B6.

That was the name of the departure gate where I and my colleagues (now family) sat for approximately 13 hours on Friday afternoon, into Saturday morning. All in all, it took 27 hours for me to get home from Atlanta, Georgia… but my faith has never been stronger.

Let me tell you how I got there.

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On Monday morning, my work colleagues and I flew to Atlanta so that we could join other educators from around the country (and one Canadian) for an educators’ symposium in Montgomery and Selma, Alabama. We were prepared for a wonderful week of learning, community building, and professional/personal growth. What none of us could have anticipated was that we would wake up on Friday morning and hear that all of the world was impacted by a Microsoft glitch. I mean, as far as our 2024 Bingo cards go, this definitely wasn’t on mine! Yet on Friday, airlines all over the world worked to mitigate communication errors that limited or stopped their service, stranding hundreds of thousands of travelers.

My colleagues and I were just some of those travelers.

We were sleep deprived, hungry, saddened, disappointed, frustrated, etc. however, we had each other and together we knew that we could handle anything. Despite all that was going on, I walked away with some blessings that I would like to share with you all today.

• I was safe. In general, when I talk about safety, I am talking about both my physical safety AND my mental/emotional safety. In fact, if one of those components is missing, I will say that I do NOT feel safe and work diligently to fix that. Yet, in that moment, I felt extremely safe in that airport … because I was surrounded by people who loved and cared for me. There was nothing ideal about being in that airport for so long. I had to stay awake and stay on guard for many reasons, but I wasn’t alone. There was not one moment in my 22 hour Atlanta airport (13 hours at Gate B6) where I felt like harm would come my way. Looking back, I am grateful for that feeling of safety and for those that God sent to protect me during that time.
• I had everything that I needed. Wants versus needs. This is a big difference that I work to address with my students and within myself. Being stuck in an airport is not ideal, but I also couldn’t help but notice that I had everything that I needed. I had a roof over my head, access to food and water, access to a clean bathroom (shout-out to the wonderful women who worked to keep the bathrooms clean!), and I was not alone. I am so grateful that I had funds to cover random expenses that I was not expecting and funds to make emergency decisions about my travel. I recognize my blessings, because I know that was not the case for all.
• I found my voice. Maybe I was on a high from all that had happened during the week or maybe I just felt God’s spirit flowing freely within me, but there were several moments where I felt empowered to stand up for those around me and I am grateful for those opportunities! For decades I felt silenced- by my own desire- yet God has slowly been bringing me out of my shell. In order to do that, He had to tame the anger that so often led my conversations and allow me to speak from a true place of love and compassion. Now don’t get me wrong, while I try not to speak with anger, I surely do speak with passion. I am passionate about making sure that people are seen and heard. God gave me a platform to speak and I am grateful for it.

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Today is a new day. This weekend’s events reminded me that God is very much present in all that we experience in our everyday life. We are currently in a time when we must make the decision for ourselves to choose JOY in every aspect of our lives. B6 showed me that I must exit one place, in order to enter another. So, today and every day, I am choosing to exit the place of depression and brokenness where I once resided, and enter into the promise that God has declared for my life.

I am home now. That means that I made moves and decided that it was time to move past B6. Where are you? Are you ready to move?

Be blessed!