My Hypothetical Magazine Column

Further Adventures of Virginia's Foolish Willfulness

Dear Readers, I hope and pray that one day my stubbornness will exhibit itself as tenacity for God's glory and become a blessing to my brothers and sisters. Unfortunately, it mostly provides humorous anecdotes and cautionary tales, but I am a woman of faith. As we all know, faith is the evidence of things unseen... Anyway, my journey to the incredibly encouraging 2008 Christians for Biblical Equality International Conference in Toronto, Ontario contained another example of my stubbornness.

As a little bit of background, while I don't seem to have difficulty spending money (especially on books, teas, and interesting foods), I can also be incredibly cheap. I almost choked on several occasions, when looking up airfare between Boston and Toronto. I was going to suck it up and buy the tickets after procrastinating a little longer waiting for the price to go down, when one of my cheap friends, and later my father, recommended bus service. It turned out that I could cut my travel costs by more than half by flying to Buffalo and taking one of the inexpensive Northeastern bus routes to Toronto from there.

The night before I left, I stayed up quite late packing, tidying, and preparing to leave my home for 5 days. I wound up getting about 2 hours of sleep before I had to wake up and make final preparations to go to the airport. I slept a little on the flight, I slept a little on the bus, but I was still understandably tired by the end of my journey. Having planned my travel in cheap mode, I had printed out some information about taking public transit in the direction of my hotel. After a 2+ hour delay in our bus's arrival (traffic), I finally arrived in downtown Toronto.

On my way toward the subway station with my suitcase and carry-on bag (including laptop), I noticed a long line of cabs, and was even approached by one of the drivers. I briefly considered it, but decided to stick to my original plan, perhaps still smarting from the cabs in Buffalo. (Side note: Seriously, Buffalo Airport Taxi! $15 each way? To go a mile? With no toll roads or parking? And people say Boston is expensive!) I arrive in the subway station, and finally decide to buy 5 subway tokens, just in case I decide to pay an additional visit downtown before leaving.

The subway leg of the trip is fairly uneventful, beyond my paranoia for several stops that I had gotten on a train traveling in the wrong direction. The subway cars were clean and had well-planned seating, even if the décor was dated. I arrived at my bus transfer, and just as I arrived at the area where I was to choose my platform, I saw a bus drive up to the door that I thought I wanted. I rushed up and got on from the back, gratefully taking a seat. After what felt like a half hour, the bus stopped and I noticed that all of the other passengers have disembarked and we didn't appear to be at the airport (where I thought we were headed).

I asked the driver about our destination, to which he responded that it isn't headed anywhere near the airport, giving me directions to the airport bus. It was well after 9 pm, the sun had set some time before, and I was in a residential neighborhood of a metropolitan area I have never previously visited. Knowing that I had recently seen a bus pass ours, and that buses in Boston come less frequently after the sun sets, I walked in the direction indicated by the driver, dragging my suitcase behind me.

When I arrived at the transfer point described by the aforementioned driver, I noticed that the cross street was the one where my hotel was located. I couldn't see my hotel from there, so I called their front desk (international roaming charges!) to find out where they were from where I stood. When I informed the hotel employee that I was on foot, she warned that it would be a 15-20 minute walk. Disregarding my heavy luggage and degree of fatigue, I decided to simply walk the rest of the way to the hotel. After all, I live in Boston: America's Walking City!

Did you know that time is on the metric system in Canada? What I expected to be a 15 or 20 minute journey stretched to be over a half hour (American time) along a hilly, busy road. Loud jets flew low over my head toward the airport. I passed several hotels and restaurants during my hike (Did I mention that I had eaten nothing more than an apple and a small pack of snack mix in over 9 hours?), but refused stop until I reached my hotel. I was so happy when I saw their red lit sign on the building, although this turned out to be a bit of a Rocky Mountain experience: you keep going, but it doesn't seem to get any larger or closer.

I like to think that I would has asked the hotel to call me a cab if I had know how long it would take, but I now suspect that this may not have been the case. By the time I got off the wrong bus, I was feeling rather mulish. Initially I suspected that my safety was a result of the waves of irritation that were rolling off of me throughout my walk, psychicly growling at anyone who would dare to mess with me. I am now certain that God was watching over and protecting me, though undoubtedly shaking His holy head over me.

To save my loved ones any further gray (or white) hairs today, I arrived safely at the hotel, checked in without incident, got a delicious meal from room service, and sunk into a cloud-like bed for the night. From that point forward, I was immersed in the conference: meeting fascinating and gifted Christians, listening to challenging and affirming lectures, and hearing the inspiring stories of men and women who have served God and prepared the way for me to use the gifts He gave me.

As I became more attuned to God's will and purposes, my travel story morphed from a series of unfortunate things that happened to me, to a series of poor choices, a bad attitude, and willfulness, stemming from some frustrations in my life at home. Having my passion for equality reignited and my hope renewed that God has plans to use my gifts, my vision has risen a little. I can see opportunities and possibilities, rather than a series of dead ends and reasons to be bitter.

I thank God for using the CBE staff, the speakers, and the wonderful men and women who attended the conference, as He lifted my eyes from myself to Him. I've felt so blessed by the testimonies and ministries that God has given to His people. He is definitely at work in the world, and he wants us all involved: how wonderful! He has given us each passions and talents, and He is even more concerned with using them than we are! (Thanks to Jane Overstreet for that observation during the missions panel discussion!)

As we prepare to disperse from the mountain top, I continue to pray that God will guide me into the work He has planned for me, and that I would be tenacious in pursuing His will rather than stubbornly standing in His way.

Labels: CBE, Christianity, equality, faith, goals, magazine column, talents

posted by Virginia Green @ 2:50 PM