Delayed, Cancelled, and Carried Home by Hope

-Richard Meyers

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I received a lesson in hope this week. I was in Toronto for work this week and if you know me, my favourite thing about Toronto is the trip home, lol. I always check the weather ahead of time. It looked okay, a few cm of snow and okay temps for the most part. I didn’t even bring a jacket, in and out of the airport and the hotel and the office, I wouldn't need it.

I got there Tuesday night. On Wednesday what was supposed to be 2 cm of snow quickly turned into 25 cm of snow. If you know Pearson Airport, that kind of snow pretty much shuts things down. My hope of getting home on schedule was quickly crushed.

My original flight on Thursday was cancelled, rescheduled for Friday. Flight time was 10:45 pm. Normally, this kind of thing makes me very anxious. I don’t like changes to plans. Now I had to find a hotel room in a city of thousands of people trying to find last-minute hotel rooms. I had nothing to do; I don’t like my time being wasted. God just reassured me that I would get home and to let it unfold.

Once I placed my hope in getting home and not worrying about how things would be and the challenges that I would face to get home, I felt an incredible peace and presence in it. I felt like there was purpose in the process. While I wasn’t in control, He had a reason and hand in the challenges facing me over the next few days. Once I just let the promise of getting home and the process and particulars left up to Him, I had an incredible peace about it and I felt an access to His presence in it like never before.

I went to the airport early on Friday cause I was kicked out of my hotel room. I killed some time at the restaurant for lunch. I got to the airport at 4 pm, so I had 7 hours to kill. I looked at the board with all the departures listed and saw there were still so many flights being cancelled. My hope was challenged. Got a text from WestJet, was I cancelled? Just a plane change. I killed the 7 hours and got to my gate. The crew were just going onboard. As soon as they went onboard I got another text, the flight was delayed until 11:30pm. No pilot. My coworker came by, her flight was cancelled last minute.

This was a challenge to my hope, for sure, but again, I just felt God reassure me that I was going to get home and to not worry about how. Another delay posted. Got on the plane, a number of announcements from the pilot about more delays. Finally at 2:18am we left the ground and arrived in Regina at 4:07am. I made it.

The key lesson for me was to cling to the hope of God’s promises for us and not to focus on the how, the when, or the circumstances. To let the promises unfold for themselves. To let Him have control. In Hebrews, it tells us to let the hope be an anchor for our souls. This allows us to focus on His presence, as opposed to all the things that can go wrong. Worry seems to wash away when we cling to the promise and his presence, when we let Him manage the details of our lives. He has purpose in every trial and circumstance.

“When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.” And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised. People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”

-Hebrews 6:13-20