A Country in Lock Down - COVID-19

I was supposed to fly to Melbourne last week. Next week we were booked to fly to Vietnam on a family holiday. COVID-19 has put an end to both of these. On Monday 23^rd March I had a trip to Auckland planned and decided to continue with it as I sensed that a lock down of the country was imminent. I didn’t know that the announcement would be made that day.

Christchurch Airport was quiet and subdued when I walked into the terminal. There were small groups of people here and there, some wearing face masks. I headed upstairs, no queue at x-ray and security and the Koru Lounge was almost empty. No groups laughing and chatting, no one milling around the coffee counter. Just signs instructing us to keep a 1.5 metre distance between ourselves and other people.

I already knew that things on the plane would be different. Air New Zealand had rearranged the seating so that all the middle seats would be empty. The front row facing the flight attendants was not in use and staff wore gloves and some wore face masks. In normal times, I’m sure all of us would have loved the extra space and elbow room, but it was more of a reminder of what we were dealing with as a nation and beyond.

I opened my tray table when the snacks and drinks were brought around, and discovered it was splashed with lurid orange speckles. “Don’t worry,” the flight attendant said, seeing my expression. “It’s the new cleaning liquid we’re using to keep the planes safe.”

I arrived at the car rental office just before midday and instead of the bustling hub I’m used to, it was tomb-like. I was told I was the first customer of the day to hire a car. The exit was blocked with all the vehicles that had been returned. Although I knew COVID-19 was impacting the country, I hadn’t realised to what extent.

It was mid-afternoon when I heard the announcement on the radio. “New Zealand will be going into shut down at midnight on Wednesday.” This was followed by a text from the airline saying my flight home was cancelled and there were no more seats available until the next day.

I was very unhappy to hear this.

Fortunately, all my work was done so I headed back to the airport. Overhead signs along the way instructed motorists that the airport was only open to those who were flying. Once inside the terminal, I headed to Counter One as it’s called. This is where you go to re-book cancelled flights and get information about your options. Thankfully, because of my Elite status with Air New Zealand, I was given priority in the wait queue and 20 minutes later they presented me with a boarding pass for the 6pm flight home. I’m guessing many of the other passengers would have spent the night in Auckland.

Overall it was a stressful day, but also one full of God’s peace and grace. At time I felt like I was on the set of a horror movie, with all the masked, wary people and the deserted streets of suburban Auckland. People I interacted with were nervous, keeping their distance and voicing their fears. It was hard work emotionally.

As we head into four weeks of isolation and shut down, the future is uncertain, but God is not. Be wise, be careful and look out for loved ones as far as you can. This pandemic has not taken God by surprise and while taking every precaution and obeying the government as we lock down our homes, we can relax into His arms, knowing He is so much bigger than a microscopic virus.

Enjoying a last coffee with my dear husband before the country locks down at midnight!

Permission to Fly

Have you ever seen a headline that grabbed your attention? Like really grabbed your attention? I saw one a couple of days ago that read ‘Permission to Fly’. The only problem was it was part of a video presentation and there was no way I could read the rest of the article. I tried to dismiss it but the words stayed with me, popping unbidden to mind, tantalising, provocative. Eventually I asked God what He was saying to me.

I was on a flight to Invercargill the next day when answers started flowing. I thought of a plane sitting on the runway. All the pre-flight checks had been completed and the control tower had cleared the pilot for takeoff. But he just sat there. He had permission to fly but he didn’t act on it.

I suddenly saw that I was in a similar place in my own life. Over the last 14 months, I have experienced an ongoing, intense, personal attack that left me wondering who I was, if there was anything good in me and if I had completely missed my calling in life. Intellectually I knew it was lies - but emotionally I was devastated.

God continued to speak while I was in the air on the way to Invercargill. I was reading a book that included a section about Joseph. He was falsely accused of sleeping with Potiphar’s wife and even though he had done nothing wrong, he was sent to jail for years. It was unfair and unjust but God used the experience to develop character in Joseph.

I realised that because of my situation, I’d withdrawn from life. I’d found it increasingly difficult to trust people and I’d built protective walls around myself. That was not where God wanted me. He had surrounded me with family and friends who loved me. He had brought myriad opportunities my way. He had given me permission to fly but I was still sitting on the runway.

My work in Invercargill took less than an hour and I had the day free to think and pray. I realised during this time that I needed to give myself permission to fly, permission to do things that I should have done a long time ago. I also realised that I’m not alone in this. Have a look at this list and see if there are any things you need to give yourself permission to do:

Permission to fly

Permission to cry

Permission to fail

Permission to succeed

Permission to move on

Permission to adapt

Permission to accept help

Permission to stand up for yourself

Permission to grow

Permission to dream

Permission to unleash your potential

Permission to let go

Permission to stop beating yourself up

Permission to forgive

Permission to say what you really mean

Permission to heal

The sense of freedom I experienced was amazing. I gave myself permission to be free of the shame and humiliation of the last year, permission to be who God has called me to be and to use my gifts accordingly, permission to open myself up to people again. I accepted what God was saying to me. “Debbie, you have permission to fly!”

I encourage you to look at your own lives, at areas where you have allowed others to diminish you, at areas where you’ve felt inferior, condemned or unworthy. Then create your own ‘permission list’ and take flight.

It was a simple headline – ‘Permission to Fly’ – but the message behind it was straight from God’s heart to mine.

