side note about passports....

To be filed in the "in case you're interested" file, as I exited South Africa last night I inquired about the passport issue that delayed me for two days in Nairobi -- see two posts below.

The customs official I spoke with last night looked at my passport and said that the US Embassy had actually sent their customs desk a letter, a couple of months ago, that authorized the S. African customs officials to put visas on blank endorsement pages. Endorsement pages are at the back of your passport....different than visa pages; I didn't know this, and never paid much attention, and it turned out to be the reason I wasn't allowed to board the flight to S. Africa. I was told there that endorsement pages could not be used for visas, and therefore I had to stay behind in Nairobi and get blank VISA pages inserted in my passport before I could go. Mind you, I had SPACE for visas in my passport....just no completely blank visa pages left. I did have two blank endorsement pages.

The customs agent last night said that they don't talk to the airlines to inform them of this type of update, and most airlines still think that those endorsement pages can't be used for visas. Yes, I told her, I had experienced that first hand! She said eventually the airlines will realize. Great. And in the meantime? :)

The funny thing in all of this -- or maybe the normal thing, depending on how you look at it -- is that I was prompted several times to simply thank God for the circumstances and leave it at that. Admittedly I didn't FEEL very thankful. I was so disappointed to be left behind! But I did stop and thank Him. it's weird in circumstances like this -- I automatically think I did something wrong, or haven't been listening to God or obeying Him like I should, and so God was trying to punish me. And that's so NOT like God, to dole out random punishment and expect us to figure out where we're not quite hitting the mark. It's also SO like me, to fall into this pattern of thinking that God is some celestial Scorekeeper and I didn't quite meet His expectations, so He needed to give me a nice little 'shape-up-or-else' wrist slap in the form of a missed airplane. Now, THERE's something to be very thankful for, that God IS NOT like that -- I have to (sometimes continually) remind myself that it's not so much about circumstances themselves as it is knowing God's presence (or at least, believing God's presence) in the midst of the circumstances. Anyhow, I'm rambling now. I mentioned below that when I was telling Bear this story, he was really great; after very kindly empathizing with me he suggested maybe this is just preparation for a possible future of international travel. And then he said, "At least you got to visit JP & Clementine!" Which is true - I missed visiting them on my way into Rwanda last year b/c of the post-election violence, and I do wish to point out one more time that they totally rescued me in Nairobi. This was wonderful of them, and all went smoothly, and I am so so thankful to them for their kindness. (Thank you both again, for your hospitality....!)) I am here in Nairobi all day today, but they are in Rwanda, so I would have missed them completely had it not been for the passport problem.

I read an advent devotional the other day, about the cost of worship -- what it cost Jesus to worship (obey) His Father by coming to earth to die, and what it may cost us to worship, too. Worship is sometimes painful, the author pointed out. Maybe someday I will be a little quicker to worship in whatever circumstances I find myself in. And in the meantime, I am very grateful today that God is a whole lot bigger and better than I often remember.

Merry Christmas everyone! I can't WAIT to see you....