Ordinary Visionary

Between Terminals #2

I'm on a bus somewhere in the Carolinas right now, nearing the end of what has become my most bizarre travel experience ever. If you've read my previous Between Terminals post, you're probably thinking, 'doesn't she only add to that series when she flies?' You're right. Yet somehow now I find myself on a bus.

Here's the (long) story… My flight from Orlando to Charlotte was delayed about 30 minutes taking off, which made it a tight 35-minute connection once I got to Charlotte. Normally this would be okay, but the 30-passenger planes are on the opposite side of the airport from the big jets. By the time we landed and deplaned, my Charlotte-to-Asheville flight should have been boarded and ready for taxi and take-off. So like any other passenger who has to get from one end of a large international airport to the other in five minutes, I hailed one of those beeping carts to get me from the B terminal to the E terminal (where the puddle jumpers take off).

I didn't realize that the little beeping carts are at the mercy of the seemingly deaf hoards of people walking in front of them. The thought crossed my mind more than once that I should just get off the beeping cart and make my way from B to E on foot. But I decided to stay the course and made it to the center of all the concourses (where the old Cheers restaurant is now a place called Tequileria). I was asked to switch carts so that the B concourse's beeping cart could return back to home base. I switched carts two more times before I arrived at the stairs above the E concourse, at which point I took an escalator to yet another cart. I sat down and waited while my name and flight information (and that of four other beeping cart patrons) was recorded, I'm sure looking panicked at that point because my flight must have been on or around the runway.

I imagined myself chasing after the plane on the tarmac with my little gray wheeled suitcase and dropping everything (including myself) as the plane grew smaller and smaller, disappearing over the horizon.

It suddenly dawned on me just how much quicker walking would be at this point (I could see my gate in the distance) so I got up to walk and turned to thank the driver for her time when I felt the death grip of a very large and angry woman grasping my arm and thrusting me back into the beeping cart. What the crap? "Excuse me but I cannot let you off this cart until we arrive at your gate. Sit back down, ma'am. I know what I'm doing." Do you?

I sat back down, obediently, though wondering what kind of hair-brained airport policy refused an adult the right to walk to her own gate.

We arrived a few minutes (and about 128 beeps) later. The driver walked with me to the gate agent and told him that I was an unaccompanied minor who had given her some trouble. She whispered something to the man, presumably that I should have an eye kept on me, and turned to walk back to her cart. Seriously, what the crap??

I turned to the man — eyes wide — saying, "I'm sorry, sir, but she said I was a what?"

"How old are you?"

"I'm 21..."

Everyone had a good laugh, me with my hand outstretched offering my boarding pass and my eye on the pilot standing at the door.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but your flight has been cancelled." Of course it has. Apparently while I was listening to a chorus of beeping carts on my journey through the Charlotte airport, a group of technicians was busy inspecting the Charlotte-to-Asheville plane, deciding that it had jumped one too many puddles and wasn't fit to fly. The passengers of flight 3683 would not be flying to Asheville today, but riding in a bus instead.

I dropped my bags at my feet and just smiled. It had to be a dream, right? I was just nodding off on the plane from Orlando to Charlotte and when I woke up and landed I'd call my parents to tell them what a crazy dream I'd had…

A voice came over the PA system and instructed all passengers going to Asheville to meet outside the doors of Baggage Claim D for a bus. And we all know that there are no PA systems in dreams, so it had to be real.

I went and waited outside the doors, just like the voice over the PA had instructed me to do, for an hour and a half. By that time most of our flight had retreated back to the interior of the building and were bonding over how much of a debacle this trip had turned out to be. I wanted to stay just a few more minutes in case the bus came. Finally a bus did come. Those of us who were still outside were overjoyed (I believe there was applause accompanying the squeak, squeak, clash of the bus's hydraulic system). Then I read the side of the bus: CHRISTIAN TOURS.

Why did US Airways send a Christian tour bus to pick us up? They didn't. Apparently that bus was reserved for the Christians who read their Isaiah chapters this week because I wasn't allowed on it.

I felt like I was under such a spiritual attack. Here I was, flying to North Carolina to get away from the craziness of my Orlando routine and spend some quality time with God and someone didn't want me to be in the right frame of mind for that. So I sent a text message to Jenn saying just that (she's all about spiritual attacks). I knew she'd be going into our Thursday night small group shortly and could say a little prayer beforehand. She sent me a response that read, "What can we pray about?" After I sent my response, I got a "failed" message from my phone. I had been sending texts to Richard, Zac, Nick, Kitty, and even Jenn before and after I sent the "please pray for…" message, but this one text message would not go through. Oh yeah, that was an attack.

