Date: 25th July, 2019
I made it early to the airport to catch the 6:45am flight, by 6:15 we started boarding. I was glad that I will be in Abuja by 8:00am, early enough to make the session for 9:30am.
We took off by 6:45am, I sat on the seat unsure if I should catch some more sleep, pray or just be still. For a while, I just sat still….. about 15 minutes into the flight, we felt the turbulence. It came as a shaking of the plane, I was at the window seat so I checked and I saw the plane was indeed shaking, immediately the seat belt lights came up for all to be sitted, then the announcement was made by the pilot…
I flashed out for some seconds- what if… this was it! I thought about family, BeyondaDegree and I knew my team members would continue without me or so I hoped… I didn’t stay long in this thoughts as I switched to remind myself that I had barely completed purpose, there was still a lot of work to be done… I reminded myself that just one angel was enough to carry the plane and ensure we land safely if need be 😀😀😀
Afterwards, I asked the air hostess if I could turn on my phone to flight mode and I began to write another blog post, “Lessons from the Lion King”, I should post that soon 😁😁
After several minutes, another announcement came that there was heavy rain fall in Abuja hence we may not be able to land yet…. At this point, I peacefully slept off… this must have been a long sleep because I woke up while we were almost landing in Kano.
The gentleman beside me cautioned me, you have been sleeping since, you don’t know what has been happening… I looked at him and said I know we could land in Abuja and are about to land in Kano ( the same information the pilot gave about some hours ago). Yet, I didn’t realise there was turbulence while I peacefully slept. Talk about sleeping in the turbulence ☺️☺️☺️
Sometimes we need to just pray and sleep through it.. if I was awake I may have been worried and moved by the shakings and shouts of those around me. So God ensured I slept, my being awake would not have changed the situation of the plane. It could have changed my faith in God to land us safely though.
We stayed back in Kano for about 30 minutes.. I informed my office about the situation, we fuelled the plane and finally landed by 11:00am, that’s a 4 hour flight to Abuja instead of 1 hour 😮😮 Who would have thought?
I didn’t make the first meeting but I still got to the office, renewed my strength, did some work and had two other productive meetings – one we had been trying to have for weeks 😁😁😁 Perhaps if I was wake in the turbulent I may have been to overwhelmed to sit in meetings all day! We certainly need to trust God enough to sleep in the turbulence!! Deut 31:6 – Be strong and courageous, Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave nor forsake you.
While reading this, i was reminded that even our Savior, Jesus Christ, was sleeping during the storm in the boat before he was woken by his disciples. The disciples were surprised that the sea was calm after Jesus spoke to it. They failed to remember that the Prince of Peace was in the boat with them.
Today, just like the disciples, some of us, Christians, fail to recognize that the Prince of Peace resides inside us. We have the power to remain calm in every situation. Worrying is not our default setting.
Worrying about the meeting we would miss, the people we would disappoint by not showing up or delivering something.
Learn to sit back, sip a cup of coffee or whatever you like to take or better still, just sleep.