Memorial Box Monday: Amazing Race

Memorial Box Monday started at "A Place Called Simplicity." A friend of mine introduced me to it last week, and I love it! love it! love it!!! Memorial Box Monday provides an opportunity to remember all the good things God has done. Huge, gigantic things and little things that might seem insignificant. God's word is clear: "Cast every care on Me, for I care for you." (1 Peter 5:7).

Five years ago, on our China trip to bring our little girl home, we hit a snag quite early in the trip. We flew from Raleigh, NC to Minneapolis to Tokyo and then to Shanghai, China. Everything to that point went so well. After spending a short night in Shanghai, we headed back to the airport for our trip to Beijing, where we'd spend three days touring the city before the final leg of our trip and our daughter.

Shanghai's airport, if you've never been, is essentially a gigantic warehouse. HUGE! Bigger than any airport I had ever seen. There were so many ticket counters, we were just overwhelmed. Thankfully, we traveled with a guide. All we had to do was follow her and board the plane.

Nope!

Our family stepped up to the counter, presenting our paperwork so the agent could print our tickets. Rob's ticket printed. Nathan's ticket printed. Ben and I were denied. What???

I wish I could say I suddenly broke into fluent Mandarin and straightened the whole thing out, but no.... This is a God story, not a Karen story. Karen suddenly felt panicked, scared, frustrated, overwhelmed. Our guide was much the same.

She finally decided to take the rest of our group, 23 families in all, to the plane, instructing me to remain in the lobby with Ben. I watched, a bit terrified, as my husband and older son disappeared around the corner headed to our plane. Instantly - though an instant too late - I realized Rob had our passports, my driver's license, and all but $50 U.S. in the travel bag. The enormity of the problem hit me square between the eyes.

Then it got worse. Our older son is the adventurer. He can turn any lemon, even a moldy one, into delicious lemonade. The more thrilling the journey, the better. Ben, sweet son number two, prefers order, calm, and process. I looked into his enormous blue eyes, swimming with fear. I could have fallen in.

My mama instinct kicked in. I dropped to my knees and grabbed both his hands in mine. Looking steadily into his eyes, I said, "Now we pray." I thanked God for getting us safely to China. I praised him for his faithfulness in all things. And I laid our very specific, time-sensitive need at his feet. Amen.

Standing, I took Ben firmly by the hand, leading him back to the ticket counter. As we approached, a woman stepped out of line and approached the counter. She spoke, words I couldn't understand, with emotion and feeling. She pounded the counter. She pointed at the agent and then pointed at me. The ticket agent looked down and she walked away.

Arriving at the counter, the ticket agent pulled two tickets out of the machine. He handed them to me and in broken English, said, "Run."

Grabbing Ben's tiny hand with a death grip, we ran. And ran. And ran. Toward the very last gate in the terminal. Beyond our flight time, we ran. At one point, he stalled. "I can't run anymore. It hurts." Inspired, I exclaimed, "Ben, this is our Amazing Race. We are not going to miss our plane. Now -- let's -- run!"

At the gate, I handed over the tickets. We were escorted to the waiting (I hoped) plane. As we boarded, the passengers, friends and strangers both, erupted in cheers. I erupted in tears. Ben and I collapsed into our giant, leather seats in first class. Cool, huh?

It's been years since that trip. Our family remembers God's faithfulness that day. From ticketless to first class, because some stranger stepped out of line the moment we prayed. God is good!

Into our memorial box, which for now is a simple shoe box, I place a tiny, plastic airplane to remind myself that when I feel small and forgotten, God is just as big as he has always been and will take care of me.