Only 17 days before Jennifer and I are supposed to board a plane for Kenya and we have run into 2 huge barriers in the last week. Barriers so insurmountable on several occasions we thought we would have to cancel the trip.
Thursday I got a call from my dad. He and my mom had graciously offered to take care of our 5 year old son, Aidyn and his 2 year old sister Aryn for the entire 10 day trip. My mom has been experiencing terrible lower back and leg pain over the last several weeks. My dad called to let me know the good news – that the doctors had finally diagnosed the problem (a bulging disk) and was starting treatment, and the bad news – that the doctor said she wouldn’t be able to care for our kids.
Whaaaa???
How are we going to find someone to watch 2 of our children for 10 days at this late hour?
Then yesterday I called Delta to try to reschedule the last leg of our trip. They had us going from Atlanta to Tampa through Memphis. (Makes a lot of sense right?) When I got through to someone, she told me, “Oh well, we need to reschedule the rest of trip too because the flight to and from Kenya has been discontinued.
Whaaaa???
Me: It’s less than 3 weeks before departure, when were you planning on letting us know this? What are we supposed to do now?
The news in both cases was very disheartening. Jennifer and I talked about it and in that conversation we said, “Well, maybe God just doesn’t want us to go for some reason.”
Dead End or Barrier to Overcome?
It led us to a tough question…
When you’re faced with what looks like an insurmountable obstacle how do you know whether God is closing the door and you should take a new path or He’s giving you’re the opportunity to see Him overcome the barrier?
The Flight
After the initial news that the Delta flight in and out of Kenya was discontinued, the Delta rep put me on hold while she looked for alternate flights. After about 15 minutes, she came back and rattled off a long flights that she had rebooked us on. The trip over would put us in Nairobi a day later than planned. The flight back left on the same day as the original return flight but in the morning. That would have meant making the 3 hour drive from Nakuru to Nairobi the night before and missing the events planned for the only Sunday we would be in Kenya.
I was so mad, I told the Delta rep I was too upset to talk to her anymore and I would have to call back later.
After sharing the news with Jennifer, I went to work looking for better flights. Flights that wouldn’t cut our 7 days in Kenya to 5. I could only find one flight into Nairobi on July 12 that got in early enough to allow us to make the 3 hour drive back to Nakuru that evening and one flight out late enough on the 19th that would allow us to do what we planned to do earlier that day. Both flights were on KLM.
Jennifer and I decided that the shorter stay in Kenya just wouldn’t be worth the trip. If we couldn’t get on better flights we would cancel. Maybe God had some other plans for us.
I called Delta back, requested we be switched to those flights, but the person said she could not get KLM to release the seats to her. It was so infuriating. I was on the KLM website and could have booked the seats myself (if I wanted to pay another $5k for them), but Delta couldn’t.
That was it. Game over. The trip was off.
Then I got this crazy idea… Maybe I’ll just call KLM and see if I could get them to release the seats to Delta. Because, you know, it just make so much sense that an average Joe like me would have more influence and ability than a trained Delta employee sitting at her booking terminal. (end sarcasm)
So, I called and explained to a guy at KLM my situation and he asked me for my reservation number. Surprised, I asked him, “My Delta reservation number?” And he replied, “Of course, we’re all together now.” Apparently KLM and Northwest are partners and Delta merged with Northwest. So, the only flights that would get us in and out of Kenya on the day we needed were essentially Delta flights. Within a few minutes he says he can get us booked on the KLM flights.
Miraculous!
I have no idea why the Delta reps couldn’t get us on the KLM flights, but everything was resolved.
And the new flights actually have a shorter travel time and give us an extra couple of hours in Kenya.
Unbelievable!
The Kids
Jennifer jumped into the challenge of trying to find people who would care for Aidyn and Aryn during the trip. Honestly, I don’t really know how many conversations she had or who she called or what. All I know is that as of last night everyone was taken care of except for Aidyn for the last few days (I think). Thank you, God! And thank you to everyone watching our kids. I’m sure Jennifer will brief me on who you are tonight. Just kidding, sort of. (And btw, if you’re up for taking Aidyn for a weekend all you’d have to do is put him in a room with a Wii and a block of cheese and he’d be all set.)
EDIT 6/25: We’ve got all 3 kids taken care of for all 10 days now! Woohoo!
So, I guess God is bigger than my mom’s bulging disk and a clueless airline reservation system. Hmmm…
I must have needed to be reminded of that.
I have no idea what this trip holds for us, but when things get tough we will have this experience of God coming through fresh in our memories.
So, how do you know?
As to the question of how to tell whether a barrier is a dead end or an opportunity to experience God, the overcomer? I’m not sure I have an answer. But I have some suggestions.
- Pray and listen. God promises to give wisdom to those who ask. I don’t think the idea to call KLM came from my puny mind.
- Don’t give up while there are still options on the table even if they’re difficult.
- But don’t hold so fast to a dream that you’re willing to compromise things that are more important. We would have postponed our trip if the alternative would have been to spend all this time and money for just a few days on the ground in Kenya. We would have postponed the trip if getting the flights we needed would have required us to compromise our values. And of course we would have postponed the trip if the alternative would have been to put our kids in a bad situation.
Have you ever experienced a barrier that seemed insurmountable but somehow God overcame it?
Do you have any advice on how to tell whether a barrier is dead end or an opportunity to see God overcome?
[images by bennylin0724, davidcushing, brraveheart]
Wow…I’m exhausted just reading about your frusterations but yes I’ve experienced a few question marks directed at God!
Three years ago Chris and I knew God was calling us to move to Florida for ministry at Cypress but our house didn’t sell.
Today, three years later, we still own a home in Indiana. We had renters. They never paid on time. The renters left before the contract is up. And here we sit.
All we know is that He’s made a way for us to be here anyway. Who knows?
My personal philosophy? Keep running until God shouts STOP:)
(Plus all that other mature advice you mentioned in your post!)
So glad it worked. And Jan’s situation makes me think of ours. I was so frustrated when our house wouldn’t sell – and here we are living in it again. I guess we keep forging ahead and let God lead!
Dude – what a story. So glad you didn’t have to cancel!
Jan, can’t believe your house still hasn’t sold. Glad it hasn’t kept you from doing what you guys have been called to do.
Laura, pretty cool how that worked out! We’re excited to have you guys back in Florida.
Chris, oh man! Me too!