So, you may have heard about our team’s little “detour” through Morocco on our way home from camp last month. It was one of those unplanned experiences that we certainly were not counting on.
The night before our 2:00 a.m. departure for home was a fun one with ping pong tournaments, and last minute conversations, as well as showers, packing, reminiscing of memories, and saying of sad good byes. Some of us laid down for a few hours to sleep. Others figured they would sleep on the plane. After all, this was our last opportunity to enjoy Ghana, and the long flight would certainly give us plenty of opportunities for catching up on sleep.
When 2:00 a.m. arrived, we quickly jumped out of bed and moved all of our luggage from the rooms. We packed everything we could into our checked luggage. After all, we would be home soon. We made a quick clean up and departure, only to be dropped at the airport, realize our flight was delayed 8 hours, and then call our very accommodating hosts to get them to pick us back up and return us to our Ghana home.
We had stripped the beds in order to be as helpful as possible only to come back to those very same beds where very kind, servant-hearted hosts were reassembling them for us to fall into once again. We woke mid-morning to find that our cooks, who were supposed to be having their first vacation day in 2 weeks, were once again making us eggs, pancakes, and oatmeal. Oh my.
We returned to the Ghana airport and flew to Morocco without incident, realizing all the while that our connecting flight was cancelled which would delay us a full 24 hours from our original flight. There were lots of questioning, and waiting in lines late into the night, followed by a 45 minute bus ride that wound us the whole way across the city of Casablanca to our hotel provided by the airline.
It was interesting and humbling to be in a situation in the middle of the night where we had no local currency and where English was the third language. Remember, we had also packed nearly everything in our checked bags. We pulled our team resources and shared deodorant and mascara.
As the leaders of the team, Mike and I had a certain amount of uneasiness about the situation that only night time can give. Of course, when the sun came up over the beautiful city of white buildings, and we were gathered around our free breakfast buffet, we realized we were in a very nice hotel. We enjoyed warm showers, good food, and comfortable beds.
After somewhat of an ordeal with getting transportation back to the airport, we arrived on time for our flight and came home without further incident. Royal Air Maroc really was a great airline with great service and food; the unexpected delays were just due to pilots being on strike.
As my husband, Mike, and I were doing our best to maneuver through this unknown leadership reality, I so clearly heard a voice in my head asking me, “So, are you going to put on the armor or not?” It made me immediately stop and quite myself. There is something about having a plan to be home at a certain time that just makes you want to get there asap! For the previous two weeks, we had been teaching through nearly every activity at camp about the full armor of God – the faith, the peace, the Spirit, and the salvation God gives us full access to as believers. It’s so easy to teach it when things are moving along smoothly and everything is going our way! It’s also so easy to forget when there’s a bump in the road.
I couldn’t help feeling convicted and reminded about how easy it is to stash the armor in a corner and forget about it as soon as something doesn’t go according to my plans. I have full access to it through everything life throws my way, but so often, I refuse to use the tools God has given me.
Recently a friend of mine went through a flood that left serious damage to her house. In a text to me she said, “We are just trying to focus on how we can honor God with our reactions to this all.” Wow! Now that’s putting on the armor.
Using the armor is being like Jesus when things are not going according to plan. Putting on the armor is realizing that one day is just one day and not the end of the world. Getting that armor into place keeps us protected from so many ways that the enemy wants to defeat us, render us useless, or remove our testimony.
So yes, I’m thankful for every part of this journey – even the delay – because it taught me to trust more. It taught me to deny myself more. It caused me to pray more.
And through it all, it made me love my team more. It’s true that the delay didn’t exactly make us happy, and yet, we made the best of it. We pulled through it together. And most importantly, Pastor Joe got a great sermon illustration! Who knows? Maybe that was the reason behind it all!
