Alaska – Travels in Humility

On a wing and a prayer

Have you ever prayed for humility or how about suffering? When people hear the types of things our family prays for they are sure we have finally lost our minds, as God answers prayer. And who in their right mind would ever pray to be humbled or to suffer? God knows our heart, and He knows exactly what we need in our lives for growth and refinement. So, today I prayed for humility and the opportunity for my family to see God move.

We were flying on United Airlines, and I had purchased the airfare on the United Airlines website. So, when the shuttle bus dropped our crew off along with our luggage and car seats at the United Airlines curbside check-in, I was all smiles. We were early and everything had gone so incredibly smooth to that point. I gave the airline attendant our licenses and told him where we were going. He checked his computer and then asked to see my flight itinerary. I was not able to give him a print out of our itinerary as our printer had recently died, but I did give him our flights numbers along with the stop in Seattle our flight was making. He actually grimaced when I told him our flight was stopping in Seattle, so I had to ask him what we were in for. That is when he informed me that we did not have tickets on United, and United does not even fly from Phoenix to Seattle. I felt like the wind had just been knocked out of me. He said we needed to take a different shuttle to another terminal where we could check with US Airways to see if that was the airline we were actually supposed to be flying on that day.

Airport Shuttle - Take Two

The energy level immediately changed as we now had a significant challenge to get all of us and our stuff to the other side of the airport property, get through the checkin process with US Airways (who does not offer curbside checkin), and make it through security with the plane leaving in less than an hour. Thankfully, a gentleman helped by throwing all our stuff on a cart and taking us to the correct shuttle. While on the shuttle I humbled myself before my family and apologized for causing this issue. My wife was amazing as she told me the He works all things together for good. At that moment I knew that God was in it, and we were going to see him move, even if that meant we missed our flights and were not allowed to go to Alaska. Jodi and I were both at peace in the midst of the chaos. We made it through the checkin process with US Airways (we got a lot of interesting looks with all of our kids and “stuff”), which reaffirmed I made a huge mistake as I must have really purchased my tickets through US Airways. Then we came to a halt in security. The lines were big and slow. We inched our way to the front of the line, and I got flagged. I got pulled to the side as a guard was summoned to come talk with me. We had brought seven containers of unopened yogurt for breakfast and it was over the 3.4oz limit. She told me with a smile (I think she was hungry) that we could keep the yogurt if I would allow the guards to body cavity search everyone in my family and go through each item in our carry-on luggage. I told her we only had fifteen minutes before our plane departed so we did not have that kind of time.

So, we finally got away, without our breakfast and were basically running to catch the plane. When we were over half way there Jodi stops me and says, “Do you have my purse?” I immediately shove the tickets in her hand along with an extra kid and tell her to try and catch the plane before it leaves. I ran all the way back to security, through the DO NOT ENTER signs to where our bags came through the machine. My wife’s purse, which fortunately looks like an old diaper bag, was still there, as no one knew it’s worth. I picked up the bag as the Chariots of Fire theme song played in my head, and I flew toward the gate. God actually did want us to go to Alaska as a man came out of no where to give Jodi and all the kids a ride to the gate which waited for me after they saw her. We got on the plane, and it pushed off on time.

In Seattle, I found out that I actually did buy my tickets with United Airlines, who had sold that leg of the flight to US Airways. It seems several people have gone through the same problem we had as the tickets I purchased do not say which airline is actually flying that first leg. So, we flew United to Anchorage. God did it again, humbling me and strengthening my family’s faith in Him, reminding us that regardless of our circumstances He is in control, working all things together for good. We love stories and would love to hear how God is working in your life.