Yes, I am going to be in Cincinnati for Christmas because I have a wonderfully supportive home church.
Yes, I do have to fly home.
Yes, it is possible to purchase tickets on this side of the ocean.
No, my travel agent did not book the right tickets.
Yes, this is a problem.
About a week ago, I finally got the confirmation email from my travel agent regarding my flights home. Problems:
1. The tickets were only booked through to Chicago but my final destination is Cincinnati.
2. The "special discount" tickets were $400.00 more than I could purchase online.
So, I have had to scramble to find some appropriate tickets. Cutting a long story short, American Airlines had some great tickets but I needed the reservation to be held.
Enter Customer Service... I call the States and speak to AA asking if my 24 hour hold can be extended.
"No."
Okay... you do understand that I live in Africa and am unable to bring you the cash for the tickets, right?
"Well ma'am you can call back everyday and renew your hold. "
Okay, I'll do that. I call again... I'd like to renew my hold.
"Oh, you can't do that."
What? The other lady told me I could.
"Well, you know these agents..."
No, but apparently I'm speaking to one...
"You see ma'am it's like when you go to a store and there are 5 dresses for $50.o0 and you need to put one on hold. If 4 other people come in and buy the other dresses, then all your left with is the one on hold."
Yes, thank you for the thrilling lesson in economics, now can you renew the hold on the "dress" that is left? After listening to her mumble and plink away at her keyboard for 2 minutes, my phone credit ticking away, I told her I'd call back. Two more times I called back to renew the "impossible to renew" 24-hour reservation.
Two days ago I called, once again to renew the hold, and was told my ticket price had gone up! But the lovely customer service agent (one of the few worthy of the title) found me a cheaper flight that left London later (nullifying the 4am drop-off one of my gorgeous Londoner friends would have to make) and arrived in Cincinnati earlier! Then yesterday, when I checked the reservation status online, it said held until next week!! (Which I was told by 4 different people was an impossibility in their computer system!) Yahooo!!!!!!!
I am thinking there are only two possible explanations for all this:
1. The Customer Service Agent was actually an angel in disguise. (a possibility I'm not ruling out.)
2. Because of my persistence in calling, American finally got fed up and did what I originally asked...which made me think about the parable of the Persistent Widow (Luke 18:1-8).
This parable has always bothered me. As a teacher, I HATE being asked over and over and over again the same thing. In fact, if I give you an answer you don't like and you ask me again, I will only become more firm in my original "un-liked" answer! So I could never imagine how God could want us to ask Him for the same thing over and over and over again. God wants us to nag Him? Shouldn't I ask Him and then trust that He hears and answers? Even when people have explained it to me, I still haven't been able to wrap my mind around it. It still just seemed like distrust and anxiousness. This experience with the tickets has changed my mind... all because of need.
I need to go home for Christmas. I need to be around my permanent people and meet my new niece. Because of my wrongly booked tickets, American Airlines was my only option for meeting the need. If that meant I had to jump through all of their hoops to get what I needed, then that's what I was going to do. Not because I was hoping they would change their minds, but because that's what they told me to do. So I was going to endure until the problem was solved. I think that's what this widow was doing... she had a need and knew the only way to get it met was through the king. So, she continued to jump through his hoops and endured until the problem was solved.
So it is with God and prayer. I'll keep praying, enduring until a "problem" is solved, because God is the only one who can meet the need. He is the only option. So if He says pray, then I will pray. Not because I want Him to change His mind but because He told me to.
