Knowin’ Where I’m Goin’

Travel has long been one of my favorite things to do. I enjoy everything about it, even the planning. I also enjoy the challenge of traveling as inexpensively as possible.

Thanks to my airline employee and retiree benefits, I’ve been able to travel inexpensively for many years. I also get discounts on hotels, car rentals, and cruises too. All of which I’m very thankful for.

So in October of 2022 I traveled to/from Indianapolis for my 50th high school reunion. I flew on a confirmed ticket there because I wanted to make sure I’d get there on the day I planned, and decided to use my airline travel benefits to standby for my return flight. I wasn’t sure if I’d be going back to Dallas or to Tampa, plus getting back on a certain day wasn’t as important as getting there, so standby travel was a good option for my return. I also booked my hotel using reward points and reserved a rental car with a discount rate. Everything was set. At least I thought it was.

I made a little mistake on my hotel. 😬

Well actually, kind of a big mistake.

I had booked the hotel several months out using my husband’s Wyndham Rewards points. I put IND in the hotel search bar as I generally prefer staying near the airport whenever I need a hotel. The search showed availability south of IND airport so I booked it. So far so good.

So I thought.

As I got closer to my travel date, I even pulled up the address of my old high school on my iPhone and noticed that the hotel was actually in Southport. I thought, “Oh, that’s close to my high school. That’ll work.”

Same hotel name. Wrong hotel.

Wrong.

So on Thursday morning I flew nonstop from DAL Dallas Love Field to IND on WN Southwest Airlines. I got my rental car. I drove to Frankfort to have lunch with my cousin, Jeri. We had a nice visit and then I drove by my grandparents old house and also by the graveyard.

Then I drove over to Lebanon where I met my 2nd cousin, Chrissy, for dinner. After a nice visit I put in the address for my hotel on my iPhone map and headed back toward Indianapolis around 10 p.m. It was dark when I exited I-465 on to US 31 South and I was shocked when the map told me to take an immediate right. I thought, Oh no! Not THAT hotel! I remembered THAT hotel from over 50 years ago.

Mercy.

It was late and I was tired. I thought, well maybe, just maybe, they’ve updated it and that everything would be ok.

Wrong again.

As I walked inside the lobby I saw a few attempts had been made to try to update the hotel, but as I opened the door to my room my heart sank. The carpet was torn, the door lock latch was bent and therefore did not work, the toilet paper holder was rusted, and the under sink area had exposed pipes that were rusty and dirty looking.

So I sat down exhausted and upset with myself. I’d been up since 3:30 a.m Dallas time. Why wasn’t I more careful about which hotel I booked? Why didn’t I take time to reconfirm my reservation and verify the location?! I closed my eyes and prayed, “Lord, what should I do? 🙏🏻

I called my husband and told him I made a BIG mistake. While on the phone I heard people out in the hallway which made me feel uncomfortable; unsafe actually. I decided right then that I needed to find another hotel. Then, while still on the phone with my husband I got a text from my cousin Connie, who I was planning visiting the next day. She asked me if I was at my hotel and if everything was ok.

Insert perfect timing and an answer to prayer here! 🙏🏻❤️

I was embarrassed to tell her that I’d made a mistake on my hotel reservation, plus it was so late, nearly 11:00 p.m. but she insisted I come on over to her house to stay instead of getting another hotel. I was so thankful 🙌🏻 and it was so nice to stay with her for three nights.

While in Indianapolis I visited my brother Ron, the graveyard where my parents and brother Eldon’s gravesites are, went to three different reunion events, and had a Sunday visit with my brother and sister-in-law, Dennis and Pam, at their new house in Westfield. We went to church, had brunch, a nice 3 mile walk on the Monon Trail, and a yummy dinner at home. The next morning I returned my rental car and flew standby on Delta IND x/ATL TPA.

It was a wonderful trip; all except my hotel mess-up. I realized:

• It was my own fault.

• I booked the wrong hotel.

• I assumed everything was ok, and

• I should have reconfirmed my hotel reservations and verified the location. As a seasoned traveler I should have known better.

Which made me think,

How much more we all need to make sure where our eternal destination is.

Years ago I used to listen to a Christian radio program hosted by Larry Burkett. He taught Christian principles concerning finances. He used to say, “Do your givin’ while your livin’, then you’re knowin’ where it’s goin’.” Good advice with a catchy country twang.

Thus the title, “Knowin’ Where I’m Goin’”

While “knowin’ where I’m goin’” is good advice concerning hotel reservations, it’s of eternal importance concerning where we’re going after we pass away.

It’s OK to make a mistake with a hotel reservation.

It’s not OK to make a mistake with our eternal destination.

• Have you admitted you’re a sinner in need of a Savior?

• Have you repented of your sin and placed your faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone? Was there a change in your heart and in your life?

• Never “assume” you ’re going to heaven because you’re a “good person” or because you were baptized or because you go to church, or because of any “good works.”

• “Reconfirm your reservation” to heaven in “fear and trembling:

Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Philippians 2:13)

And,

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. 2 Corinthians 13:5

Make sure Jesus is your Savior and Lord.

You must be born again. John 3:7

Then, rest in knowing that the Bible is clear that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

“By grace are you saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8

As the hymn writer, C.L. Bancroft (1863) reminds us, we’re not saved by anything we’ve done, we’re saved by a work done for us:

Because the sinless Savior died,

My sinful soul is counted free,

For God the just is satisfied,

To look on Him and pardon me.