Day 10 - Chicago and Cirque Shanghai - Part 1

Day 10, Saturday, August 30, 2014

Yesterday, Saturday, August 30th, was easily the most stressful day I have had to date. But at the same time, I felt God’s presence through-out the day, and that was incredibly reassuring! It is quite the story, so I guess the only place to begin is at the beginning!

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It’s 6:24 AM and we are on the road for Chicago. For the first time in ten days I am using Google directions on paper form. The GPS would take me through the busy streets of Chicago and I know I am not ready to take that on.

In the first thirty minutes we made a multitude of wrong turns, but truly only because the directions and the streets did not bear the same names. I have found this in many areas  of the States. I managed to way lay various people and got us back on track each time. 

I absolutely love the area and it very much reminds me of England with its windy country roads, quaint farmhouses, and villages with historical homes. These are not replicas or even remodeled necessarily; they are simply time-worn homes from the past. All the children are asleep, with the exception of Courage, who is my driving assistant this early morning. His job is to circle the names of each town on the map as we drive through, so that we can be sure we are heading east. 

Sixty miles into the drive, as I was shifting gears, I felt an unsettling and familiar clunk. Having had transmission problems before I knew I had to handle this carefully. I pulled into the nearest gas station, and apprehended a respectful looking man who was walking to his pick-up truck. He was kind enough to look under the hood after suggesting that perhaps my transmission fluid was low; it wasn’t. I told him my priority was to get to Chicago, and then after that, to Pennsylvania, where I would have a few days to check things out if necessary. He agreed that using the gears manually was a good idea if I had to. He cautioned me about a few things and then wished me well on my journey.

I continued on my drive shifting carefully, listening for the sound, and paying close attention to what helped. And of course, I prayed. A lot! I found that things seemed to ease up, and the shifting issue was between first and second at times, or taking a while to shift into second. Easing up on the gas as I the gears shifted themselves also helped. As time went by it seemed to lighten up, and I spent as much time as possible not having to gear down. The higher speed roads were the easiest. 

My goal had been to be in Chicago by 9:30 as we had a train to catch at 9:54 or 11:54 to a presentation of Cirque Shanghai on the Navy Pier. I was a little worried that I would not make it due to the directions that were messed up, so at one point I flipped over to the GPS in order to be quicker. It was okay, and didn’t take me anywhere I did not want to go. I found the little neighbourhood where I was to spend the night, and even the street. The man who I was renting a floor from for two nights had assured me that there was plenty of parking out front and if not, then I could park on Milwaukee Avenue. The streets were packed. There was really not even any room for two cars to pass each other comfortably down those lovely little old-fashioned streets. I could just see myself trying to parallel park in there. Not likely! After having Courage knock on the man’s door to alert him to our situation, and tell him that we were going to try to find parking elsewhere, - to no avail, as he was not home, - I headed around the corner to look for more suitable parking. It truly was difficult. There was nothing good, except we finally found one small strip mall with a Dollar Tree, a bank, a restaurant, Subway, 7 Eleven and a few other shops. It was clean and tidy looking, and on one side there was a drive-through ATM bank. I maneuvered my way into parking between the dumpsters and the street, and then I got the kids out and we headed to the bank to ask for directions to the train station. 

The lady kindly told us to go down Foster, onto Elston, and then onto Forest Glen. Sounded easy enough, so off we went. We were hustling, as I had no idea how far we would be going. As I passed a building a few streets down I saw a stroller and an old lady and a small child. I asked her if she knew how far it was to Forest Glen station. She figured it was about 20 minutes. I then noticed how open the parking lot was and thinking it was a church, asked if I might be able to park my caravan there for the night. She told me that it was only open on Saturdays, and that I could go downstairs and ask Gerry. I thanked her and headed down, and at the bottom of a few short steps there was a door. I stepped in and there before me was a cheerful looking man with a bandana. He was talking to a lady. As they stopped talking I said, “Are you Gerry?” He said yes, and so I said, “Just the man I’m looking for!”

I then told him our situation - a mum traveling with five kids, the unparkable, prepaid bed and breakfast, and wanting to find somewhere suitable to either park the trailer with us in it, or leave the trailer while we stayed at the bed and breakfast. He listened to my story, heard we were heading for Forest Glen, and then asked if the kids wanted a pop tart. He took us into a downstairs room where ladies were coming out with shopping bags full of groceries. We had clearly stumbled across a food hamper facility. There were children playing in the gymnasium, and men and women filling grocery bags. As the lady that had been talking turned to leave, Gerry called after her, “God bless!” 

