Can we pray for you?

“We wanna pray for you.” That was the statement from the Breakthru ministers as we got together in Gulf Shores for our meetings and then, the whirlwind of travel began. Earl and Jason drove me to the airport in Pensacola, which was quite nice, the airport not the ride. We did our best to find our way there on time. My noon flight landed in Atlanta with no problems. I had enough time to search my new kindle for some free books and then I hopped on my flight to Richmond. I was greeted by Ryan, Mallory, and Katie, which made for the first time the team was together. We drove back to Mallory’s house and just talked. Saturday night Mrs. Short made us Thanksgiving dinner, and it was wonderful. We did some packing of our 13 bags of supplies, skyped with people for the last time before leaving and then went to bed. I didn’t sleep all too well. So at 3am I was checking things out for our trip and our nervousness about moving these bags around London. The next morning we went to church, “We would like to pray for you is that OK?” was the question from the pastor. Group number two in prayer, I like this. After lunch we hit the road and made the trek to Washington DC. It was about a 2 hour drive. The fun was packing 11 50 pound, we know because we weighed each one 5 times, bags, two guitars, our carry-on luggage, and 6 people in the two vehicles. We were sitting on top of things. Our next prayer at least for us was getting all the bags on the airline without penalties. Success, as one of the scales broke when our largest bag was put on it and the others didn’t even look at the weight. As we waited for the flight we made our last phone calls. The flight was, well let’s just say none of us went to sleep for more than 30 minutes. However, our movie selection was great. I even got to have chicken curry with long rice for my dinner and it was awesome. We landed in London around 6:30am and made it through customs by 7:30. Now it gets really fun. Luckily, Heathrow does not charge for you to use luggage carts. So we each loaded up a cart and pushed them through the airport. We are using a mission organization for our travel that allowed us to have three bags and our flight to Belfast allowed us none. So Mallory had a friend in London whose pastor agreed to let us leave the bags at the church. We just had to get them there. I don’t know how many of you have traveled through the London underground with 13 items aboard a full tube. Well, I can now say I have. The fun of it was making transfers to different lines and having to pick all 13 items up and throw it either on or off before the doors shut on us. Ryan’s leg was almost cut off before my eyes one time. We called them to come and meet us at the station and they were so surprised to only see 4 of us with all 13 things. We then drug and wheeled all of it the 4 blocks to the church. So there we were sleep deprived, tired, and a little flustered by all the looks we got while on the tube. We did get to rest for about an hour before we had to head back to the airport. “Can I pray for you guys?” was the question from Mallory’s friend Erin. Just as she said amen I had a sinking feeling. I knew I didn’t have my passport. I had left it at the airport on the luggage cart. Lot of phrases fit right here. As we rode back I was furious at myself, but did carry a little hope that it was in a really obvious place and maybe an employee would have grabbed it. When we arrived at the station and told them what had happened they laughed at me and said they had it, but it had been taken to the central office so someone would have to bring it to us. Well, we were running short on time. They assured us that it was on the way so the other three jumped on the tube and headed to our terminal to check in. When the passport arrived I already knew I would be cutting it a little close. I waited and waited and waited for the next train and then they came on and said there was a problem with them and the next one would not come for 20 minutes. It is now 12:53. The flight leaves at 1:24. I AM NOT EVEN TO THE TERMINAL TO CHECK IN. I asked if I could get there another way, and they pointed me to a different train. I ran to get there and then sat in the station for 5 minutes while it waited for more passengers. I got off and the stop was ¾ a kilometer from the check-in. I know cause it was on the wall. So there I was sprinting with my hiking pack on my back. When I GOT TO CHECK IN THEY JUST LOOKED AT ME LIKE YOU HAVE NO PRAYER. AHHHH but people have been praying. They decided to let me try to make it, gave me the boarding pass and said “You better run. Security check is right behind and you are at gate 78.” So the first thought is Security, I still gotta get through that. I shot through. Then it was sprint through the terminal and then the gate numbers started. Terminals should not have 78 gates. My legs were burning I was tired but I kept running. When I reached the gate, the woman just said, “Where have you been?” “Running!” I said. “Not fast enough! They have already shut the door” she said. She went down the tunnel yelling to see if she could catch them and then reappeared to say hurry everyone is waiting. I think the three others were as happy to see me as I was them and we all just laughed. Everyone slept on the short flight to Belfast. We met up with Amanda and Fi from Abaana and they took us to the houses we would be staying at. After a freezing cold shower because we didn’t know how to turn the water heater on, we headed to dinner. I won’t write about everything that has happened here. But, everybody we have met or been introduced to has asked to pray for usor was excited to meet us and let us know they would be praying. It has been one of the most humbling things. I know those of you reading this are in prayer as well as many others in the states. Now, here we are in other countries and people are praying for this same trip. I feel amazed at how God’s people are surrounding us in this wall. Not to keep us from having anything from happening to us, but rather to call for God’s hand to be upon us and for us to do His work.
So yes, you can pray for me, and believe me I feel them. Thanks for being on your knees with me as we ask for God to use us for His glory. PS Ryan says it was necessary for this story to be this long!