Posted on March 1, 2013 - by Dawn Ford
Mission Impossible?
This past summer my middle son Dylan went on a mission trip through Let’s Start Talking ministries to Belgium. His older brother went to Brazil a few years before with the same organization, and though his trip didn’t completely go without a hitch, he came back home safe and sound. But as a parent, you still pray for things unseen, problems unknown. You worry. And then pray some more. (Photo: Dylan, Kellan & Cameron, Belgium team mission)
Dylan’s trip to Belgium went well, he even experienced a special
side trip to Paris, France, but when he returned he had to join Psallo, his college singing group, who was touring at the time. So, instead of coming straight home, he would be taking another flight up to Portland to meet them for their tour. I made a hotel reservation for him so he could wait for his group to pick him up.
Snag one came when I had the wrong airport. I was able to cancel the hotel reservation and put in a new one at the correct airport hotel. It was a last minute reservation, so there was no cancellation refund for the room, so I prayed I had the right information this time. Snag two happened when Dylan’s plane was to arrive close to midnight, and if he didn’t check in before midnight he would lose his reservation. Dylan tried to assure me that everything would be fine, and he would call me if necessary to rebook a room if needed.
Since Dylan had to debrief his mission in Dallas before heading to Oregon, and he was suffering some major jet lag, it was not easy keeping in contact with him. I prayed that God would clear his path and get him safely to meet up with Psallo. Midnight came and went without a call from Dylan, so I figured everything went as planned.
Except that it didn’t. Dylan called the next day to tell me that his plane didn’t make it in time, and he missed out on his hotel reservation. Then he said a flat tire on the bus his singing group was traveling in was going to cause them to be several hours late to pick him up.
Before the panic could get a good foothold, Dylan informed me that everything was taken care of. He met another member of the
Let’s Start Talking mission group on the plane ride. He offered to let Dylan stay at his house when they realized he would lose his reservation. Good thing, Dylan said, because he would have had to stay in the lobby of the hotel until the next afternoon before he could check in. Better yet, the gentleman from the airplane was also able to take him to meet his Psallo group, instead of having to wait for them to come and get him, which would have made them later than they were already going to be with the flat tire. (Photo: Psallo, Dylan is in the center)
Somehow, through the simple prayers to keep Dylan safe, and before we knew he needed it, God already worked out the details.
Isn’t it grand that we have a God who knows what we need before we need it, and clears the path for us? Isn’t it great that with our God, nothing is impossible? Not even the ending of this particular mission.
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March 1, 2013
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Rose Ross Zediker said:
It IS great that how God works everything out for us. What is HARD is giving up of the control….okay I know ‘we’ don’t really have the control but sometimes we think we do, and that is what gets us into trouble.
So glad it all worked for Dylan!
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March 1, 2013
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Dawn Ford said:
Rose,
I think Dylan did a better job of it than I did, of letting go and assuming it would all work out.
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March 1, 2013
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Kav said:
Amen to it being hard to give up the control, Rose.
Dawn, I love this example because it shows your harried motherliness contrasting with your son’s calm acceptance of God working things out. I think it helped that a) Dylan is not a mom
and b) he’d just come off a mission trip so was likely in a more spiritual mind set.
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Dawn Ford said:
Kav, that’s all true. And what you don’t know about Dylan is that as much as he’s just like his Mom in so many things, he rarely gets his dander in a ruffle. He’s very easy going on most things. He’s a pretty great kid.
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March 1, 2013
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Brenda Anderson said:
It is hard to give up control, especially when it comes to our kids well-being. But God’s plans are always better than our own, aren’t they?
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March 1, 2013
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Dawn Ford said:
Brenda,
There’s only so much a Mom can do, especially an organizationally challenged one as myself. God is a great backup plan (not that he isn’t the best first plan, just saying).
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March 1, 2013
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Shari Barr said:
Dawn, isn’t it neat how God lets everyone cross our paths for a reason? I need to learn to give up the control and let God handle it. Great story!
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March 1, 2013
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Dawn Ford said:
Shari, You’re so right, God in his infinite wisdom brings along the right person in the right place at just the right time.
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March 1, 2013
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Regina Merrick said:
I always imagine during those times with our grown-up (THEY think!) kids, God is grinning. He’s telling us to stop worrying and let HIM do the work! Aren’t you glad He did?!
Thanks Dawn. I needed to read this today!
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March 1, 2013
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Dawn Ford said:
Regina,
It’s so hard when they go out into that big, bad world on their own. You know you’ve given them all the tools you knew to give them to be well-adjusted, independent people. But in order to test that theory we have to let them go out and do it themselves. Whew! It’s tough for us as parents.
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Lorna Seilstad said:
I love how God took care of Dylan (and you) and I love how he had it all worked out from the start. The man Dylan met on the plan was a huge blessing, too.
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Stacy said:
I’m so glad God is in control, because we sure aren’t!
Sounds like Dylan had a great trip – even with the snags. Isn’t that what makes life interesting? (we can say that AFTER they’ve gone safely through what the snag is) Thanks for sharing Dylan’s story, Dawn!
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March 1, 2013
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Dawn Ford said:
Lorna,
If it hadn’t been for the fact that Dylan knew he could trust the fellow missionary, I would’ve probably freaked out a bit more than I did.
Stacy,
Those were the last snags. The first snags came with a whistling computer when I tried to skype Dylan in Belgium in order to get the info to make the reservation to begin with. It was as if I was NOT supposed to make any arrangements whatsoever. As it turned out I wouldn’t have had to. If only I realized that going in!