A very looooooong day!

Judges 18:1–19:30, Philippians 4:10–20, Psalm 71:1–24

Today’s Old Testament reading is so horrible that I don’t have much to say. It is about a Levite who retrieved his concubine from her father’s house after a few days of drinking with his father-in-law. He stopped in a town and stayed with an old man. At night, men came to his door wanting his guest to molest him. The old man said, “Behold, here are my virgin daughter and his concubine. Let me bring them out now. Violate them and do with them what seems good to you, but against this man do not do this outrageous thing.” (Judges 19:24)

At the end of the story, the concubine is dead and the Levite cuts her up and sends each of twelve pieces to the twelve tribes of Israel. They were as outraged as I am, but in those days where everyone did what was right in his own eyes, the outcome wasn’t much comfort.

My personal story for today could be a horrible one, depending on how a person looks at it. For me, it was a test. I didn’t get upset all day . . . “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content . . . I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:11, 13)

We got up at 3:15 a.m. and soon were on our way to the airport. The plane was supposed to leave at 6:15 but was delayed for 3 hours. The airline gave us new tickets on another airline that took another route, through Dallas-Fort Worth instead of Denver. Soon we were on our way, but when we neared DFW, there was a storm. Instead of making our connection to Florida, we circled for a long time waiting for the weather to clear. It didn’t, so we went to another city to refuel. That took about three hours in total before we took off again for the bigger airport in Texas. When we got there, it took over an hour to get from wheels on the ground to a gate. Planes were lined up all over the place, waiting either to take off, or to unload passengers.

We finally got in to the terminal and found the lineup for re-ticketing, etc. It was about a half mile long. This was about 5 p.m. We took turns going for supper and watching the news on a nearby TV. A tornado touched down north of us. It rained so much that people were being rescued from flash floods with helicopters.

Finally the airline gates all opened to help stranded passengers. Bob didn’t want to lose his place in line for customer service, so I took his useless boarding pass and headed off to other gates. We were at C23 and I finally found a short line at C15. I found out that over 400 flights had been cancelled, but after 10-15 minutes, I had tickets for tomorrow in my hands, and thankful joy in my heart . . . “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.” (Philippians 4:19–20)

The psalm for today has this verse that I am repeating for it describes a bit of what we went through today: “You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again.” (Psalm 71:20)

The best part is experiencing His peace and patience all day. The worst is that we had to wait over an hour for a shuttle to our hotel, and our luggage is on its way to Florida so we here with basics like a toothbrush – but also glad hearts!