Divine Appointments

Never underestimate the value of a Divine Appointment.  On the surface, it may appear as a chance meeting, a coincidence, or some kind of a fluke.  Digging deeper, you can see the Holy Spirit at work.  I realize in my nearly sixty-one years on this planet that God sometimes adds exclamation marks to these Divine Appointments to make sure I get the hint that what is happening is by His design.  What happened yesterday on my return trip home is one of these God moments.  It was surprising, humiliating, and totally unexpected.

My morning was NOT going according to my plan yesterday.  I showed up at the airport and got in line to scan my bags and for some reason I couldn't access my boarding pass.  I got out of line and went to the counter for a duplicate and discovered my flight had been cancelled due to bad weather in Chicago.  The agent rerouted me to Dallas and gave me my new tickets.  The times were unfavorable because it meant getting home about seven hours later than planned.  All the good flights were overbooked.  That didn't stop me.  I went to another counter and inquired about standby options for earlier flights.  Standby is challenging because it means waiting to the last minute to board and that's only if someone doesn't show.  The Hand of God was gradually appearing on the scene as I scurried to my seat near the back of the plane.  The bins were nearly full and they were ready to close the doors for takeoff.  I ended up in the very back of the plane with an anxious flight attendant and another passenger in the same predicament.  While other passengers reshuffled their belongs in the overhead bin for the other passenger, I was sent to the front of the plane, similar to going to the principal's office where a second flight attendant reminded me the reason for checking the size of your carryon before boarding.  It was so humiliating.  I was forced to open by bag and remove items to the bag would fit.  I put my head down as I returned to my seat with several items including my Soulcon book I'm reading from my Men's group.  The passenger I sat next to was the same one I met at the back of the plane when we were both trying to figure out what to do with our bags.  She also needed to remove her books, the source of her oversized challenge.  Her books were from a marriage retreat.  My brain was trying to calculate the odds of this odd coincidence.  Divine Appointments don't need odds.  They only need God's intervention.

My new friend elaborated about her amazing retreat and pointed to her husband four rows in front of us.  She told me that when you go through third parties for your tickets you aren't guaranteed seats together.  We took pictures of the books we are both reading with the same theme, getting closer to God through relationships and marriage.  All I can say is that when the Divine Appointment ended I was thankful God was with us during our flight.  I made it home only two hours later than my original flight time and nearly four hours earlier than my rebooked flight times having experienced a roller coaster ride of emotions.  Divine Appointments are special.  They are created by God to teach lessons and bring us closer to Him.  Thank you, Wendy, for sharing about your marriage retreat experience and for allowing me the opportunity to share about my life serving Jesus.  Have a great day.