Flight Delays, Grace, Athens

Last July I was asked to lead a mission team of college students to Athens, Greece during Spring Break. I gleefully accepted and have spent the last several months praying, preparing, and anticipating this time. And here it is.

The trip here was the second most interesting I've ever had. The first was in Romania but that's another story. All of our flights were delayed. All of them. The best one was the flight from Dulles to Frankfurt--the plane's computer had to be completely replaced and the software rebooted. After two and a half hours on the plane, during which we watched technicians actually tear out the ceiling, we were finally switched to another plane when the software didn't boot. I was thankful to be flying on a plane that had a working computer system. Especially while flying over the ocean.

We made it to Frankfurt, then after much difficulty we finally got boarding passes for our flight to Athens. I sat next to a Greek woman who knew about 8 words in English yet she just kept chatting with me in Greek. She was so friendly and I felt terrible not having a clue what she was saying. I also thought it was kind of ironic...I'm here to help these students connect with and build relationships with Greeks, and here is this precious lady beside me working so hard to connect with me. That made me think about grace, and how Jesus wants to connect with us.

We landed in Athens and even more grace was bestowed upon us as all of our luggage arrived! What a blessing! Lots of people prayed those bags through. We are here and getting ready to hit the ground running. I'm so excited about what's going to happen here next week, and I'm honored to be a part of it.