what a trip!

Tonight I am in North Bend...or you can say, Coos Bay. It's on the Oregon Coast. Anyway, I was here last week as well. I report the same time tomorrow as I did last week. I wonder if things will go better tomorrow??

Last week our plane was late because of weather in San Francisco. We were scheduled to fly to Portland then do a round trip to Medford then our last leg to our overnight, Redding.
The weather in North Bend wasn't good. In fact, we watched as our plane missed it's approach and diverted to Euguene. It wasn't coming back.
Crew support decided to give us the next plane that was scheduled to come in and have that crew wait and take the plane from the last crew due in for the night. It's hard to explain...basically robbing peter to pay paul kind of deal.
Anyway- while we were sitting in the flight operations room, we heard the next plane attempt to land. It didn't. Off it went to Eugene, just like the one before it.
Again we waited until the news came down that the last flight of the night had cancelled. I don't blame them. The weather was terrible. They've already sent 2 planes that failed, why send the third?
However, that means that my crew and I were stuck in North Bend while 2 planes crew were stuck in Eugene.
I would not want a scheduling job! What do you do?
Well, I'll tell you what they did. They shuttled us up to Eugene in a van and shuttled one of the diverted Eugene crews to North Bend. It's a 2.5 hour drive over a curvy mountainous pass. The van was so bumby that I nearly got sick!
Once we arrived at the airport in Eugene, we repositioned one of the divereted planes to Portland.
That was kinda cool for me. I got to sit in the cockpit and watch. Also I had on a headset so I could hear the guys talking to air traffic control.
We overnighted in Portland and deadheaded on a mainline flight to San Francisco the next day to end our trip. Pretty easy since I didn't really work the second half of the trip and got out of working 7 flights. Don't worry- I still got paid for it all.
More often than not, you get hosed in this job. It's nice to be on the other side once in a while. I suppose it all evens out.
Something interesting happened on that deadhead. I was sitting in the exit row and had out my Bible during the flight. I try to not make it obvious because I get a little uncomfortable. I don't want people to see me and think I'm trying to be better than everyone else...oh, look at her she's reading the Bible...she must think she's better than all us heathans! That's not true. It's just a good time for me to think, study and pray without distractions.
I was going over some of the verses Ray (our pastor) had been talking about on the message outline that they hand out every week. The week's message had to do with fear and breaking free from it.
I like to use the hotel paper to write down verses that I want to remember. The seat next to me was empty until one of the flight attendants sat down and asked me if I was studing the Bible. She asked me how I do it. So I explained to her in my shy stumbling way that I don't really have any rhime or reason, I just go through it as I feel led. Then she asked me if I've ever fasted. I answered honestly, no. I know people used to do that and some still do, but that's as much as I know.
Well, she had already looked into it. She proceeded to tell me that there are 5 different ways to fast. The first being 3 days without eating or drinking anything. The second is 21 days but you can have water and some fruit and grains. She said she has really been wanting to try it but was afraid.
I couldn't believe how fast the words came out of my mouth..."don't be afraid." It shocked me because of how bold it sounded...as if it was someone else talking.
I continued. "This has obviously been on your heart to do. You should do it. Don't be scared."
She repeated the word "scared" and pointed to the same word that was on my message outline and said.."scared. That's it...I'm scared." I explained how we had just started this new series at church about breaking the grip of fear in our lives. She asked me if I would write down some verses for her. Instead I gave her the outline and told her that there are already many verses on it about fear. She couldn't believe I was just giving this to her. She thanked me so much and gave me a hug. I didn't think it was that big of a deal, but it felt so good to share my faith with a stranger.
I am blown away with how God works in my life. Was this encounter a coincidence or does God set these things up? I don't know, but it sure felt like it was set up.
I know God wants to bless us. We get nudges to do the right thing. I remember one time asking God to make me a fence pusher. You know the term "sitting on the fence"...well a fence pusher is one of those people who push people to one side or the other. Not that I want to force my religion on anyone, cause I don't. But if anyone isn't sure...I know the way. It's Jesus. Let me point you in the right direction and get you off that fence!