Well we already have had adventures

"Is it open?" I asked the Budget rental car shuttle bus driver as we pulled into the completely dark parking lot.
"I think so," he answered,"This is strange."
The building was dark and not a single light illuminated the rows of cars. It was bitter cold and now we sat on the shuttle bus empty but for us and the driver, gazing at the dark, desolate lot.
"The fun factor is definitely going down," I whispered to Asherel.

A rental agent knocked on the bus door, her breath forming ghostly clouds around her face.
"Power is out," she said, " I'll fill out the forms on the bus where it's warm."

The driver grabbed my luggage and put it on the sidewalk outside the bus and then for no good reason I could discern, pulled a good distance forward.

"But my luggage is back there," I said.
"It will be fine," he assured me.

And as I watched my luggage, I saw a man walk up to it, grab it and start hauling both our suitcases around the corner of the dark building.

"Hey!" I shouted,"Where is he going with my luggage!?"
And thinking all 105 pounds of me was going to single handedly apprehend the crook, I leaped off the bus and shot off after him.
"Should I come too?" asked Asherel.
"I will get it," yelled the bus driver, sprinting after me. He overtook me as we both yelled to the criminal, who it turned out was just an overzealous worker trying to bring the abandoned luggage into the building.

The bus driver returned my luggage to the bus. Finally, the paperwork was completed and the agent pointed me in the direction of a car shrouded by icy darkness.
"The blue one," she said through chattering teeth and sprinted
back to the warm bus.

Mind you, it was pitch black and not a drop of electricity flowed to any bulb so we had no idea what color any of the cars were.
Somehow, we found our car and with the high beams lighting the way to follow exit signs, made our way to the kiosk where a guard waited by the exit gate.

"I can't open the gate to let you out," said the guard, "We have no electricity."

"How long will we have to wait?" I asked.

"I don't know," he said.

I was perilously close to blowing my witness as a Christian who carries the Holy spirit with me wherever I go.

When Asherel and I had done our bible study that morning, I had been struck by the verse in John 12, where Jesus tells the people that when they see Him, they should see the Father.
I told Asherel that on our trip to Boston and NY, that should be our goal. When people saw us, they should see the evidence of God within us. I am pretty sure the bus driver, the luggage handler, and the gate agent were not looking at me and thinking how if I looked any more like God I'd be walking on water. If they saw God reflected in me, they saw a harried, irritable, angry, and indignant God who was pretty ticked off that Boston was so cold and so dark.

So I failed....again. I always have such high hopes for myself. But somehow though the spirit is willing, the flesh is always weak. And it was getting weaker by the moment. I was cold, and tired, and my eyes ached and now I didn't know how long I would have to sit in a dark parking lot in the frigid cold before I could
drive to the hotel.

But as though God knew that the next words out of my mouth might do irreparable damage in my attempts to model Christ within me before my daughter, the lights all flickered on. The gate keeper opened the gate and we drove away.

None of this was an accident. It was a test and I didn't pass. However, I suspect I will get another chance. I can't wait to see what is in store for me
today.

John 12:45-46 (NIV)
When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me. [46] I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.




-nothing is impossible with God