Divine Appointment
Atlanta, Georgia
Albuquerque, New Mexico
---December 29-30, 2005
December 29, 2005
I sat in the airport waiting to board my flight to Albuquerque New Mexico, connecting then to Las Vegas Nevada. I was on my way to Arizona to be with my wife and son for the New Year. They were in Arizona caring for my wife's Mom and Dad who were having some challenges to their health. Mom was scheduled for open heart surgery just after the New Year on January 4,2006. As I waited we were informed of a delay in our flight due to late arrival of our assigned airplane. When it reached past a one-hour delay I approached the counter and asked about the flight I was to catch in Albuquerque. Since the flight I was to be on was not one for this particular airline, they could not provide me any information. I had brought with me and was reading "The Power of Positive Thinking" by Dr Norman Vincent Peale and had just read through the first 100 pages while I waited. I'm not what people would call an avid reader so this was quite a feat for me at the time. I trusted there was a reason for the delay and prayed that God would delay my connecting flight in Albuquerque. Once our airplane arrived in Atlanta we boarded and were on the way, over one hour later than planned. Still I felt that God delayed my flight for a reason and would provide.
Our flight arrived in Albuquerque 30 minutes after my connecting flight had departed. I spoke to an airline representative and he told me I was an "inconvenienced passenger". He then instructed me on the process for an inconvenienced passenger. He directed me to the baggage claim area, where the only airline representatives on duty were located in the lost baggage office. The airline people were very friendly and cooperative. They arranged a flight for me the next morning. They also called a local hotel to arrange a ride for me and what I thought was an airline voucher for the airline to pay my overnight lodging expense. I thought, OK, so I spend the night in Albuquerque. The van arrived and we were off to the hotel. At the front desk I presented the "voucher" and found it was not a voucher, but a discount rate for me to pay for the room. I told them I'd get it straightened out and called the airline 1-800 number. After a few minutes of a very frustrating conversation, I knew this was not getting me a room, so I ended the call. The evening Desk Clerk who had just finished his evening's work offered to take me back to the airport to get the voucher issue settled. So I gladly accepted and we went back to the airport. This went along very well and the airline night personnel were very kind to my situation. Once I had the voucher we were on our way back to the hotel. The man driving the hotel van offered to stop at a restaurant so I could get something to eat. That was very welcomed since I had eaten prior to leaving Montgomery Alabama eleven hours earlier. The remainder of the evening went well, checked in, relaxed, ate my breakfast, and went to sleep.
December 30, 2005
At 4:30 I awoke with a headache and a terribly upset stomach. I struggled the next hour and fifteen minutes, then decided to make a small pot of coffee in my room. I made the coffee and laid down for it to brew. As I heard that old familiar sound of a finished coffee pot, I went over to get a cup and hopefully some relief for my malady. The coffee was not what I had expected. It looked like water with a little brown food dye so light in color you could read a newspaper through the bottom of the full pot! That would just not do for how I was feeling. So then I decided to just slip on my clothes and go to the lobby, it was close to the time when the breakfast buffet would open and maybe they had some coffee ready. I decided to get a cup of coffee and go right back to my room. Hopefully I wouldn't see anyone because I was not aptly groomed. Being in the military almost 30 years, there is a standard for personal appearance especially in public, which I disregarded just to get a "quick" cup of coffee and relieve my suffering. I dressed hurriedly; no socks, slipped on my shoes, threw on my clothes from last night, hair uncombed and with my arms folded over my stomach headed for the elevator slowly. The elevator arrived and I boarded. I thought briefly about sitting down in the corner of the elevator and waiting for it to arrive at the lobby just to relax and maybe ease some of my suffereing. I decided against that-it's a public place and that would not be appropriate no matter how I felt. The doors closed and the elevator started down, relief came over me. Then the elevator stopped at the next floor down and two ladies entered.
There was a wide and pleasant smile followed by, as I soon discovered, a wonderfully optimistic Christian lady, Sandra. She and her sister Sylvia were traveling with a church group from Jacksonville Florida to the Rose Parade in Pasadena. Sandra and I began visiting and chatting pleasantly. "Are you from here?" "Where are you heading?" Those kinds of pleasant topics. We got to the lobby and I proceeded to get a coffee. I looked around, the breakfast buffet room was still dark so I started looking around to see if it'd be OK to grab a cup of coffee. While I was looking around, Sandra asked me if I could take a picture of her and Sylvia with the hotel's Christmas tree. Certainly I replied. As they posed, I moved a chair and framed the picture nicely. Sandra commented something about a professional photographer. After I took the picture Sandra asked me if I knew Jesus Christ. I said, "Absolutely, I could not do what I do without Him." She then asked what I did. I told her I was in the military traveling and the circumstances that led me to Albuquerque. She asked if I would mind praying with them. I replied that I would love to pray with them. As Sandra prayed I felt a tremendous power flow through me as my headache and stomach discomfort were gone. I wept as she prayed for me and my brothers in arms around the world and our duty to America. Then she prayed for my circumstances that brought me to Albuquerque. After the prayer she offered me a tissue to dry my eyes. She then asked if I had ever heard of a divine appointment? I said that I had. She told me she felt our meeting was a divine appointment. This was the first time on this particular journey that she and Sylvia were the first to arrive for breakfast. I couldn't say anything. We went to the now lit breakfast room and I got my cup of coffee and we continued to chat, with little regard to my appearance. This day they were going to the Grand Canyon. We talked about our families and she shared photgraphs. I fell into the habit of not carrying photos of my family unless I was deploying with my unit. I had a second cup and the room was really filling up. Sandra introduced everyone that came into the room. I met Ray French, the Moseley's, and Mr. Waters. After finishing my second cup of coffee, my unkempt appearance was getting the best of my mind so I excused myself and went to my room. I got back to my room and hurriedly cleaned up and returned to the dining room. Sandra and Sylvia had finished breakfast and left, so I sat with Wallace and Dorothy Lovett and ate my morning meal with them. We visited about our families and business and where we were all going. They were in the auto repair business and I'm like most men, a bit of a car buff. They told me about their son and some of the classic cars they had restored, it was a gret conversation. After eating I met with Sandra and Sylvia again in the lobby. Sandra was conducting a bible study on their bus later that morning about how were are all instruments in God's orchestra. I enthusiastically agreed with the topic and shared my view of the idea as we visited a little longer. I told Sandra and Sylvia that they had made a tremendous difference in my morning. We prayed together once more for safe travel and the words for Sandra to say that would be pleasing to the Lord's service.
We went on our journeys in separate directions. The remainder of my day went very well as I traveled to Las Vegas Nevada through Salt Lake City Utah. I met friendly people everywhere. Was it the superb jump-start through my divine appointment with Sandra and Sylvia? My reading and state of mind from "The Power of Positive Thinking"? Or just the love of God flowing though me in circumstances he determined and I accepted. In my 28 years of air travel, this was the very first time I had been an "inconvenienced passenger". The experience taught me that an "inconvenience" in this world places us in God's "divine appointment" book so we can conveniently share God's gifts and encourage one another