The apostle Paul encouraged the church in Rome as they faced persecutions when he wrote Romans 8:28 - And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Many of his readers were suffering acute persecutions and he urged them to look on the bright side and see the hand of God on their lives and to anticipate deliverance from their sufferings.
On the night of April 16 (early hours of 17th) our son-in-law was scheduled to fly home alone to Birmingham from Singapore via Dubai. However, as we are aware by now, all airports in UK and Europe were closed due to the Icelandic volcano ash clouds hovering about 15 KM above and he had to make alternative arrangements. He spoke with Emirates Airlines and the earliest flight they were able to put him on was for the one that took off last evening (early this morning). And with his flights 'confirmed', he spoke with his superiors at Deloittes PLC to work out his work arrangements and praise the Lord for understanding bosses. He was granted permission to work out of Singapore (clocking in London hours) on his clients' projects and to be prepared to attend teleconference calls should the need arise and so, half of the issues were taken care of.
When my daughter (Adeline) and son-in-law (Joshua) came home from Kuala Lumpur after the wedding dinner, she was scheduled to submit her UK Dependent Visa application to the Visa Consulate at British High Commission in KL via the Singapore office. She submitted her application along with her passport on Tuesday April 13 and according to the norm, the approval process would have taken between 5 to 15 working days and that would have accounted for the reason why my son-in-law could not wait in Singapore but had to leave first to return to work. I know he was very reluctant to fly home alone as he was so longing to go home as a couple. With his original flight schedule, he would have started work in Nottingham for three weeks and during this three weeks, Adeline would have flown into Birmingham but Joshua would not have been able to meet her at the airport and she would have to take a cab from the airport, detour to his office to pick up his house keys from his boss' secretary and go home to an empty house.
The Lord is so gracious and merciful. The visas were approved within 2 working days and she was able to pick up her passport on Friday (the same day as Joshua's original flight day had the ash cloud not surfaced). And so, with the visa in hand, she could then book her flights and praise the Lord, she was able to be on the same flight as Joshua and so they WILL be returning home as a couple as was their desire.
With the new flight schedule, they were able to spend more time in Singapore with us and also with his parents in KL - in the morning they can go shopping or just lazying around and then he starts his work from 4:00 PM and work right through to 01:00 AM the next morning. Also the extended period gave them time to pack everything that they required to bring home to the UK and discard those that they no longer needed. Also, between April 18 and 29, they went home to KL to help out with nursing Joshua's mother who contracted high fever and was confined to bed. Praise the Lord she was tested negative for both dengue and H1N1. And with their return last week, they had an additional round of farewell gatherings over the weekend.
And so I can agreed emphatically with Paul that in all things, God works for the good of those whom He loves and we felt so loved by this incident. The Lord turned what the devil initiated with the volcano eruption into excellent outcomes. In the end, Joshua and Adeline returned home to Birmingham together, had more time with loved ones here in Singapore and KL and pack and ship their belongings. With the extra quality time together, their departure last evening was not so tearsome as we had anticipated. All glory to Jesus for His hand of grace on our situations. AMEN.
Post-Script
ReplyDeleteMy daughter and son-in-law did finally land at the Birmingham airport but one-hour late. And the circumstances behind the delay were amazing in and of themselves.
Their connecting Emirates Airlines flight out of Dubai on May 5th morning was delayed by one whole hour and hence their arrival was pushed back from 12:35 PM to 1:35 PM. Not made known to them was the fact that Birmingham airport was covered by volcanic ash that morning and the authorities shut the airport for safety reasons but announced that they would reopen it at 01:00 PM.
Of course, had the airport been shut (as would have been the case if their flight was not delayed), the Emirates flight would have to be diverted to Paris Charles de Gaule Airport and they would have to make their journey home on their own.
So, the Lord is great - He opened up the skies for them to land and all praise and glory to Jesus.