Oh what a flight...
What follows will be a series of posts about the India trip that I'm currently on. Because of work load I haven't been able to spend time blogging but I have been writing things down in a notebook and keep track of things the old fashion way, paper.
The flight to India from Boise takes about 24 hours. There are three legs of the flight that we went on. The first flight was from Boise to San Francisco, then to Frankfurt Germany, then to Bangalore India. The Frisco flight was only 1.5 hours, but the Germany and Bangalore flights were 11 hours and nine hours respectively. The first 12.5 hours (with layover) where not bad, I was excited and it didn't bother me that I was sitting in a rather small airplane seat. The last leg of the trip however was pretty brutal. I didn't sleep at all on the first legs (I was studying and reading and such) and by the third flight came around I was getting pretty tired but the seats were even smaller and it was more cramped so I was feeling my backside pretty good after about half way through the flight. On the bright side I was able to share my faith and the Gospel of Jesus Christ with a Hindu man who had never read the Bible. He seemed interested. I asked him about his religion and he answered a few questions. I gave him a Gospel of John and told him to read it with diligence. When we were through taking, I noticed that he read some sitting there. I can't remember his name, but the Lord knows, pray for him.
As the time ticked away, I thought about what my family must be doing at that time of the day. I missed them already. I was also thinking of what lay ahead. I have been praying off and on for a while about going to India and never had the opportunity. Now here I was, working for a group that was planning to go to India. God is good! I also had just found out that another person on my work team was a believer too. We connected right away. He had actually talked to his church about his trip and they mentioned that he get in touch with Calvary Chapel as they knew they were doing some mission work in India. Then I showed up in his cube and we both felt like it was the Lord bringing us together for this trip. I knew that work was a priority on the trip, but still it was exciting to think about what the Lord might do. One thing was for sure though, I had just learned after going and returning from a Canada mission trip, that I needed to let go of what I wanted or hoped for and let the Lord guide me to His will and not my own. He was bringing me and I just needed to trust Him for what lay ahead.
The Lord had blessed me greatly at my United checkin at Boise airport. I was going to be using an e-ticket, although I didn't really know that for sure since the person that booked my flight never mentioned if I was flying with e-tickets or with paper tickets. As it turned out, it went very quickly and easily even though there was heightened security at the airport. I was also blessed as my brother and I found a place to pray right before the flight. It was actually a little too close to time as we barely made it back to get on the plane. Actually they had already closed the ramp door but they let us on and we were on our way. That was close!
I was curious as to how the "seat lottery" would go, you know, the lotto that determines who you get to sit next to and bless during your flight? I was praying that it would be someone who wanted to hear about Jesus. The couple I sat next to was an older couple who were traveling to German to go on a river cruise down the Rhine, and Danube. It sounded fun. I told them about India and going to visit the church there. They seemed to have an understanding of Christianity, though the gentleman course language revealed where he was. Midflight on the flight to Bangalore, a lady stood up started chewing out a mom in the front row of our section because her "kid was too loud". The child was about 1 and he was very cute and the lady correcting was being quite rude to her. The Mom got up a few minutes later and went back and dished up some antagonism herself. It was sad really. There were three kids in the compartment and as a Dad I think they did very well.
I was convicted of how selfish we can be sometimes, how one sided we see things. This lady, in a way, just seems like a microcosm of human nature. She was ready to come against what doesn't fit what we want, that doesn't acquiesce to our expectations of the moment. I aso prayed for myself that I would see when I act in such myopic way. I want to see broadly across the landscape and see what the Lord is doing that I might be involved where He is working and guiding and providing!
Morning in Germany. It's 1:30 am Boise time, Aug 20th. We had a great breakfast on the plane. It was a croissant with cheese and sausage, very naughty to my diet, but I'll have to pick my diet back up after I get back. :) We've flown about 5600 miles at this point, are at 39,000 ft, moving 570 mph, and it's -45 degrees F. out side the plane. We were late out of Boise, but because of favorable winds we are getting to Frankfurt on time roughly. We are beginning our descent.
5:00 am, we've made the transfer to the second flight on Aug 20. We barely made it as we had to treck across the airport to on bus and a tram, we were scootin' it along. This flight was about 11 hours long. I got Aisle seats the who way, which I hope to make a window so that I can sleep well. I was going to try to sleep on that last flight but it wasn't meant to be. :) My last record of where we were was at 33,000 ft, 595 miles
signin off for now!...
