Once upon a week ago, the Mayor and Hobbit Wife made a pot of coffee early in the morning, then sat down to pray about a vacation. The Mayor, who had been working very long hours for several months, was quite unexpectedly paid for all his overtime. The Mayor and Hobbit Wife heard a joyful, whispered invitation from the Father of All Michael Delving to ask Him for some badly needed rest and some good gifts.
The Mayor and Hobbit Wife asked their Father for an Adventure in the Southern Kingdom, then booked plane tickets. The four wee hobbitlings were then informed that all Michael Delving residents would be departing upon the morrow for southern California, with trips planned to Disneyland and Legoland. There was much rejoicing. And a flurry of packing.
The next day, the hobbit family completed their air travels, picked-up a rental van, and arrived at the hotel late Sunday night.
And then their adventure really began!
The hotel informed the Mayor that his debit card was declined. The Mayor drove to a nearby ATM, which provided more illumination: "Transaction denied. We're sorry. Your card has been deactivated. Please contact your financial institution." Fortunately, the Mayor banks with a wonderful credit union. Unfortunately, the wonderful credit union wouldn't open until Monday morning.
"Dear Jesus, I just turned four. The end." In other words, "You need to handle this problem, Jesus - I'm too little."
The Mayor's phone suddenly rang, and it was someone from the bank's outsourced fraud protection group checking on suspicious activity. It was revealed that, in the flurry of preparations, the Mayor had neglected to inform his bank that he would be travelling out-of-state. Payment for the rental van had resulted in a "stolen card" flag on the account. The fraud protection guy was not immediately able to reactivate the card, but he was partially able to remove the hold on the ATM transaction, allowing the Mayor to get just enough cash for the hotel that night.
The picture below shows the sum total of the hobbits consumable resources for that first night: a few handfuls of trail-mix from home, some left-over pretzels and peanuts from the air plane, two bottles of water from the hotel front desk, and less than $30 cash. The hobbits were all at once very poor and very secure in the immense love of their adventure-providing Father.
This was only the beginning of the Adventure in the Southern Kingdom, and more posts are to follow. The Father of All Michael Delving took care of all the provision, many surprises, and much joy; and all six of the travelers from Michael Delving got to be His wee hobbitlings together.
