world. I have seen a much of you. Thank you, Jesus.