It was the fall of 1995 when my Mom was called to be with the Lord.

As much as I considered the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota as God's Country, this trip was more of a time of reflection and sadness than one of sight seeing.

I was over a thousand miles away from my family back in Southern California. I was there just a couple of days when on Monday, October 30, my spirit became very heavy and I had to urgently get back home to California. My friends and family had all told me that it was impossible for me to fly back at this time, since all of the flights at the airport were not only delayed but that they were all canceled today due to the very bad weather that was caused by the snow, rain and fog.

I have learned firsthand from all the countless past adversities that we each have to go through what we call "slices of our life". There are no such things as a accident or coincidence that happen to each one of us in our lives, including this one today. And that there is no greater meaning to this divine truth than those times that requires each one of us to have great faith.

God has this incredible way of shaping each one of our precious lives, so that we will faithfully turn to Him and put our total trust in Him no matter how overwhelming our circumstances may seem to us. And for me, this day was no different.

I knew I had to put all my faith and courage in a supernatural God and the supernatural blessings that He has promised each one of us, even though I could not visibly see them at first.

I knew not to base my faith on the fears and doubts of what others could visibly see and believe in the physical and natural world around us.

I prayed with a heavy heart and a faithful spirit and asked God to make it possible for me to go back home this day.

I knew in order for me to please God that I had to not only believe with unwavering faith but that I had to act on what I believe.

 So you see, it isn't enough just to have faith. You must also do good to prove that you have it. Faith that doesn't show itself by good works is no faith at all-it is dead and useless." James 2:17

The good Lord has always taught me that if you're going to pray for rain, then you better act on it and carry an umbrella with you everywhere you go. And never worry about what the faithless think about your behavior; just worry about what God thinks.

So I ignored what anyone else would do who did not want their behavior to appear crazy and irrational with what seemed like blizzard conditions outside.

I called for a taxi cab to take me to the airport.

I'm sure the taxi service thought that it was very unusual for anyone to call them hoping that they were going to catch a flight out today.

But I was not dealing with the natural realm of man, but in the supernatural realm of God.

The drive to the airport was so bizarre not seeing any traffic.

I thanked the taxi driver for dropping me off at the airport. It was freezing and miserable outside so I quickly started walking towards the welcoming and warm embrace inside the airport terminal.

Even though it was normal to see so much vastness of open space at an commercial airport, I only noticed just a handful of people there. They seemed so quiet in their demeanor and conversation, like we were at a public library and it was rude to talk out loud. It looked so eerie to see and experience so much emptiness of sound from people everywhere I looked.

It looked like a barren wasteland seeing all the parked commercial airplanes outside and the absence of human life inside. It seemed strange not hearing the normal crowds of people talking, laughing, and crying as they normally would be welcoming their loved ones coming in or seeing their loved ones off. 

The place was so quiet that it seemed like you were visually walking through a huge empty vacuum void of any sound or life.

It was surreal.

I could not help thinking about the very few people that I could see and how this scene looked like something that came straight out of the movie "Left Behind".

It made me start wondering if these people were faith based and were also here praying and hoping to see their loved one's walk through the terminal gates any minute, even though their were no planes visibly landing or taking off.  

Or were they going to be like the faithless people in the dramatic movie "Left Behind" where all the people who did not believe in God were tragically left behind everywhere, including at the airports, when our Lord and Savior returned. They could not believe what had happened to them as most of their loved one's disappeared to heaven to be with God. So they just stand waiting, hoping for a second chance at redemption.

I knew that no matter what our present circumstances were or no matter what spiritual level that we were presently at in our faith walk with God, He has a way of shaping each one of our lives so that each one of us would faithfully turn to Him.

We turn to Him so that we may all fulfill one of our sacred purposes in our lives by glorifying God to all others by reassuring them that He is always close to those who are crushed in spirit and He will mend their broken hearts.

"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those who are crushed in spirit."

Psalm 34:18 NLT

I started to look for someone who worked at the airport who could give me any updated information on the current weather conditions. I wanted to see if God had already answered my prayer of going back home to California today.

I found one of the very few people that were still standing behind one of the airline counters and without asking me what flight or airline I was on, she kindly told me that all the flights were canceled today due to the bad weather.

I decided to start walking to the very large room where all the current flight schedules and information were posted on the rows of monitors above our heads. I was hoping that the kind lady behind the airline counter had made a mistake because God was going to give me a ride home today.

As I walked into the area that gives everyone the current status on every airplane that was coming in or taking off, every monitor I looked at echoed the same message, only confirming what the airport employee had already said.

At first it was a little disturbing to see the repeated message of "Flight Canceled" on every monitor as I looked up.

I knew that I needed to find a place to pray, and everywhere I looked there were rows of empty seats.

It was so effortless for me to physically find an isolated spot with a beautiful view looking through the huge window where you could stare off at the lonely and strange unison of all the parked and unmoving airplanes outside on this very cold and unforgiving October day.

Again Satan's voice of doubt was trying to peck away at my armor of faith by reminding me why all the flights were canceled and why no airplanes were taking off today.

I knew that God always answers our prayers, and many times the answer is not a no, but for us to faithfully have the patience to wait.

So I sat down and I started to pray the prayer of faith. Then I told God that He knew the heaviness of my heart for me to go back home to California; not tomorrow but today.

I told God that I am not going to listen to anyone who thinks that I am acting foolish and that I must be blind for not seeing the bad weather conditions that were in front of my eyes.

I told God that I loved Him no matter what happens. Whether He wanted me to stay or leave, I would be obedient to His Divine Will either way.

I told God that I was going to wait. I would just sit here and talk with Him until He gave me a sign.

I closed my eyes from staring back at the bad weather that was directly in front of me; as if it was trying to create doubt in me and trying to get me to reason with my rational mind to just call a taxi cab to take me back into town.

Then I started to praise and thank God for answering my heartfelt prayers by taking me back home to California today. Again and again I praised Him for this.

I thanked Him for never leaving me or forsaking me one time.

It was so quiet. It seemed like almost an hour had flew by. I was still deep in prayer when I had been startled by a very loud voice that came over the airport speakers. At this point I was almost surprised that it was not the voice of God. 

What this person said next brought excitement to my heart. 

The person said that they have a slight break in the weather where the clouds have just opened up and that there was a window of opportunity of just a few minutes for anyone leaving on one particular flight that was leaving immediately.

I hopefully looked down at my plane ticket and I was so consumed with joy that it was my flight that was leaving as soon as possible.

I thanked God as I quickly rose up blissfully from my seat feeling the loving embrace of God's grace that He had opened the clouds and answered my heartfelt prayers...

"And tell him, Blessed is the one who does not lose his faith in me." Luke 7:23