The Wind Blows Where it Wills

In the second leg of my pilgrim journey, things did not go according to plan. It had to do with "the volcano who must not be named." When I arrived at the airport in Boston, the electronic reader board reported that all flights to western Europe were "delayed." When I asked for more information, I learned that everyone was waiting to see which way the volcanic ash cloud would blow. And, as Jesus himself said, "the wind blows where it wills, and no one knows where it is coming from and where it is going." (John 3) My first thoughts were of my scheduled rendez-vous with my daughter in Paris. But my worries were nothing compared to the man beside me. He was responsible for a group of about twenty people who were just starting their journey. Like Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, he could see that his anxious travelers were already longing for the fleshpots of Boston. To his credit, he remained calm as he explained to them that he no idea when they would leave or how they would find a new connecting flight in Paris. Remarkably, his non-anxious presence was contagious. I watched as the group adjusted to this new reality, accepting the fact that these were circumstances beyond everyone's control. Like pilgrims of every time and place, we all took a deep breath and waited- waited to see which way the wind would blow and how it what effect it would have on our plans. This is only the second stage of my journey, and, already, I have been called back to two of the most fundamental realities of life: 1. I do not journey alone. 2. I am not in control. When the person at Gate 8A finally got on the PA system to make an announcement, I was also reminded that life can often bring unexpected surprises. Those of us who arrived early were being put on another flight which was actually expected to get to Paris ahead of our current schedule. Que Bueno!