Finally A Post

I've finally had a moment to blog since arriving here in Formby. We arrived a day later than expected, which is explained below. Last night was the first of many ministry opportunities, where I taught my first Bible study. Today, we had a meeting in the morning, I wrote my sermon for Sunday, and tonight is King's Kids. It's going to be a blast.

Here is a little post I wrote while sitting in the airport on Monday. It's a blast from the past, but since I wrote it, I'd still like to post it. Enjoy:

Current time: 11:24 a.m. Departure time: 7:30 p.m.

Right now, I’m sitting in the airport at Atlanta, underneath a dinosaur skeleton in a large glass-roofed sitting area. It looks a lot like a Tyrannosaurus Rex, except it’s way too small and has three fingers instead of two. All around me are comfortable couches and lounge chairs, so I’m sitting on a stone bench in the middle of them, waiting for some sorry sap to stand up and leave his chair to go to the bathroom or something so I can steal it from him.

I figure if I’m going to be here for eight hours, I should do so comfortably, right?

Yes, I am supposed to be in Formby right now. After a series of travel complications (Lauren was separated from her passport, which of course caused us a minor panic, not to mention the ominous ash cloud which was hovering over Manchester airport at the time), we decided to volunteer to take tonight’s flight and arrive on Tuesday instead of Monday. In exchange, we received $600 of travel voucher.

So, maybe it’s not all that bad. I mean $600 in free flights and a hotel room and free food in exchange for leaving a day late is not at all a bad deal. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to let the family picking us up at the airport know we wouldn’t be on our scheduled flight, so they waited for us at the airport for Lord-knows-how-long.

Hang on, somebody just left a couch and a chair with a nice big table in the middle. Have to walk across the way to grab it. Perfect for Bananagrams. Score.

Anyway, last night, Josiah, Lauren and I took a shuttle bus to the Days Inn on Phoenix Boulevard to stay the night. We watched a movie, ate vending machine popcorn and drank cans of soda. The hotel was nice—our rooms had the obligatory multi-colored comforters and we were given toiletries courtesy Delta airlines. We slept in and returned to the airport about eight hours early because the shuttle doesn’t run all day—we took the last one we could.

Because our flight doesn’t leave until 7:30 p.m. tonight, we have to wait until at least 1 p.m. local time to check in. With fountain Coke in one hand (one of my last sodas with high fructose corn syrup until July; the UK doesn’t use it in the products) and trashy action novel purchased in a nearby bookstore in the other (if I didn’t have something to read I would be miserable), I sit on my red, fake-leather throne, awaiting my coach to fly me across the heavenlies.

Lauren is trying to nap on the couch. Josiah is listening to music. I am writing. Waiting, waiting until we land on that distant shore and can have ourselves a good cup of tea and a good meal and a nice bed and clean clothes.

Until then, we wait. Don’t worry Formby; we’ll be there soon.

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In my next post, I'll explain what I'll be teaching through this summer and why I'm teaching it. So stay posted. Until then, I need to go hang out with some friends who are under the age of 10.