02.24.10

Be the Miracle …

Posted in Blessings, Challenges and Strengths, Faith, Heart Tugs at 10:22 pm by Sandi Rauwolf

Chris and I were watching Bruce Almighty over the weekend and there was a part that went right to my heart … Be the Miracle. Click here to watch the clip. It’s only 35 seconds long so please take a few seconds to watch it before reading on.

Our society tends to look for miracles like a parting of the sea (or a parting of the soup like in Bruce Almighty LOL) when the reality is that we are surrounded by miracles every day but are we looking for them? Are we striving to be the miracle by not letting life bring us down – continuing to fight the fight no matter what we face? The world has a way of trying to distract, frustrate, or discourage us so we miss what is right under our noses. It’s like what happened to me last week on a trip home from Philly.

I had a 5:20 pm flight back to Chicago on Thursday. I’ve made the trip back and forth between the two cities enough times that I had the timing down pat, or so I thought! I head out and was smoothly moving along interstate 95 when suddenly I hit traffic. I wait patiently while traffic inches along and “I Gotta Feeling” by Black Eyed Peas plays on the radio. I look at the clock and hope the traffic will soon clear which it did. After about 10 more minutes I hit another patch of heavy traffic, this time I felt a little bit of worry trying to creep up. “No! All will be fine,” I thought. The traffic then cleared, “thank you!” Well about 10 minutes later I hit another patch of heavy traffic. The odd part is there is no reason why the traffic is heavy – no accidents or construction slowing things down. I guess another example of Murphy’s law trying to play out in my life.

I had about an hour until my flight so felt the nerves really trying to rise up in my stomach. I rented from a different car rental place than normal and made the mistake of assuming the return would be onsite at the airport, bad assumption! I managed to drive around the airport a few times wasting time that I certainly didn’t have to spare. I didn’t see it anywhere! I knew I had to find a place to pull over on this constant moving path of rental car return lanes to grab the paperwork from my laptop in the trunk. I pull over, park on the road, jump out quickly to grab the paperwork and slid back into the front seat. I grab the receipt which is barely legible due to a printer cartridge they had yet to change. I call the number shown and hear a recording saying that the number is no longer being used. “B-E-A…Utiful,” I think! I find the address, punch it into my GPS which manages to take me on some wild jaunt away from the place I need to be. Okay this is really trying to get my goat as the saying goes but I say, “Nope! If I’m suppose to be on this plane then I will be!” I say a quiet prayer in my head, “God if you want me on this flight, please send your angels to help me along because without them I’m pretty much going in circles like a dog chasing his tail. Amen.”

Well, I felt in my heart to dig more into the paperwork and see a note with directions to the drop-off facility which is off-site from the airport .. good to know! I find my way back to interstate 95 so I can use the directions on the printed form. Well, I FINALLY find it, pull into the lot and don’t see anyone around. I turn off the car and go to open the car door and suddenly as if out of nowhere there is a gentleman ready to check my car back in – thank you for angel #1! I then thought, “Oh I hope there is a bus here so I don’t have to wait.” Just as the thought crosses my mind, I look up to see the bus driver literally in a jog heading towards me with a big smile on his face. He says, “Don’t worry honey I will get you there on time.” I got chills because this man had no way of knowing I was close to missing my flight – thank you for angel #2! I load onto the bus and there are about 7 gentlemen sitting staring at me. Based on the looks on their faces it is obvious they should have been well on their way and not waiting for another passenger … me!

I now have about 40 minutes until flight time and I keep telling myself, “If I’m meant to be on this flight then I will be.” We begin approaching different airlines and Southwest is next – yay! Well just as we begin to pull out and head towards Southwest it was like one of those huge magnets you see in junk yards to pick-up cars was placed in front of us because cars from every direction came from no where to box us in. He says “what in the world!” I thought, “Yep, welcome to my life,” as I smiled shaking my head. I again told myself, “If I’m meant to be on this flight then I will be.” About that time he managed to pull off the impossible. I still do not know how he was able to reposition that bus and get out of a situation that was packed tighter than a can of sardines but I was thankful! He helps me get my luggage. I hand him a tip saying, “thank you!” as I run to get my baggage checked in. I walk up and a kiosk had just opened, “Yes!” I thought. As I punched in my confirmation number on the touch screen a bell went off. The lady behind the counter was smiling and says, “Looks like we have a winner.” She then said, “It is less than 30 minutes to flight time so we cannot guarantee your luggage will get on the flight.” I asked what the chances were and she said, “Let’s just hope for the best,” as she smiled. I thought, “That is exactly right!” I said, “thank you” as I turned to run towards the security check-in at which time she said, “Miss, do you have your boarding pass?” I stopped dead in my tracks, “Uhhh, I didn’t pick it up out of the tray!” I looked at her and she pointed to the tray. I hurriedly grabbed it and said, “Thank you so much, you are a life saver!” She just smiled at me with a kind unspoken look that said “I’m happy I could help.” Thank you for angel #3!

