“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” I Peter 5:7 (NIV)
Last time we were together I’d just gotten off my (very) delayed flight and my aunt, being the sweet woman she is, chose to stay with me instead of getting on the original plane. Together we got in a line that soon was the length of five football fields to see how the airlines would get us to our final destination. A man in front of us was talking to customer service on his phone while standing in line and he graciously shared the phone number so we could attempt the same solution. He was on hold for over 45 minutes, but only by God’s grace, we were talking to a representative within five minutes. Considering all the options presented to us, she booked us a flight to San Francisco leaving that night instead of opting to wait until morning and fly directly to Sacramento, our final destination. Our decision was partially based on the fact there were no hotels available within driving distance due to the multitude of stranded travelers. An added bonus we didn’t even ask for included the the woman on the phone refunding the money for the entire flight out to California. I quickly realized that was divine intervention because a stranger next to us in line commented, “I’m in the same predicament as you, and I only got refunded $75. I want what you have.” I wasn’t sure how much of “what I had” she wanted me to share with her so I just shrugged my shoulders, although I knew it was all God.
In addition, we were able to get the car rental pickup switched from Sacramento to San Francisco with a new plan to drive to Sacramento at 1:30 AM PST when we landed. However, after a conversation with both sets of loved ones, we decided instead to book a hotel in San Francisco and sleep for a few hours first. That seemed safer for two women who didn’t know where they were going…in the dark. However, we ran into the same problem in San Francisco that we were facing in Denver – all the hotels were booked. I remembered from two weeks prior my sister saying that, like in every city, there were places to avoid in San Francisco and areas that were considered safe. While I remembered some of the towns she listed, I didn’t remember them all and was concerned we would book a hotel in a not-very-safe environment. While having this silent conversation with myself, our new plane was beginning to board and frankly, the thought of missing another flight didn’t sound appealing.
I called my sister and had about 30 seconds to fill her in on our dilemma and ask if she would mind finding us a safe hotel, texting the information to my phone so when we landed I would have it. Her response? Absolutely! I found out two days later that while my aunt and I were trying to catch a little nap on the plane, she was on the phone with hotel reservations simultaneously looking up hotels on the internet while her husband used his laptop to find us the best deal as well. Did you know that hotels can go for as much as $3000 a night? I had no idea! They found us a quaint movie theatre-turned-hotel in Union Square – the last hotel room remotely close to the airport available in the area. We were able to get a good solid three hours of sleep which refreshed us enough to finish our adventure to Sacramento.
Come back next time and I will tell you how God used this imperfect adventure to bless not only us, but also those around us. Because I find usually that when God chooses to bless His children, there is a ripple that affects those surrounding His children as well. That’s just the way of the great God I serve.
© Cheri Swalwell 2015