Back from Travels

Soooo.... who missed me??? :) I'm back from a 10 day work trip to San Francisco and Vancouver. Like my gmail status proclaimed, I didn't want to go. I hated giving up my schedule (I had a CYAN retreat planned, there was the ICTLT Conference that I had registered for), I hated rushing around getting stuff for the trip (winter wear, boots, office wear....), I hated the thought of travelling with strangers, I wished I had more time to settle my household (pay the bills, stock the fridge... ). And most of all, I dreaded the winter. You see, I get really sad in winter. The day is grey, it gets dark by 4pm, it is so very cold and just to pop out and get a sandwich I have to put on layers of clothes and I feel miserable. I was also wary of the planned itinerary - it was a young person's itinerary, 3 cities in 8 days. I felt tired just reading it.

But yet again, God has taught me a lesson and I realise I need to go with the flow and stop resisting change. Schedules make me comfortable, predictability is safe. But maybe that attitude is shutting me off from exciting new opportunities. Maybe it is time to take some risks. Not foolhardy risks but risk trusting God to care enough about me, risk trusting that God means it when He says He is holding my right hand.

The verse He gave me was Isaiah 40: 29 - 31, a verse that Brandon shared on at CYAN. And it was assurance from God that He knows where I was, what I was feeling, what I was scared of. That He will give me the strength for the journey, that He was in charge. And that is what came to pass. The itinerary was changed a week before we left to just 2 cities, the weather was so mild that I used the bulky parka I bought only twice, the people I travelled with were extremely kind, the interview panel I sat on clicked and we were amazingly in synch in selecting candidates,the SIA flights were so well timed that I am hardly jetlagged. It was a good trip.

And what was the best bit of the trip for me? This - my hotel room...

I had an amazingly beautiful room to myself in San Francisco and Vancouver! And I loved having a king sized bed all to myself with soft sheets, warm quilt, comfortable pillows... It was the best 4 nights I had ever spent in a hotel. And in Vancouver I had the view of a lake from my window... Very shallow, I know, but I loved the sheer creature comfort of it all.

And the saddest? That it was too cold for me to eat the ice cream.....

So, now, I am back in Singapore. It will be work again on Monday. The predictability I had longed for will be back, I will be in synch with my diary again. But I am already looking forward to my next trip - Melbourne, 1 - 12 April....