The Not So Amazing Race...

From the desk chair of Chris...

Last summer before we headed to China, Allie and I started to get into the show "The Amazing Race." I remember watching the show and talking about how fun it would be to do all the stuff that they did on the show-- we actually thought that we'd be good contestants on a show that required you to find you way to random places and accomplish random tasks. However, after our trip back to China, I'm rethinking my original assertion. Let me tell you why.

Our trip began on Wednesday the 22nd with a flight from Phoenix to San Francisco. We got all our bags checked, no "over-weight charges," and made our flight to San Francisco no problem. Here's how we looked at the beginning of our journey:

Once we got to San Francisco, the fun began. We got onto our flight from San Fran to Hong Kong with about 350 fellow travelers. The flight was full, so they made everyone check their carry-on luggage instead of taking in onto the plane. We found our seats, got buckled in, the heard the first announcement: "There's a typhoon over Taipei, so we're working on a reroute.. there's going to be a bit of a delay." Our reroute required us to add more fuel, which then resulted in there being too much weight, so 27 people had to volunteer to get off the flight. We thought about it, since they were offering a $400 travel voucher, but then came the kicker-- the airline was going to keep your luggage until your flight the next day and you were not allowed to retrieve your checked bags (which now included everyone's "carry-on" items). After this, they realized that they had loaded the plane incorrectly and we had to taxi back to the gate. To head off the anarchy that was brewing the flight attendants tried to put out all the snacks they had-- and the result was a stampede.

All in all, we sat on the plane, on the runway, for about 4 hours before the flight was finally cancelled. After the 4 hours on the runway all 350 of us got off the airplane and were ushered into a line to reschedule and rebook our tickets (without the $400 vouchers). We would miss our other flight in China, as well as the hotel we had already booked. There were only 4 people working the ticket counters, so after an hour of standing in line, Allie and I called customer service in hopes of expediting the process. To our joy, we were told that we successfully re-booked! We would leave later that night, flight from San Fran to LA, then to Beijing, the straight into Changsha (our new home city). We were ecstatic! We got out of the long "international" line and headed to the domestic line to check-in for our flight to LA. Once we reached the desk we told the lady about our cancelled flight and our new booking. Our hearts were broken when she looked it up in the system and found that the lady on the phone had not actually made a booking-- she had lied to us-- and apparently it was impossible to book the flights she mentioned. Thankfully, the lady at this desk was great. She booked us for a flight the next day and moved us to better seats, keeping the seat between us empty so that we could have more space!

Once we got on the plane the next day, we were in pretty good spirits. The airline actually booked us a flight straight from Hong Kong to Changsha, which meant that we could skip a train ride in China. We were really happy! And then our flight left 90 minutes late, making us miss our connection to Changsha. After we landed in Hong Kong we spent the next several hours trying to get standby on a flight later that night to Guangzhou.

Allie stuck her belly out to get some "pregnant sympathy" and we made it on the flight (hey, don't judge... we were exhausted by this point)! We made it to Guangzhou with all our luggage, got a hotel for the night, and headed to the train station the next day. The first train station we went to said that they didn't have any trains for the next 6 hours! By this point we were running on fumes so we caught a cab to the other train station in hopes of finding something else. It was about an hour away by cab and the only tickets they had were first class. We couldn't believe how crowded it was and how many people were traveling by train! Even though the first class tickets were way more than we wanted to spend, we didn't want to wait another day to get home, so we bought them and hopped on the train a few hours later.

Where did they all come from?! And no... the pink bag is not mine!

First class comes with snacks! Tasty... I think??

When we were at the train station waiting to leave, I had reached the end of my stamina. To be honest, I was thinking "We have been traveling for 3 days trying to get here... we don't speak the language... why in the world are we doing this?! I don't want to be here anymore!" In the midst of these thoughts God compelled me to pop in my headphones and hit the "shuffle" button on my iPhone. Of all the songs I have, the first song that came on was "Glorified" by Jared Anderson. God used the chorus of this song to answer my questions and calm my heart. The words go like this:

I've come to worship, I've come to lift up your name

For you deserve this life laid down like the one that you gave!

I have but one voice, one heart, and one sacrifice

So would you take this life laid down and be glorified?

I love it when God answers me in very tangible ways! We are here not because its easy, not because its fun, and not because we are "good people." We're here because our service is an act of worship to God! I hope that I can remember this in the years to come. May our lives bring Him glory!