Okay it is now 23 minutes until my flight. I have not gone thru security yet and it will take me at least 10 minutes to walk to the gate. Security always takes me awhile because I have two shoulder replacements and a right-hip replacement which sets off every light and alarm drawing attention as if I just hit 777 on a slot machine. I am jogging as best as I can with 3-inch heeled boots (not to mention a hip replacement which clearly is synonymous for NO RUNNING and not just because most people who have them are 80 – I know doc – sorry!). I turn the corner to the security area and there in front of me is a maze of people filling the security lanes. I thought, “There is no way this is happening.” It will take 30 minutes just to get thru the line not to mention the security process. My heart reminded me, “If I am meant to be on this flight then I will be.” I just finish that thought and look up to see a long arm of a tall-friendly African American gentleman pointing me to a specific lane off to my left. I followed it and it was a side lane that took me right up to the security lane. Wow, that was awesome – thank you for angel #4!

I get thru security and quickly glance at my ticket. I saw “A” so started heading (or shall I say running) to gate A. My heart then said, “Look at your ticket again.” So I did and gasped, “Gate E!” which happens to be on the complete opposite side of gate A. I am running back to the area where I came from and really wishing I had wings or something because the gate seemed to be a mile away. About that time I heard my name being announced over the intercom so I started going faster. There was one guy behind me running for the same flight. We were the last two to board the plane. The plane was full but I saw two ladies sitting right behind the emergency exit row with a seat open in the middle. I asked them if I could please sit there. The lady said, “No problem, actually why don’t I just scootch over because her and I are traveling together anyway.” I smiled and said, “Thank you so much!” I got settled into my seat and let out a big sigh of relief – I made it, whew!

A gentleman was trying to force his suitcase in the compartment above our heads. No matter what he did, he can’t seem to get it to fit. He then takes the two coats of the ladies in my row out and said, “Do you mind holding these because they will not fit with the luggage?” She took them hesitantly. I turned to her and said, “I’m so sorry, here you did something nice for me and now they are putting more stuff back in your lap.” About that time the flight attendant smiled and took the coats to find a place in another bin so she wouldn’t be troubled for her kindness. The gentleman continued to try and get the suitcase to fit. My heart said, “Look up NOW!” I look up to see this big skateboard with big wheels fly out of the compartment above my head. I didn’t have time to react so just held my breath waiting for the thump. Suddenly there was this hand that came out of nowhere that caught it literally out of mid-air saving it from cracking me right in the head! I am on blood thinners so a crack to the head from a skateboard like that could have been really bad. Everyone around me was saying, “Nice catch!”, “How in the world did you just catch that?”, “No way that just happened, that’s impossible”. It was that same feeling you experience when watching Superman and he flies in just in the knick of time to save the day. “Wow!” I thought, thank you for angel #5!

They finally got the compartment closed, skateboard and all and the rest of our flight was uneventful. Once we landed in Chicago while I was standing in the aisle I felt my heart tug me to turn around to see the gentleman who caught the skateboard. I turned around and there stood a familiar gentleman standing there just smiling at me. I smiled back as my heart cried out saying, “thank you!” but the words wouldn’t come out (that is a first for me! LOL) but I knew my heart spoke right to this kind gentleman’s heart somehow. Well, I kept smiling and squinted my eyes just a little thinking, I know him from somewhere. He continued to smile a very proud smile like he was so glad he could help. I turned around as the line began moving forward while we exited the plane and I recalled where I had seen him before, my jaw dropped. He was in one of my dreams a few weeks back, a dream where I had a team of angels helping me. He was one of the angels and was sitting in the row behind me just like he was on the plane today. I have chills as I type this! See there are miracles around us everywhere but are we looking for them? Are we asking God for guidance and believing He will send it? Or are we getting frustrated in situations missing all that is right in front of us? If I would have focused on all the challenges that day I would have completely missed all the guidance and help that was sent. I am thankful I saw past what the world was sending me and stayed focused on what God was sending me – it made all the difference.

May you see the miracles around you and may you live your life to BE THE MIRACLE, it’s up to you – Life’s waiting so what’s it gonna be? Blessings!

Much love to you all!

Sandi Rauwolf

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