But the Enemy didn't see this one coming…

The stretch of road before me is a brilliant picture book of page after page of God's most precious landscapes. An hour ago I felt so attacked, but now I feel like God is romancing me slowly through the Carolinas. The flowers are in bloom, the mountains are perfectly embraced by the surrounding clouds, and I am on a tour I never could have gotten from the sky.

I really need to thank the girls for their prayer because this has turned out to be such a blessing and a fantastic way to start my trip.

God bless US Airways.

God is AMAZING!

So a few days ago, I felt compelled to write a two sentence blog…

There is so much noise; I am silenced this week. My apologies.

…and this week's nooma was "noise." How we need to be still and get away from all the noise because God is not [just] in the wind or the thunderstorms; He is in the silence. That is where He speaks to us.

Amazing. Truly.

Speaking of taking risks for faith...

“      For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.
— Matthew 16:25 (NIV)”

Complete Insanity

It's the first day of the rest of the summer (I started Biology today) and I am officially a little nervous about the next six weeks. I walked into the first class four chapters behind and in order to stay on track I need to read ten chapters by tomorrow. Not exaggerating. That and I have two exams this week. So you won't be hearing much from me until I have some time to reflect flying over the southeastern United States on Thursday.

I am really looking forward to my trip to North Carolina. A few days in the mountains — no cell signal, 56k Internet — is exactly what I need… Horseback riding, 25¢ Cokes, waterfalls, Carolina sweet tea, reading in the porch swing, walking down by the lake… Yep, can't wait. I'll be spending lots of time with God and will hopefully return with more to say than, "I am silenced this week."

♫ Don't give up on me; I'm about to come alive. ♫

On another note, I feel truly blessed lately. I have met a lot of new people who are just amazing. They are exactly who I've needed.

Silent

There is so much noise; I am silenced this week. My apologies.

Lots of Photos added to Flickr

Jamie landing
Originally uploaded by olanky1.

Had a wild night with the girls and lots of pictures to document it... From dancing to taming a large and friendly cockroach, it's surely something you won't want to miss.

New Pics from Around My Neighborhood

Water
Originally uploaded by olanky1.

I took some great pics with my new camera around my neighborhood this morning. Enjoy them over at Flickr!

New Camera: Kodak V610

Macro Loveliness
Originally uploaded by olanky1.

I am excited to announce the arrival of a new member of my photography arsenal: The Kodak EasyShare V610. Many photos to come from this young dual-lens jewel.

afterthoughts :: deal no deal

Luke 16:13
"No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."

I have to be honest with you. I have never known a day of my life when I was hungry, when I was without shoes for my feet or a roof over my head. I have hardly known a day without air conditioning or power windows and locks. And that's just the beginning. I have racks of clothes I don't wear, a robot to do my housekeeping, two Macs and an iPod. And Nathan picks this of all weeks to be out of town...

Perhaps I am just lucky (with money, that is). When I was growing up, my allowance was under a dollar until I was about ten years old. I did the dishes; I did the laundry; I fed the dogs; I got the mail; I took out the trash; I cleaned the pool skimmer baskets (a foul chore, if you've never done it). I remember even cleaning my room a few times. For a dollar. And that dollar is exactly why I consider myself lucky.

I mean, what could a dollar a week really buy me? A pack of gum? There wasn't even the remote possibility that my life would revolve around money when it would be years before I had the cash to make that mistake.

Lucky for me, before I found out that you didn't actually need cash to make financial mistakes, I had a healthy respect for money. A dollar a week when I was a kid insulated me from financial slavery in my twenties, but nothing could insulate me from the pressures of billboards and magazines and peers and the incessant desire for shiny objects that blink.

How can I not serve two masters, when they both look so beautiful?

I have prayed on this question for days, and God keeps giving me the same answer. It's a matter of long-term goals over short-term gratification, and self-control over self-indulgence.

It's the answer most of us would rather not hear right now. Not this year, God. Just a few more months of fun before I have to grow up. I'm already in so deep, what's a little bit more?

Why do we cherish our slavery so much?

Luke 9:25
What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?

If you can't rely on yourself to control your spending, ask God to weigh in on it. Take your cues from the only Master that matters. Pray before you swipe your little plastic card, right in the middle of Circuit City if that's what it takes.

What if we were as passionate about increasing the Kingdom as we were about increasing our checking account balances? What if we had faith that 90% of our income will always meet or exceed our needs? What if we defined success in terms of our passion for changing the world instead of how big our house is? What if our metric for riches was in changed lives instead of American dollars?

What would that look like?

