I Love a Front-Row Seat, Part 2

The previous post found me ready to head to the airport and pick up my missionary friend Toya.  If you haven't read Part 1, you really should.  I'm attempting to create a collage of snapshots which, when all put together, will show you a complete landscape.  You don't want to find yourself missing a mountain or a waterfall or anything. Go ahead and flip back.  The rest of us will wait.

Ready to move on?

Well...while I was at home babysitting the Delta flight status page...and watching Toya's arrival time grow later and later and later, Toya was sitting in the airport in Atlanta, doing the same thing.  Finally, she realized that, if she was going to be sitting for a while, she might as well be productive and creative.  (Just one more reason she is a woman after my own heart!)

Much of the rest of this installment of the story is a note Toya posted on Facebook:

I'm in the airport waiting for a plane that has been delayed for "mechanical reasons." This is a frequent term used by the airlines, and I always wonder what it really means. I'm sure it means, "We're late and we don't know what else to tell you." 

Mechanical Reasons always seems to make people feel like airline personnel are doing all they can to keep us safe. I'm not complaining; I'm just saying. :-)

As I heard the announcement for the umpteenth time, it reminded me of the first time I was flying to meet my Rozetta family. 

[That's us!  Woo hoo!] 

The same thing happened. For some reason, when I am going back and forth to see them, I am delayed coming and going. This is the 2nd time I have been upgraded to First Class for my inconvenience, though! 

And sitting here gives me lots of time to reflect. I have been asked why I'm going to Illinois. 


[It's not like Toya isn't already meeting herself coming and going at the baggage claim!]


Well, almost two years ago I led an inner-city trip to Atlanta. We had two phenomenal churches to work with: Christ Church from D.C. and Rozetta Baptist from Illinois. One never knows how mixing teenagers is going to pan out, but the Lord gave us a marvelous gift in those two teams. We had some rocky moments, but overall, this trip still ranks in my top five as a trip leader, and I have led a BUNCH of trips.

I bonded with the girls on this trip in a way that I never have bonded before or since with a group of girls on a trip. We spent many hours togther doing ministry and then having "girl time" at night. Girl time started when I went in to say good-night to the kids, and one of the girls asked a question about something that had happened that day and wondered what the Bible had to say about it. I'm not sure how many hours we were talking, but it was long enough that the boys complained the next day.  (They had lights-out while we were chatting!)

It was also during this time that a child from Cameroon was having a surgery for which I had helped raise money. The girls from Rozetta and their leader Diane got up with me in the middle of the night to pray for God's hand to be on the surgeons and everyone in the hospital. 


Lydia came through the surgery with flying colors, and I was able to see her run for the first time in January when I visited Cameroon.

At the end of the trip, Pastor Jim [better known to regular blog readers as Sweet Jimmy B] invited me to come visit Rozetta. When I came home from a 3 month stint in Hawaii, I did visit...and my life hasn't been the same. I gained a new family and a host of wonderful friends.

I was thinking about that trip the other day, remembering how I had been arguing with the Lord about loving people and then losing them. This is one group that He has allowed me to keep, and they have touched my life in so many ways.

Here are Alexis, Rachael, and Kara, on the inner-city trip to Atlanta, 

basically being themselves.

We never know who we will meet and how they will impact our lives. The people of Rozetta continue to impact my life on a daily basis, and I love them. 

Those same girls who got up with me in the middle of the night--to pray for a child they never met--graduate from High School tomorrow and move into the next phases of their lives...and I am so privileged to be able to share that with them.  


Who could have known? 


Only God. 

The same three girls, showing off their African graduation gifts from Toya.

Blessings!
Missy

And all the believers met together in one place 

and shared everything they had. 

They sold their property and possessions 

and shared the money with those in need. 

They worshiped together at the Temple each day, 

met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, 

and shared their meals with great joy and generosity 

all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. 

And each day the Lord added to their fellowship 

those who were being saved.

Acts 2:44-47