Jose was called on to provide the children with a pop tart, and this kind man opened a box and offered them around. Due to our early start we had not stopped for a hearty breakfast, so had eaten a box of cold cereal on the go. The pop tarts were a welcome treat! Gerry was sweetly talking to us, and I was beginning to worry about the time passing and making it to the station on time. I asked again how far it was to Forest Glen, and Gerry asked Jose. Then we began talking again about what our family was doing on the road, and Jose showed an interest. These men truly felt like men of God. There was just a real sense of the Spirit in that room!  With his interest I decided this was a good person to tell of our transmission problems. When I told him he immediately called for prayer for our family. He gathered all of us around, along with Gerry, and pulled us into a circle and from his mouth came the most incredible words of prayer. What men of faith those two were! I felt God’s care upon us at that moment. As they finished prayer I heard words to the effect of: Whether the fellowship be for today, or tomorrow...” and I realized they might be referring to their church service, and I suddenly realized that tomorrow was Sunday. We might be able to get to church!

Gerry gave me a business card and told me to call him to see what his pastor said about parking in the parking lot; it was not a church, and he would have to get permission for us. I asked him what time his service was in the morning, and he jumped right in and said with great enthusiasm, “Wait right there! I’m going to get a car. I’m taking you to Forest Glen.” I could not believe my good fortune!! God was with us! 

Gerry told Carlos that he would be driving us to the station, warned the children in the gym to do just as Carlos said, and then motioned us to follow him up the stairs and out into the parking lot. When we arrived at the car I felt we were in the movie God’s Not Dead. There in the front seat of the car were flyers advertising the movie. In return for the movie they were asking people to bring one can of food for the hungry. 

When we got into the car and began driving Gerry began speaking and I asking questions. I cannot begin to encapsulate what that experience was like. This was not a preacher, but he wanted to be. He loved the Lord, believed in serving others, as Christ came to serve us, and could not restrain the words from bubbling forth. He was amazing. I can’t put into words how it felt in that car with such a friendly, Jesus loving man, knowing that God had put him in our path! He dropped us at the train station, and I couldn’t resist giving this huge teddy bear of a man a hug when we said goodbye.

The train station was a little concrete area on the side of the tracks. No ticket booth, just a couple benches, and a shelter. 

We waited for the train and about 30 minutes later it arrived. 

Courage Covering His Nose to Avoid Germs From the Coughing Man Beside Him

The trip was pleasant, but full. Arriving in Union Station was interesting. The kids were all attached to each other, because there was no way I was losing one of them! I had Israel by one hand, Courage would not let go of my camera bag, so I had no worry about losing him, Isaiah had Song by the hand, and Ayana had Israel’s hand. At times it was awkward and there were a few words from the kids as one got pulled too hard, or another didn’t move quickly enough, but all in all they survived and I did not lose any. 

I had an hour or so until the event, and hearing that Navy Pier was a 45 minute walk, I decided to hail a cab. There was a method to it, and I got in line with the millions who were also waiting to travel. The cabs were very orderly with a main man putting people into appropriate sized cabs. 

When he saw how big our crowd was he pulled over a specific cab and asked if he could fit us in. Not really, but we did. Five kids in the back, and me in the front. Now, I am not one to sit and treat a cabbie like a servant, so I began a conversation. He was a friendly Black man who was born in Mississippi and moved to Chicago. He was just driving a cab to make a living, but it wasn’t what he really wanted to do. You do what you have to do. 

We talked about our trip and what we were doing, and I told him about the transmission problem. He listened intently, and then made some suggestions. One of them was about the fact that I had a complete overhaul of man before I left. He mentioned that if my transmission fluid was completely changed, rather than adding a bit of the old to the new, it could possibly shock things. I don’t know if he is right or not, but it’s an interesting thought, as I know you need to do that with fish tanks. 

As I was sitting there, my gazed dropped down to some papers in a plastic sleeve in front of me, and it was there that I saw it - Faith Transportation Inc. 

I asked him if that was the company he worked for, and he said it was his own company. Intrigued, I asked him if he was a Christian, and he said, “I’m a believer.” Right there, I knew he knew Jesus. In my experience, it is mostly people who know the Lord who will call themselves ‘believers’. We began chatting about faith and yes, he knew the same God I know. 

I couldn’t believe my eyes. Here I was having been dropped off by a man who trusted the Lord, and then the first cab I get into is a man who believes in my God. I felt God was simply saying, “I am here. You may have transmission issues, but I am with you. Continue and trust me.”

We finally made it to our destination of the day: Cirque Shanghai