We all face our challenges, sometimes more than others.

We were finally able to receive plane tickets (See Heathrow’s Hunger Games), not to our planned destination, but to Edinburgh. At that stage, anywhere in Scotland was better than nothing!

As it was already past nine in the morning, and our plane would be leaving at 11:20, we would hardly have enough time to eat our breakfast, shave and performing other necessities. We had decided to rent a car in Edinburgh and drive to Invernes, and those arrangements took time. The problem was, we had no lodging booked for that night, and with only ten minutes to spare, I somehow succeeded in locating a room. I booked it immediately. When I received the confirmation, however, it was a room for only one person. What about my wife?

We had no choice but to rush to the airport with our meager belongings, as our suitcases were still not in our possession, where we were faced with another huge line (The British certainly like those!). We eventually sorted out that only people who were leaving within the hour could enter. Fortunately this included us.

At the gate we had to scan our passport and look at the camera to get through. My wife had no problem. Somehow I am always the one who runs into mishaps in such circumstances. No matter what I did, the gate would not open for me. I tried and tried, with no luck. I finally sought for help of an agent, and he was able to resolve it with the help of another agent. Somehow, the picture associated to my passport, according to the scanning machine, was a woman. I had no idea I had changed gender! Perhaps these machines are good for more than one thing!

Finally past security, my wife used some of the last battery power in our cell phone to call the bed and breakfast I had reserved in haste, the one with only one single bed. Unfortunately the manager wasn’t in, and she was asked to call back in 30 minutes… Half an hour later, she called again only to learn that we would have to cancel our reservation online before noon, or we would be charged. Our problem was that the only WIFI available to us was the unreliable 30 minutes of free airport WIFI! That, plus the fact that they were already starting to board our flight and the batteries on our laptop and my Ipod were almost dead, spelled disaster. I tried desperately to connect with the airport WIFI, and only after several tries did I succeed. As a result, we were the last ones to board the flight, but the room was cancelled. Whew!

However, we still had no room in Inverness…

Those were annoying challenges that happen at times. However, these times are nothing compared to what other people face. Imagine the adversity we would have faced if we lived in an occupied land during the Nazi regime! Wouldn’t we prefer the tiny itsy bitsy challenges that we face everyday?

We are warned that we will have rough times, times when we will have no choice but to choose who we will follow with all of our heart: “Then I saw three impure spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. They are demonic spirits that perform signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.” (Rev 16:13-14, NIV2)

“For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now-and never to be equaled again.” (Matt 24:21, NIV2)

And even that, this is nothing compared to what we will inherit when we get to our Heavenly Father’s home: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” (Rom 8:18, NIV2)

Once on the plane, out troubles were far from over… My wife and I were separated, and the plane was full. Somehow a stewardess took pity on us, and she arranged for us to sit together. Even amidst adversity, there is sunshine that beautifies our lives!

Rob Chaffart

(To access the entire “Facing Unimaginable Odds” devotional series, please click here.)