The flight to India from Boise takes about 24 hours. There are three legs of the flight that we went on. The first flight was from Boise to San Francisco, then to Frankfurt Germany, then to Bangalore India. The Frisco flight was only 1.5 hours, but the Germany and Bangalore flights were 11 hours and nine hours respectively. The first 12.5 hours (with layover) where not bad, I was excited and it didn't bother me that I was sitting in a rather small airplane seat. The last leg of the trip however was pretty brutal. I didn't sleep at all on the first legs (I was studying and reading and such) and by the third flight came around I was getting pretty tired but the seats were even smaller and it was more cramped so I was feeling my backside pretty good after about half way through the flight. On the bright side I was able to share my faith and the Gospel of Jesus Christ with a Hindu man who had never read the Bible. He seemed interested. I asked him about his religion and he answered a few questions. I gave him a Gospel of John and told him to read it with diligence. When we were through taking, I noticed that he read some sitting there. I can't remember his name, but the Lord knows, pray for him.
As the time ticked away, I thought about what my family must be doing at that time of the day. I missed them already. I was also thinking of what lay ahead. I have been praying off and on for a while about going to India and never had the opportunity. Now here I was, working for a group that was planning to go to India. God is good! I also had just found out that another person on my work team was a believer too. We connected right away. He had actually talked to his church about his trip and they mentioned that he get in touch with Calvary Chapel as they knew they were doing some mission work in India. Then I showed up in his cube and we both felt like it was the Lord bringing us together for this trip. I knew that work was a priority on the trip, but still it was exciting to think about what the Lord might do. One thing was for sure though, I had just learned after going and returning from a Canada mission trip, that I needed to let go of what I wanted or hoped for and let the Lord guide me to His will and not my own. He was bringing me and I just needed to trust Him for what lay ahead.
The Lord had blessed me greatly at my United checkin at Boise airport. I was going to be using an e-ticket, although I didn't really know that for sure since the person that booked my flight never mentioned if I was flying with e-tickets or with paper tickets. As it turned out, it went very quickly and easily even though there was heightened security at the airport. I was also blessed as my brother and I found a place to pray right before the flight. It was actually a little too close to time as we barely made it back to get on the plane. Actually they had already closed the ramp door but they let us on and we were on our way. That was close!
I was curious as to how the "seat lottery" would go, you know, the lotto that determines who you get to sit next to and bless during your flight? I was praying that it would be someone who wanted to hear about Jesus. The couple I sat next to was an older couple who were traveling to German to go on a river cruise down the Rhine, and Danube. It sounded fun. I told them about India and going to visit the church there. They seemed to have an understanding of Christianity, though the gentleman course language revealed where he was. Midflight on the flight to Bangalore, a lady stood up started chewing out a mom in the front row of our section because her "kid was too loud". The child was about 1 and he was very cute and the lady correcting was being quite rude to her. The Mom got up a few minutes later and went back and dished up some antagonism herself. It was sad really. There were three kids in the compartment and as a Dad I think they did very well.
I was convicted of how selfish we can be sometimes, how one sided we see things. This lady, in a way, just seems like a microcosm of human nature. She was ready to come against what doesn't fit what we want, that doesn't acquiesce to our expectations of the moment. I aso prayed for myself that I would see when I act in such myopic way. I want to see broadly across the landscape and see what the Lord is doing that I might be involved where He is working and guiding and providing!
Morning in Germany. It's 1:30 am Boise time, Aug 20th. We had a great breakfast on the plane. It was a croissant with cheese and sausage, very naughty to my diet, but I'll have to pick my diet back up after I get back. :) We've flown about 5600 miles at this point, are at 39,000 ft, moving 570 mph, and it's -45 degrees F. out side the plane. We were late out of Boise, but because of favorable winds we are getting to Frankfurt on time roughly. We are beginning our descent.
5:00 am, we've made the transfer to the second flight on Aug 20. We barely made it as we had to treck across the airport to on bus and a tram, we were scootin' it along. This flight was about 11 hours long. I got Aisle seats the who way, which I hope to make a window so that I can sleep well. I was going to try to sleep on that last flight but it wasn't meant to be. :) My last record of where we were was at 33,000 ft, 595 miles
signin off for now!...
posted by Jason at 8/24/2006 12:18:00 PM
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