Sleepless in Seattle

Grace and peace to you from Him who holds the seven stars in His hand and walks among the seven lampstands,

I suppose this post doesn't actually fit my profile as I'm no longer in Asia, but I wanted to get one more post in before I get home (plus I'm sitting in the airport for the next couple hours with nothing to do). I have made it to Seattle from Beijing, although it was quite a bit of work, not to mention a bit stressful. Hopefully all my things will be in order when I arrive in Chicago a few hours from now.

During my travel there have been a few things of note. I suppose our heavenly Father is trying to teach me patience. On the day I left I was in a bit of a hurry, rushing in taxis, buses, and motorcycle taxis to make it home from buying a few last-minute gifts, and then I rushed to the railway station in a taxi to leave. I would at this point like to thank Miss Ivy for putting up with me in the daze and confusion of it all. She has been tremendously helpful to me, even though I have certainly been a little impatient. She took me to the train station, and that was the last I saw of my Wuhan friends before I left.

It's been an emotionally draining time for me as of late. I know I will be going back to China soon, but it strikes me that I'm leaving some people there who are also very important to me. I know I want to come back and see my friends and family, but there are still things tying me down to China too. I suppose it's a good thing that I have decided to return in a couple months. It will be nice to see all my 中国朋友 again.I got to go out with Jerry, one of my close co-teachers, my good friend William, and the beautiful Miss Ivy (all on separate occasions) before leaving. We also had a last hurrah on Friday; we went to see the new Star Trek movie. A bunch of friends and I got together to see it. A few of my dearest students came to visit me at our meeting place on Sunday; I was very pleased to see them, too.

My voyage home was not at all uneventful, either. I took an overnight train to Beijing (and I heard all the Chinese people talking about how one person could need so much luggage; little do they know that I'm loaded with gifts for home). I arrived in Beijing Tuesday morning, then, and took the subway from there. I was on the subway for about two full hours (three lines with one line lasting over an hour), and then I finally made it to the airport. I still needed to check in, but seeing as how I was about 7 hours early or so, I figured I had plenty of time. I went to the kiosk for ticket information, only to find that, after waiting behind one person for over an hour,  I could not get my ticket there. They told me I could get my ticket at the baggage drop no problem, and I would have to wait until four hours before my flight left. In retrospect, perhaps it was good that I had to wait in line so long; it certainly helped kill time.

I had some brunch and waited to check in. I get in line early, but even so I was only the third person in line. I checked in and, at first, everything was okay, but then they checked my big suitcase and found my gift for Ben (a sword). They asked me if it was mine, to which I responded that it was. The security officer inspected it and decided that it was okay. (It's not actually sharp enough to hurt anyone.) So, Ben, I almost lost your gift. I was a little worried it wouldn't make it through Seattle, but it seems to have gone through just fine.

After that, I went through security and almost forgot my jacket (which had my wallet in in), but fortunately I remembered in less than five minutes and went back for it. It was still just sitting right there. From that point on it was smooth sailing until I boarded the plane. Aside from being on the same airplane for 13 hours with little leg space, my flight was delayed almost two hours, so we literally just sat there and waited for the weather to get better. It never did improve in my estimation, but they still let us fly out a couple hours later. That had me concerned that I might miss my connecting flight from Seattle to Chicago, but, as it turns out, my flight from Seattle has been delayed, too, giving me plenty of time. I can see no apparent reason that my flight here has been delayed--the skies are blue with only a few, ordinary clouds in the sky. I arrived in Seattle at about 2 pm (which is actually four hours before we took off from Beijing, having crossed the International Date Line), so it seems that I would have arrived on time to catch my flight in the first place, but maybe this is also from above. He works in mysterious ways.

Please pr@y for my continued safety, that He would lead me home, and that He would also bl*ss all I do this summer. Pr@yers go out to all of you in America, and to all my friends in China.

The peace of the L-rd Jes-s be with your sp+rit.