Punk's Away and My Middle Name's Pete

Josh made it safely to Beijing. It was a trip of the mixed sort, as should be expected. God was very gracious to us during the send-off process. First of all, Sunday was an extremely difficult day. Something about being at church together and knowing that is the last time for a while... One of Josh's friends at church gave him a big gift bag full of letters from friends. Each letter was dated -- one for each day he is gone. That was an incredibly meaningful gift to him (and to all of us). Monday, we had a very special time of family prayer before we left for the airport. I prayed the least -- out loud anyway-- as my tear faucet was working overtime. Putting him on that plane was definitely the most difficult thing I have ever done. It's not so comforting to know it won't be the most difficult thing I ever do... :o) God is SO good, though. He graciously allowed us to just "happen" to speak to about four different people at KCI who were Christians and showed support for what Josh was doing, including the security guard when he checked in at the gate. That guard let us know that one person is allowed to accompany a minor into the gate until they board the plane. My sweet husband insisted I be that one person, so I had a few extra, special moments before Josh took off. He called when he got to Minneapolis. That flight went well. He even sat next to a nice Christian lady on that trip. Though he didn't have time for lunch, he didn't have to rush too much to catch his next flight to Tokyo. Unfortunately, before leaving Minneapolis, their plane was grounded well over an hour, which put a serious doubt as to whether he would be able to make his connecting flight in Tokyo to Beijing. We were on the phone with the airline several times that night. At one point they told us he would miss his connecting flight and they had booked him on the same flight the next day, basically meaning he would have to spend almost 24 hours at the biggest airport in the biggest city in the world.

This is where my middle name gets changed. At this point, I am feeling very panicked. We have no way to reach Josh. We have no way of knowing if the airline will really take care of him. We feel completely helpless and he seems completely vulnerable. For a long period of time, I found myself wavering -- again. When it comes to this whole thing of trusting my kids in the care of their Heavenly Father, I really thought I had it down. I mean, I was very willing to let Josh do this thing we all agreed God was calling him to do. I have declared from the start that God will take care of him. So, I ask myself why have I hit the panic button twice in less than a week? I am like Peter. Remember how bravely Peter said he would get out of the boat, into the storm and walk to Jesus on the water. Remember how he didn't hesitate to do so? Remember how he panicked when he looked around and realized what he did and how vulnerable he was? Remember what Jesus said? "Oh ye of little faith..." Yes, this whole process has served to show me when it comes to faith, I have a lot of growing room! I very willingly jumped out of the boat, only to panic several times already... Fortunately, Peter's story does not end with him sinking for lack of faith. Though Christ pointed out Peter's issue, He did not hesitate to save Peter. If you know the rest of Peter's story, that wasn' t the only time he wavered and showed a lack of faith, either. Each time, Christ restored him and Peter grew until one day, by grace, he was able to exercise that faith consistently. Thank God for His patience, mercy and grace!

Well, as it turns out, we were watching the status of both flights -- the one Josh was on from Minneapolis to Tokyo, and the connecting flight from Tokyo to Beijing. To us it looked as though they had delayed the departure time for his connecting flight, and he just might have time to make it. His flight arrived in Tokyo, and we anxiously awaited his call -- it didn't come. We knew that meant he probably had to run from one gate to the next to catch his flight and had no time to call, but how could we know for sure. We called the airline again. They were not very willing to share the information with us, but finally did tell us that his boarding pass had been scanned for the connecting flight. We had to assume, then, that he made it okay. At that point, we went to bed and "slept" (fitfully) for four hours before getting up and waiting for that call. It came at last. Long story just slight shorter -- he has called four times from Beijing. The first two were from the airport. One when he arrived and one after he made it through customs, was with his escort and going to the car. He sounded great both of those calls, and I felt much relief. The third call, though, was from his room and I think exhaustion had set in. He didn't sound so good. The driver did not speak much English and just dropped him at his room. Think of it, basically 24 hours of travel, it's midnight, you get dropped off at a strange room, don't know what to do and can't get the electricity to work. Well, he did get a little sleep, called me again around 5:30 am their time and said he had decided to go for a little walk around campus, but the lock on his door had malfunctioned and he couldn't get back in his room! He had figured out the electricity, though. :o) Right now, he is probably eating lunch, has hopefully met the person we talked to who is supervising him, and hopefully has been able to get a few things figured out. I anxiously await another call or email or something to see how things are going. In the meantime, I am praying for grace to look more like Jesus and to experience peace that matches my stated faith!