we took a trip to nassau on december 16, about 3 weeks ago, because i had a flight out of there early the next morning to go back to the states for christmas. the evening/night was great. we fly into nassau and the 5 of us (abe, matt, two of abe's friends and myself) head for the adventure learning center (www.alcbahamas.org), an evangelical ministry in nassau directed by one of abe's closest friends. this is the same guy who we stayed with on the andros trip with his 9 kids. this place is crazy. it has its own planetarium, bunk houses, a huge dining hall equipped with a zipline (!), and a huge campus with a great outreach ministry. on our way to the alc, we stopped by all saints camp, a community for those with terminal diseases. abe described the place to us as like a modern-day leper colony. it was a blessing to go and meet a few of those living in the community and see the progress in the conditions that need attention. i left thankful that there is a place for people in the unimaginably awful circumstances as AIDS and other terminal illnesses. i also left a bit more broken as we caught a glimpse at the plight of so many. please pray that this community will continue to be loved and loved well with attention and care.
from all saints, we carried on to the alc and got settled for the night. after riding the zip line we went to the devoux family christmas party. the devoux family is pretty prestigious and the event felt like a wedding with no fluffy dresses or cheesy speeches, well maybe...but...there was a big tent, lots of food, a christmas sermon, carols and the family report of only the successful ones i'm pretty sure. it was another moment in life that i loved and didn't care how life brought me to that event.
i'm about convinced that whenever i book a flight it triggers a convention of flight attendants to determine who will be working the flight i'm on. the last few times, my age has been an issue of concern. when i went back for thanksgiving they specifically asked my age to make sure i met the 15 yrs of age rule to sit in the exit row. this time for no reason whatsoever, the flight attendant strutted past me down the aisle, stopped, and said, "how old are you?" through glaring eyes and tight lips i replied that i am 22. the response i prepared my pride for came, "well you don't look a day older than 15!" why? why is that necessary? and of course, my minesweeper circle around me inevitably says, "you'll appreciate it when you're 40!" i say thank you, and i think, "tell me that when i'm 40, and then, you're right, i'll appreciate it. but only then." let me say this publicly, it's not appreciated at 22.
about an hour and a half into the flight, the airplane turns around. the captain comes over the intercom and says, "you may have noticed that we made a 180! (yes, i thought) we have a problem with our pressurization system and cannot climb above 25000 ft. we don't have the fuel to make it to nashville at this altitude and as a matter of fact, the best maintenance facility for this sort of problem is in miami! so...we're headed back!" a 4 hour event can be boiled down to say that our crew of about 50 people including babies and two elderly women needing a wheelchair on and off an airplane with out a jetway traveling between the terminal on a bus in the rain was an adventure. amazingly, no one complained and it was actually really enjoyable...or bearable at least. caroline, my sister-in-law, told a funny monologue by a comedian. he said, "i've always wanted to be the one for the airlines to announce delays. come over the loudspeaker and say, 'sorry folks, looks like we'll be delayed for about 30 minutes,' wait for the grumbles and groans and then put things into perspective, 'i'm sorry but the journey you're about to make at one time would've taken months in a covered wagon behind oxen and your aunt would die of a rattlesnake bite and you would forge rivers and some would starve. really, is 30 minutes a big deal?'"
we were hugging in baggage claim once we made it to nashville, american airlines credited me 5000 miles (that's not a ...then i found $20 joke) all in time for dinner with the family and christmas commenced.
Hey could you spot me some miles? C'mon!
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