Los Angeles to Manila

Welcome to Business Class.

Not as nice as first class, however, it was quite roomy and the seats did recline to a flat position. (See photos) Everyone was able to get some decent chunks of sleep. I am very grateful for this. Again, this will give Dad (and the rest of us too) a good start to our trip.

Meals: See the menu…I had the sea bass, it was okay…and the wagon wheel type things (lotus root) were interesting. They had kind of a bland, potato like flavor. In the morning, I had the Filipino breakfast – Tapsilog. It was delicious.

“Morning” conversation – or whatever time it was…Dad leaned over to me and said, “Well, instead of coffee with the Lord, I had water with the Lord this morning.” He went on to add, “At home, every morning I sit in my chair with my cup of coffee and I have time with the Lord.” I asked him, “What is your time with the Lord like?” He replied, “Well, I have a list of things that I pray about…” he listed various missionaries and their ministries, several local people who were having health issues, he said he prayed for me and that I would continue to recover from my cancer journey and not have any recurrence, he mentioned JS – who is the dad of the family that we are traveling with (he has a very aggressive type of squamous cell cancer that he has been dealing with) – that he prays for complete healing of his body, he mentioned his granddaughters – that he prays for their future. He then concluded, “And that’s my time with the Lord.” As he spoke, I felt emotion begin to well up within me. I felt both grateful and convicted at the same time. Grateful…because I have a dad who actively and intentionally prays for me. What a priceless gift. Convicted…because there are times when he agitates me with habits / patterns of behavior and that agitation becomes more the focus of my mind versus the priceless benefit of his prayers for me. As we all are, I am a work in progress, and I am thankful that the Lord is helping me learn how to better love and accept him for who he is. Thank you Lord for this very special morning chat over proverbial coffee in our business class seats.