BY MARK
Kathy had already returned to
the US and I was following a week later.
The impassable roads in the Arcahaie area because of rioting (due to a
problem with land redistricting) were becoming more and more frequent. On the day of my planned departure, the
rioting was planned to begin again, but my friends in the area said to get out
early and we should be OK. So at a little
before 6:00am we headed to the airport and found their story to be true and the
roads open.
When we arrived at the
airport, there was some question about our ability to fly as Hurricane Joaquin
was still causing some weather issues between Haiti and Ft Lauderdale. We were delayed, but made a turbulent flight
to Fort Lauderdale and I boarded my next flight to Chicago just as they were
announcing “final boarding call…”.
We landed in Chicago with
plenty of time to catch my next flight to Indianapolis but as I powered up my
phone, the “ding” that I heard indicated that my next flight had been
cancelled. “No problem,” I thought, as I
discovered another flight to Indy later that night. Unfortunately, as I stood at the gate of the
later Indy flight, they informed me that it already had a waiting list that was
too long and I should plan on arriving home late the next day. This was not
acceptable since we already had activities booked! So, I was not happy and wondered aloud to God
why He had allowed me to get through rioting and a hurricane only to be stuck
in Chicago!
Moping and grumbling as I
shuffled through O’Hare Airport, I spied a ticket agent about 10 gates from the
stupid (my word) overbooked Indy flight who was at a counter gate alone. I approached her and she reluctantly said
“May I help you?”. “I have had a long
day and really would like to get to Indianapolis tonight.” After she checked every logical flight
possibility, she said “Sorry! Looks like you will be going home tomorrow. Let
me check your itinerary.” She then said,
“You started in Port au Prince? You have
had a long day!” “Yup! My wife and I live there now”, I said with a
bad attitude.
Then I was truly shocked as
her next statement was in Haitian Kreyol, to which I responded in Kreyol and
then our conversation took off… in Kreyol!
It turned out that she was originally from Cabaret, about 25 minutes
from our clinic in Saint Ard. What are
the odds of that!!! Her father-in-law
was still there and needed some eye surgery but didn’t know any ophthalmologists….and
I did. So I shared with her the name and
number of my eye doc friend in Port au Prince and my personal contact
information in Haiti. She then said “We
WILL get you home tonight!”
After over an hour on her
computer as a line backed up behind me, she booked me on the only possible
flight to get me home: with another airline via Washington DC and back to Indy….
and I flew in first class. OK, I then
felt ashamed at my bad attitude and my disappointment. Thanks, God!
You got me home in the same day that I left through rioting, hurricanes
and cancelled flights. I get it now! You wanted me to learn from this! Check plus.
I wish I could say that I would never have a bad attitude again but…
well… you know. All I can say is don’t
give up on me, God! I obviously don’t
learn quickly! You are always there for
me even when I forget that you are.
Thanks for putting up with me!
SO for my friends who may not
learn quickly (like me), I was reminded again that our God is bigger than
hurricanes, riots, our attitudes, our doubts and certainly bigger than American
Airlines.
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