Hei Matau: The Reason We Missed Our Plane

Sometimes you have one of those days…..where everything just seems to go wrong.  The day we left for L.A. was one of those days.

We missed our plane.  

Then, we learn, this new airline only departs for L.A. every five hours.

So, we go back to retrieve our car.  Optimism slowly starving.

And my spirit searches for God.   He lets everything happen for a reason……I try to keep thinking.  God will bring good out of what the enemy wants for harm.

And we go on the bus back to where our car is parked.  We share with the driver how our son is on mission. And we are going to see him because he will soon be leaving to the Philippines.

The man driving is friendly.  And our hearts connect immediately.

Don’t you love those stranger connections that seem to make you instantly, friends?

Man’s eyes beam.  His daughter might head to seminary.  And he says something significant…..

“Don’t worry about missing your plane…..maybe there is something you need to buy, that you can only buy here…..before going to L.A.”

My husband just saying that very same thing…..a few hours earlier.

So, we head out and the day seems to go from bad to worse.  We check out indoor skydiving and we miss the last session by minutes.

Why are we stuck home for five hours.  God, what do you have for us?

And the waiting and wondering and question often so much harder than the doing.

Yet, it is in these moments where faith rises. True conviction of what we believe is tested and purified.

And we look for one last gift, with a sense in our souls……There is something more we’re supposed to send with our son.

And then, we see it.  A Christian bookstore.  Time is tested.  We question…..could we miss a plane twice in one day?

Yet, we run in, by faith…..making our way….through the store.

And on a table, in the back.  It is there.  Hei Matau.  Me, drawn to it like a bug to a flame, picking it up, I proclaim…..

“Let’s get this.”

As I hold it up.  My husband says….“Yes.  I know what it means.  It means safe travel over waters and seas.”

And how significant an emblem that means protection and strength…..for our eighteen year old missionary who is headed to share Jesus.

So, we grab it.  Purchase it.  Run out of the store.  As my husband explains….the symbol is the same as one I was reading about just two days before…..

This symbol was known to be given in love.  Connecting hearts and spirit by God above.  Those who wear it are held close between space.  And safety was given over water…..by grace.

It also has some link to the sea.

And how much more ideal that my son is drawn to the ocean. To the depths. To it’s waves.  As he’ll be sharing Jesus for two and a half months.

And, we cling to this emblem, barely making our plane.

And I think of how some things make no sense to human minds….

Like, how a stranger on a bus can proclaim the very same thing…..my husband spoke a few hours earlier?

Like, how our time and our schedule and our lives, really, are not in our control.  Nothing is in our hands.

And how…..it’s all about…..trusting God with every circumstance.

And we cling to more than hope in a symbol.  Our God having residence over every human emblem….

Yet, it’s the significance…..

That God cares about and sees and orchestrates everything for His purpose….

And as son parts.  Clung to his neck where our arms cannot reach.  Our gift….given from grace…

The reason we missed the plane……Hei Matau.

Linking this post w/ Laura – Brag On God Friday