After five long months of travelling and speaking in the US, I was excited to be returning home to Thailand.  I checked and rechecked my ticket…yes, it’s November 3rd, indeed.  I gathered my things, and shipped some boxes to Thailand.  (How can one acquire so much in just five months?  Note to self: Exercise restraint at the bookstore on the next trip.)  So all was prepared and I was ready to go.  All loose ends tied up.

And then it happened.  I came down with a cold.  Coughing and congestion.  I thought to myself, “Well, maybe I could just get on the plane and pretend not to cough for the next 36 hours.”  Then I lost my voice to laryngitis.  So I figured I had better postpone my flight.  It’s just not a good Christian witness to cough all over some unfortunate person in the next seat as we fly over the Pacific. Fortunately, I was able to reschedule the trip for a week later. 

I stayed in bed; took naps; drank OJ; slurped chicken soup; spoonfed myself honey; drank ginger tea; spritzed zinc throat spray and inhaled warm steam under a towel tent.  Every remedy I know…but the cold prevailed.  And a week later, I am still wandering around with my arms wrapped around a box of Puffs.  Grr. 

How come other missionaries are delayed from going back to the field for worthy reasons, like civil war or environmental catastrophe, or something?  How come I get a cold!?  How mundane.  How inglorious.  Well, I had to suck it up and delay my flight another week. 

I attended a Bible study last night.  We were studying the Exodus, and the first verse we opened to said, “When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter…God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea.” (Ex 13:17a,18)  God brought his people all the way down the Sinai Peninsula, then took them for a few loops before leading them up into the promised land.  My friend, Christine Palmer, who was leading the study, explained that, “He led them by this roundabout journey because in God’s purposes, destination is not always a place.  Sometimes it’s a state of spiritual maturity.” 

No matter where we are in the journey, God has things for us to learn.  So what is my lesson from this two week delay?  Perhaps I’m learning to be patient and surrender to God’s purposes.  Perhaps there’s someone I need to talk to by divine appointment.