When you are racing against time and you only have two minutes, you can just imagine your level of stress and anxiety.
As Robert, myself, my stepdaughter, her friend and my mother in law were ready to depart hot, humid and crowded New York for Washington last month by train, my heart was pounding in my throat. My phone said it was 2:45 pm and our train was leaving at 3:05 pm. Due to items the hotel concierge lost, we had to get out of the taxi and find another taxi to accommodate us five to take us to the Penn Station.
Mapquest calculated it would take us 18 minutes to get there. My anxiety meter was skyrocketing as I calculated we won’t have enough time to board as I had to figure in the time needed to find the right boarding station in one of the busiest train stations in the country.
As soon as we exited the hotel, someone asked Robert if we needed a car. He said he had an SUV waiting three steps away from us. It was as if an angel stepped out on the sidewalk in answer to our bated prayers!
Wasting no time we all hopped in with our luggages as Robert and I were praying out loud with eyes fixed on our GPS. Suddenly we were all jerked to the side when our driver said with determination, “I’m taking you on a short cut. I’ll get you there in time.”
After the turn my GPS showed that we’d get there 2 minutes earlier, around 3 pm. We’d have 5 minutes to dash in and hopefully find the right train.
Our driver saved us 2 minutes which later on meant literally the difference between getting on our train or spending another night in sweltering and expensive New York.
It’s now 3 pm and we got our luggages and dashed inside a huge Penn station with probably a hundred counters and long lines of people!
It was a race of faith!
All of us were half walking and half running not knowing exactly our direction. I was worried for my 78 year old mother in law who was surprisingly quick lugging on her suitcase.
“Ok calm down and let the Holy Spirit lead you, Sheila,” I muttered to myself. By now 2 minutes have passed. There was a tall, nice looking black lady with an ID around her neck talking on a walkie talkie, who I figured was a personnel. I almost reached out to her but then….
Out of the corner of my eye I saw a sign with an arrow that said train no. 83. This was our train. Not wasting a moment I called on everyone so we all charged. There were two security personnels, a lady and a gentleman.
I showed them our email- printed tickets. The lady said, ” I’m sorry those are not tickets. You need to go to that counter (pointing across the room) to that computer to generate your tickets. By the way the train is leaving in 2 minutes, you probably won’t catch it.”
The nice looking lady I saw earlier approached us as she was on the phone saying, “Ok two minutes.” She got off the phone and I started to mouth my explanation, when she cut me off and told the security personnel to let us go as we only had 2 minutes to board the train.
I’m sure five jaws were on the floor that afternoon!
We had to race down the escalator, walked what seemed like forever to the train platform and get on the waiting train. We found ourselves in the train in the nick of time by the miracles of God. The train door closed a second after Robert boarded last. Robert was giving high fives to the four women on this amazing race of faith. When we got in the train, we found five empty seats and a big empty luggage area waiting for us.
God is awesomely good and amazingly on time every time, even when you only have two minutes left on the clock!
SY
Proverbs 3:5-6 (NKJV)
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.
August 14, 2017