It’s a Small World

And then suddenly I’m back home, seasoning pork loin, scrubbing potatoes, watering plants, teaching Junior Sunday school, and it’s all normal. I’m all normal. But back in Israel our friends are still exhausted. Still worried. Still stuck on hold.

Lena says she’s so tired and says she can’t even really pray. I have no trouble believing that. It was funny how it played on the mind. While you would think that prayer would become very vital and important, your mind kind of numbs while missiles fly overhead. It’s hard to concentrate on even a simple Bible verse. You instinctively enter survival mode and we all felt just plain tired. You can function, talk and laugh, but everything else is so very much work. It’s truly important to pray for people in war torn countries. They need all our intercession.

Our flights home were pretty normal, except that we apparently cursed every flight into being late. Neither of us noticed takeoff in Egypt and we slept almost all the way to Charles de Galle. We ended up spending extra time in Paris, but found a quiet spot in the airport to sleep. It was like a fridge, but when we cuddled up with our enormous dirty clothes bag it became bearable, if a little smelly. I had a jolly moment at the Paris Delta Desk, when the poor guy speaking to the classy agent next to me was having an awful time understanding her. She repeatedly tried to tell him, in perfectly good English, that his gate had changed and he needed to head to B2. He kept saying sorry, he simply couldn’t understand and finally she asked, in a slow clear voice which language he spoke and he said “only English”. It was too much for all of us and we howled with laughter. He took it graciously, thank goodness, but he seriously had his agent floored. When I left she was writing instructions.

Thanks to a delay we missed our connecting flight in MSP by 10 minutes, but got our exercise running at top speed through a large portion of Terminal 1. If we’d only had our security dudes, we could have swept to the front of all the queues. When the Delta guy rebooked us onto a flight only an hour or two later, Heath told him he was his favorite person and I jokingly told him thanks especially for putting us in First Class. He snorted, but what do you know, we really did get put there, so the last leg of our journey was in luxury. One final chance to flex the peasants.

A huge thank you for all your prayers! They truly helped! The trip was enormously unpredictable, but it wasn’t a disaster. In fact, I’d do it again! It certainly helps when you have excellent travel companions and a big support group at home!

Until next time…