Geting There

Asia 2008 had an inauspicious start. Heavy rains in Indianapolis delayed most flights in and out. When my scheduled departure was delayed one hour and 45 minutes, I knew we had a problem. With haste I got to the counter and NWA was able to re-route me through Minneapolis and on to Tokyo where I could at least, in theory, still catch my flight to Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Even with the change in flight plan, I was supposed to arrive in Tokyo 2 hours before my flight to Kaohsiung, which I assumed would be plenty of time.

I knew I lost my aisle seat by the re-routing for the 6097 mile journey from MSP to Tokyo. When I approached the counter in MSP, they said, “We’ll see.” From my childhood I know that means “No”.

But God did exceeding abundantly above what I asked of Him. Not only did they call my name for a seat assignment change, they got me an aisle seat with no passenger seated on my immediate right. But God went beyond that. In the next seat over from the vacant one, was Preston. Preston is a middle school student in Japan. His father is stationed there. He loves roller coasters and thrill rides and has spent the last couple of weeks in Nebraska.

I lost my ear somewhere over Alaska. Once he knew he had an audience he was non-stop. But I was eager to learn about his experiences. His family has been stationed there 4 years and after a month in the states, they are headed back to Japan for 3 more years. After a couple of hours, he got knee deep in his game boy…at least until the battery died… and then there was a tug at my shirt and a small whisper, “Hey Andrew….Are you awake?” At dinner we made a trade, I got his shrimp cocktail and he got my Oreo’s….I still think I got the better of the deal. (We had long since covered personal tastes in food and his disdain for seafood in a country that eats it three times a day.

The landing in Tokyo went well...until as we were waiting to de-board and in broken English I hear, “Now paging Andrew Hatheway. Please see an agent outside upon deplaning. OK….I was tempted just a little to panic.

Finally I got off the plane and ran up the jet way to see a trim Japanese lady holding a sign in English with my name. (It is my first official souvenir.) She said, “Right this way. I am going to help you get through security and immediately over to Japan Airlines. I told her I didn’t have a boarding pass yet and she said not to worry.”

The agent clearly was a retired track star. She ran and I just couldn’t keep up. After several flights of stairs and turns we came to a security checkpoint that had at least 300 people standing wall to wall. She opened the tape and took me to the front of the line. I am not ashamed to admit that tears started to fill my eyes. I am just sure it would have taken me double the time just to find where to go, not to mention the hours I would have had to wait in the security. She took me straight from the security check point to a private shuttle. She then escorted me to the JAL ticket counter who gave me a boarding pass instantly. Within just a few minutes I was standing at gate 83 with 45 minutes to spare before boarding.

I can’t explain it. Why I was singled out, I simply can not tell. But watching God work on my behalf as He has done sure makes this simpleton to know, God is working even now.

As I write, I am the tallest (and likely the heaviest) person on my plane to Kaohsiung. God added a cherry when after we got in the air, the stewardess saw how cramped I was and moved me to the front row in front of the screen which has 2 extra feet of leg room. Of course the news they are showing is in Japanese…. But the news can wait…..

I haven’t shaved in 28 hours. I slopped on my pants and my hair suffers from terminal pillow head. I am sure I’ll be quite a sight for the Brackens!