Popcorn in the Sky

Attempt One
We were about to land at Queenstown Airport when the pilot pulled the nose up sharply and powered the Airbus A320 out of the valley. I hung onto my seat as we bumped and lurched, thinking the ascent was even rougher than the descent. Even worse was the ominous silence from the cockpit. Fifteen minutes later as we broke free of the clouds, the pilot told us what had happened. “I was given an urgent warning of wind shear on the runway and had to abort the landing. The control tower has cleared us to try again.”




Attempt Two
Praying, I hung on to my seat again as we began another turbulent descent. Every so often the clouds parted allowing a glimpse of the snow capped mountains. I felt the wheels go down, the clouds thinned to mist, we crossed the river just before the runway and just as I thought we were safe, the pilot hauled the nose up and we shot skywards again, the aircraft shuddering and banging. After another fifteen minutes of silence as he manoeuvred us out of the mountains, he apologised and said we were on our way back to Christchurch as it was too dangerous to land in the current weather conditions.

Attempt Three
I had work to do in Queenstown and rejecting the buses laid on by Jetstar (a seven hour journey) I arranged a cheap standby fare with Air New Zealand. Fifteen minutes later I had a boarding pass for a flight on an ATR72. Unfortunately this plane turned out to have engineering issues and we sat on the tarmac for fifteen minutes while they attended to them. At last we took off with a warning that the weather conditions in Queenstown were still unstable and we may have to divert.

This flight made the first one pale into insignificance. I felt like I was a kernel of popcorn, ricocheting around the pot of the sky. And that was before we began our descent into Queenstown. I think all the passengers were relieved when the pilot announced he was diverting. Invercargill was too windy for the size of the aircraft so we headed to Dunedin. With much bouncing and dropping, we finally landed.

Attempt Four
Air New Zealand organised buses to take us through to Queenstown and they arrived at the airport within ten minutes of us landing. We finally reached our destination at 6pm. My original arrival time had been estimated at 9:15am. Instead of forty minutes in the air, I spent a total of four hours up there and four hours on the bus.



I’ve learnt to be flexible with all the travelling I do but this experience was more stretching than some. As I relaxed on the bus, glad to be back on the ground, I asked God what I could learn from the day’s events. He showed me that in many ways my experience reflected life in general – and there were some important lessons wrapped up in that.

Lesson One
Even if you have a dream and goal in life, and a plan of how to get there, it might take you a lot longer than you anticipate.

Lesson Two
The journey to accomplishing your dreams may be uncomfortable and fraught with difficulty. It’s worth persevering as you will get there eventually.

Lesson Three
Your goal in life may end up costing you more than you thought it would.

Lesson Four
Turbulent times give you opportunities to make new friends along the way.

Lesson Five
Even if you have the right equipment, skilled workers alongside you, and a group of people heading in the same direction, it may not be enough to get you there initially.

Lesson Six
Life’s a journey. Enjoy the ride!

It Cost What!

I was promoted to a featured travel contributor for Associated Content this week and my first assignment was to write an account of a funny travel experience. Straight away I thought of a train trip Kevin and I took years ago. We were leaving from Johannesburg and by the time we got to the station, the train was already moving. I felt quite smug as I wrote the story, thinking, I’ve got travel down to a fine art now. I’ll never end up in such a situation again.
They say pride comes before a fall.

Two days later I was on an early morning flight to Auckland. I was running slightly later than I would have liked and then discovered Kirstin had parked us in ... and we couldn’t find her keys ... and neither could she. After several minutes of panic, they were finally found in her bedroom. So we jumped in the car and set off only to discover that what we thought was condensation on the window was actually a thick layer of ice. At the end of the road, Kevin stopped. “Give me a plastic card so I can scrape this off.” he said. “The window washer’s not helping and I can’t see a thing.”

We finally got to the airport and by the time I reached self-check-in, it was 15 minutes before departure time. The machine declined my request so I rushed to the Air New Zealand counter ... and thankfully they gave me my boarding pass. I was even more grateful when I boarded the plane (last) and passed about seven businessmen on standby.

Unfortunately, that’s not the end of the story. Once I was buckled in, I reached into my bag to switch my cell phone off ... and discovered my purse was missing. I took it out to give Kevin a card to clean the window, I thought. I must have dropped it in the car! I went cold as I realised I couldn’t do a thing without it in Auckland. All my cash was in it, my bank cards and identification. I phoned my dear, longsuffering husband and begged him to rush back to the airport with it, although it was only a couple of minutes before takeoff.

He obviously couldn’t make it in time and I spent the next 80 minutes stressing about what I was going to do. I called him on arrival and he told me it was being couriered up on the next flight.

“What did it cost?” I asked.

“You don’t want to know.” he replied.

I finally got the figure out of him and nearly passed out. “$90! That’s outrageous!” I had paid $1 to get to Auckland and $19 to get back. How could a purse, 10cm by 10cm cost $90? “I’m so sorry.” I said, “I’m never going to live this one down am I?”

My purse arrived safely two hours after I did and in spite of the drama, I had a great day in Auckland. The weather was perfect, I met some wonderful people and managed to get most of my work done. I also enjoyed a lunch at an Italian restaurant and dinner at a coffee shop, received some free soap, expensive body oil, skincare and perfume samples, some strings for my bass guitar and a gorgeous necklace - plus I was given a really nice hand massage.

Looking back, it is something to laugh at but I’ve learned my lesson. I fly to Wellington on Friday and you’d better believe that my suitcase will be packed on Thursday and my purse will be safely inside my bag!