A weekend anywhere is far too short, and when you’re travelling thousands of miles, it makes even less sense. So armed with a few days of next years holiday, I extended my wedding trip from a weekend to two weeks, with God’s reassurance he was going to sort everything out – which should be reassuring, but is often difficult to accept. No planning, just a flight in, and a flight out.
So I book my flight to Columbus Ohio, and from New York. I had a beginning and an end, but what happen in between was still a mystery to me. All the while God was reassuring me I had nothing to worry about and he had it all the planning in the bag. There is no doubt that I like to plan things. At university my friends used to mock me because they had to book me two months in advanced for a social event – I planned that far ahead! This has become harder and harder to do over time since starting my new job (things can change at the drop of a hat, so too much planning can get in the way!). But God asked me to trust him, and so I did. Well, I did up until around 9pm, Thursday night (2am UK time). I had arrived in the US with no plan after the wedding, so I panicked, and tried to book a few things!
Atlanta, being the most fruitful in my initially IBM networking endeavor, was the obvious place to start. Unfortunately due to Mr. Schwarzenegger’s appearance in Ohio that weekend, all flights leaving the city were three times the usual rate. Greyhound busses were reasonable but would involve a change and around twelve hours on the road. Not too appealing, but much easier on the pocket!
My second destination became New York. I needed to get there eventually for my flight out, and with visits to churches being top of my priority list I had to spend a weekend (at least) in the locations, I was going to. In Atlanta we have North Point, with Andy Stanley; Passion City Church, with Louie Giglio; and Free Chapel, with Jentezen Franklin. In New York, we have Redeemer Presbyterian Church, with Timothy Keller; and Hillsong NYC, with Carl Lentz and Joel Housten. So one cannot come to these cities and not spend a weekend (or a Sunday, to any extent).
So I booked my flight to New York and a room through Airbnb* – week two, sorted. Week one who knows…? I have the greyhound option if required, and the cost doesn’t change over time so there no rush to book that. Regardless, there is always Airbnb and a sofa bed in random people’s houses…
*Affiliate link
