Expect the Unexpected

We converged at the MSP airport at 4:30 a.m. for a 7:00 a.m. flight to New York for a connecting flight to Nairobi, Kenya


The flight was long and my mind was flooded with musings.  What tantalizing sights and smells will tease my senses?  What experiences will challenge my world view?  How will being in another culture stretch my perceptions?  What new relationships will flourish?  How will my faith be impacted?  I expect the trip will change me and I pray that I will be open to its unfolding.

When traveling one needs to expect the unexpected.   An unexpected exercise presented itself  at the Nairobi airport today.  Our plane was cancelled due to mechanical difficulty.  The mechanical problem did not surprise me  since I spotted large patches of duck tape on the wing of the plane that I had just spent over 13 hours on.   We are now waiting for 5 hours to see if there is room on the next plane going to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

It occurred to me that God appears in the unexpected.   The infant Jesus was not  born to royalty, but to a poor, unwed teenage girl who gave birth in stable.  Who could have expected that unexpected twist?  Christ the King did not bring God’s kingdom through military power, but through loving the downcasts, and the outcasts, women and children, lepers and tax collectors.  He humbly came to Jerusalem by riding on a donkey rather than a  gold covered chariot.  Instead of wearing a  crown of a king, he wore a crown of thorns.  Indeed, God comes to us in expected ways.  We see it in the life of Jesus and we can see it in our own lives as well.  God comes to us in the unexpected death of a loved one that knocks us off our feet.  God comes to us in a divorce that we never saw coming. God comes to us when we are laid off from a job.    God comes in the unexpected when life is hard and life is great.

God comes in the supportive note from a friend, through a sermon, in the casserole from a neighbor, in a gentle smile of a stranger, through a piece of music that speaks to our heart or in the beauty of creation.  God comes in the slobbery kiss of a toddler, in the contagious laugh of a friend, in a gentle rain or a fresh snowfall. When we least expect it God,s presence is felt.

I do not know how God might appear in the unexpected delay in our travels,  but I am trusting that God will appear in many and various unexpected ways throughout our time in Tanzania.

Here was an unexpected beautiful surprise that Rita found in the airport, a wall hanging and prayer rugs.

Kris Linner


                                                






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