Lost Times Two

Greetings to all. I'm back home one more time. Arrived last night from Chattanooga. I was at a Wildwood board meeting. I, and I assume many more, have been praying a long time for this board meeting. It had the potential for being an all out battle.  Praise the Lord, it wasn't.  It was long, it was stressful, but it was a great success.

I left Wildwood around 10:30 AM. My flight out of Atlanta was only at 4 PM. Plenty of time. Right! I figured it would take three hours to the airport and I should be there two hours ahead of flying. So I had a half hour of grace. I decided to pay Steven Grabiner a visit at OCI. I stayed a half hour longer than I had budgeted, but plenty of time. Right!

When leaving OCI, I thought, "I know a short cut to HWY 75. So I took the short cut, but instead of turning south on 75 I turned North. (That is not unusual. I am directionally challenged. Ask my wife.) I thought nothing of it. My mind is always churning over a dozen things at a time. One hour later, (notice, one hour later) I saw a sign that said 42 miles to Knoxville. "Oh no." I had been going in the opposite direction for one hour. That means (I know, you know what that means) that to get to the starting point, I had to drive one hour. I didn't have two hours to lose.

I turned the car around, prayed a prayer of submission and apology, and I asked for a miracle. Surrendered to the inevitable, I decided to do all I could thinking that maybe the flight might be delayed in answer to a knucklehead's prayer. I drove 80 MPH all the way. There were police everywhere, but they seemed preoccupied with some other law breakers. Now if you do the math, you know it was impossible to make my flight. I lost two hours, I had to stop for gas twice--once because I was running low, and once to fill the tank because it was a rental car, I had to return the rental car, I had to take a tram to the terminal, I had to go thru' security, I had to go to ticketing, and I had to find my gate . . . Guess what? I made it with eight minutes left before the flight. Except that the flight was delayed. I praised the Lord for the miracle, but really, the Lord didn't have to delay the flight too. That was a bit overkill.

That was "lost" number one. Lost number two is: I lost my new computer. The last time I saw it was in security. I only realized my loss when I got to work this morning. I made a claim from the airport security, but they haven't found it yet. Because the computer was a gift, I will wait to give the airport a chance to come clean, then I will go out and buy the same model. It was my fault. Bummer! You can pray with me if you care (no, no that's appealing with too much emotion) if you have time.

Talked to my wife this morning. She is in Africa at her project with three granddaughters and her friend, Laural Bates. All is well except that I fill sick at heart for losing my computer. God knows where it is. God can do anything. He can restore it to me if He wills. I submit. It was my fault and it would be totally of grace if the thing should somehow reappear. God is a God of grace, yes?? Yes. So, I hope.