"This is Magic!"

"And the men marvelled, saying, 

'What sort of man is this, 

that even winds and sea obey him?'"

-Matthew 8:27

Sorry I lied. This isn’t about Sydney. I’m still in Brisbane. 

There are ridiculously high winds in Sydney today (it’s a phenomenon that happens once every three years, kind of like El Niño), and over 90 domestic flights were cancelled. Mine was one of them. Everything went so smoothly; Keiko and I woke up at 5am, took the train, got through security in 1 minute (didn’t even have to take off my shoes or watch), and wandered around the terminal before getting ready to board. We were sitting there 20 minutes before boarding time when Jetstar announced that the flight in the next terminal was cancelled. People started going up to the flight attendant and were directed to the service counter to rebook their flight. We thought our flight was fine, but when the boarding time came and went and no one boarded, we began to suspect that something was wrong. Just as we were going to check the status of our flight, all the notice boards went “Out of Service (Our engineers are working to restore them)”, and the flight attendants left. I then looked on Jetstar.com. Our flight was also cancelled. 

The Plane We Didn't Board

After confirming the flight status with one of the Jetstar staff (they all just left the boarding gate area…), Keiko and I headed down to the service counter to rebook our flight. We got rebooked onto the 1pm flight tomorrow, which was the next earliest flight since all the ones flying today were full (and are heavily delayed anyway). It was kind of disappointing, because taking that flight would give us barely over 24 hours in Sydney, which isn’t quite enough time to tour the city. 

We were discussing changing our returning flight from Saturday to Sunday, but a quick check showed that Sunday flights are >$200 (more than 3x the price we purchased). But we’re students, so we decided against it. At least we would still make the Bridge Climb on Saturday.

Throughout the process, I was asking myself, “What is God trying to teach me?" Of course there’s always the reminder that He is in control, but I thought I had learned that lesson my flight to Australia (see "Before Departure" and "Welcome to Melbourne!" posts). I ran through the possibilities: Pray more? Trust Him more? Be more humble? Plan less? (Just kidding) None of them seemed to strike me (as the lessons often do), so I kept praying and looking.

After calling the hotel, we got back on the train to go home. Since neither Keiko nor I had been to Fortitude Valley, we decided to make a stop there and explore the area. Fortitude Valley is known for its night life, but we were there at 9.30am so it was quiet. There were a lot of uptown shops, and certain parts reminded me of downtown Palo Alto, but with wider streets. Brisbane’s Chinatown is also located in this suburb, but as Aunty Jenny said, it’s quite pathetic compared to SF (or just Cupertino hahaha). 

While we were having lunch, Aunty Jenny texted: “If I can change your flight to Sunday return to Brisbane, ok to change?” I responded: “How much additional fee? That’s the one thing we’re worried about.” 

Twenty minutes later, she sent the following (see pic):

The Text Message

I immediately relayed the good awesome news to Keiko. She was stunned. “How did she do it?” She asked. I shrugged. “I don’t know, she’s just really great at stuff like this. It shows that prayer works.” I said the last part really quietly, because I hadn’t been praying for an extra day in Sydney. But someone must’ve been praying for us ❤️. A few minutes later (it took Keiko awhile to get over the fact that we got our returning flight changed for $0). “This is magic!” That was when the lesson hit me.

I realised that all this happened to show God’s love. I wrote earlier this week: "Please pray that we'll have a safe and fun trip, and that I'll have opportunity to share God's love with [Keiko].” This prayer has already been answered, even before we left Brisbane. Who gets to go to Sydney Friday-Sunday for no extra cost (and has such a loving aunt who goes through the trouble to negotiate with the airline)? God’s goodness has been everywhere I’m tempted to use Psalm 145:9 or James 1:17 at the beginning of many blogposts. Without this experience, I would never have had the courage to write “God is good!” in our chat. 

God is Good!

But perhaps more fundamentally, this incident showed God’s existence. Keiko is identifies as an atheist, and without God, this experience would seem too coincidental. In her own words, it was magical. And I guess God’s work seems like magic sometimes. But His children recognise His fingerprints and knows that everything He does is to bring Himself glory. And I’m such a spoiled child. 

Even though it cost an extra $40 to take the train there and back, I would’ve paid much more for someone to experience God, because those experiences are priceless. I pray that this would only be the beginning of Keiko’s journey with the Father. 

Speaking of God’s goodness, I got a voucher for a free Moreton Island Day Trip! I didn’t even know the island existed. One of the apartment residents gave the voucher to the Dragonboat captain (who also works for the apartment) because she couldn’t go. He was told to give it to whoever he wanted, and I came to mind 😃 (probably because he loves my fried rice haha). Now I have something to do over Mid-semester break. Told you I was spoiled. 

Well, I’m exhausted but excited to go to Sydney tomorrow! Please pray that the weather will allow our flights to be on time, and that we get to do the Harbour Bridge Climb on Saturday! But more importantly, please pray that we can experience God more this weekend ❤️. Thank you!