I think it would look like a homeless ministry. A prostitution ministry. A team in Kstan, in China, Africa, and Thailand. I don't know what it would look like for you, but I think most of us would agree that it would look like people loving people, instead of people loving money.

1 Timothy 6:10
For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

The Truth's Public Domain

I just found out about an open source Bible software project called JSword that is a free, cross-platform (Mac, Windows, Linux, you-name-it) piece of software with a bunch of obscure Bible translations and some big name commentaries. It also has translations in other languages (Swedish, anyone?), daily devotionals, and a dictionary. I usually use QuickVerse, but I'm going to give this one a try just for kicks.

Link: JSword.

He Who Supplants

We were talking in group last week about the meaning of names. A variant of one of the girls' names actually means heaven or successful birth and that's pretty relevant and meaningful, so it got me thinking about what my own name might mean.

Turns out Jamie is of Hebrew origin, and actually means he who supplants. Supplant, as in to supersede and replace. It is now used as a feminine form of James (my dad's name :-).

Hmmm…

Fair Trade Consumer Electronics?

Since I stopped working for Apple over a year ago I haven't kept up much with the hype and the flurry of news surrounding any product release or company scandal. It used to be like part of the job for me to read all the news articles that came out about Apple and to pore over product documentation so that I could seem crazy smart on the sales floor. As much time as I spent on the job both in and out of the store, it never really seemed like work, which is what made this so funny (in a I-shouldn't-be-laughing-at-this kind of way).

I just caught wind that Apple has been the subject of allegations regarding their iPod factories in China, where workers reportedly work for 15 hours a day and make $50 a month. Clicking around articles about the charges, I came across a comment someone left on a Slashdot post:

"... who can consider working on Apple products 'work'? Instead it is like Christmas play time every day. When you work on an Apple product, you are like an elf in Santa's North Pole! Sure you only get 50 bucks a month, but you can go visit the marmalade forest and make bubblegum pie whenever you want! And furthermore, you get good karma, which ensures that you will go to heaven and receive 72 virgin PowerBooks with infinite Altivec and a double dual core. We should be envious of these lucky women. They are an inspiration to us all."

Yikes. Talk about brand idolatry. The same article that quoted this Slashdot reader also quoted Leander Kahney from Wired Magazine.

"[Meeting a minimum standard for workers is] the right thing to do of course, but it's also smart business -- something Jobs should surely understand," he writes. "For Apple's demographic -- well-heeled urbanites -- human rights and labor practices are, presumably, important matters. They buy fair-trade coffee, but iBooks and iPods are not an issue?"

Is a new wave of Fair Trade consumer electronics on its way? Is following the 'green' trend the answer to this global issue?

For a certain crowd (particularly Apple's market base, the "well-heeled urbanites") it may be. But I have a sore feeling about the reality of sweatshops. Perhaps I am alone in this, but do you think that enough people would really pay more for a product just to have the peace of mind that the people who put it together have safe working conditions, medical benefits, and reasonable salaries? How much more? And what must it feel like for all of those workers who know that they would have to spend six months' salary to buy just one of the products they make hundreds of every day? What do they see when they look at America through that lens? I have such a heart for these people but my mind doesn't know what to do with the realities of their situations. The phrase Rescue Is Possible has been resonating through my mind this past week, but where is the rescue for this flock?

Did that just happen?

I just waited an hour at the second FedEx sort facility I visited today to receive a package. Guess how long the line was. No really, just guess.

Trick question, there wasn't a line. I was the only person waiting, in an old security office with no air conditioning. I watched about two dozen FedEx employees get frisked leaving the facility and at least that many semi trucks passing by the window.

It was so hot outside I started to feel dizzy and had to catch myself from falling asleep standing up. I was so happy to finally see my package from Woot! arrive…

Driving home things got weirder — I saw an old fashioned pink barber's chair with a dryer in the middle of a divided highway (John Young Parkway). Just sitting there. Random!

Then a few blocks down the road I had to blink several times to make sure I was really reading the words on a billboard: Paul Szott, DMD Dental Associates, Inc. Relax! Massage Therapy Now Available! We do chickens, too!

I don't even get it. Since when do chickens have teeth?

Strange day.

Research :: Risk for Faith

I've been doing some research on people taking big risks for their faith and have uncovered some amazing stories. I'm keeping them in another Google notebook if you want to take a look while I write something more formal on the subject.

Quotable: Philip Yancey

“      Throughout church history, Christian leaders have shown an impulse to pin everything down, to reduce behavior and doctrine to absolutes that could be answered on a True/False test. Strangely, I do not find this tendency in the Bible. Far from it. I find instead the mystery and uncertainty that characterize any relationship, especially a relationship be tween a perfect God and fallible human beings.”