Jan. 15/2008 I took this picture from the airplane on our flight from London to Minneapolis. Under this weather system was all the rain, winds and overall nastiness we encountered upon landing from Sofia. At 30,000 feet of course, things look very captivating and surreal. If you've followed my blog, you know I traveled on a ministry trip to Bulgaria with Jennifer and Emilie. We left on December 19th and came back January 15th.
What a trip this was!
It's hard to believe 18 days went by so fast. May be I should have been doing what Chris did on his last trip to the Philippines and send updates every day or every other day so I don't have so much to write about at the end of a trip. But again, I don't get to go to such exotic places and do such exotic things so I don't think daily updates on a trip like mine would be that intriguing for anyone.
In fact, I won't get into an actual update even now. Instead, I'll share with you the most "exciting" part of our trip, which has already made it an unforgettable kind of a trip.
First of all, Jennifer, Emilie and I were praying hard to be able to leave Sofia on time so we can make our connecting in London. The problem was that every day since Friday last week Sofia airport was being shut down almost every day due to heavy fog and apparently the lack of equipment land control needs to guide the aircrafts at landing.
On Tuesday, all was well and we were able to leave Sofia without any problem with only 30 minute delay. We had to fly to London Gatwick and there transfer to our flight to Minneapolis.
Some 20-30 minutes before the expected landing, while approaching London, we noticed the weather was really bad. Heavy rain and very strong winds caused the airplane to go through some turbulence. The closer we were getting to Gatwick Airport, the worst the winds were getting.
We started dropping sharply. At one point I calculated 3 drops in a matter of one minute. It felt like the lower we were going in descent, the stronger the winds were getting. I began to pray quietly.
For 17 years of active air travel I have covered close to 2 million miles among the different airlines. My wife and I have flown through many bad weather conditions and have always prayed for safety.
But on Tuesday this was the worst experience and by far the most dangerous one. I have never been in an airplane which felt so much out of control. Another reason we could feel everything really well was that the girls and I were seated on the last row in the back. You can feel everything back there.
The plane was jerking to the left and to the right, dropping and then going up again. We could feel the power of the winds, which made the airplane feel so light and vulnerable.
Still, the captain was bent on landing.
By that time, with only minutes left before our planned landing, other passengers around us were throwing up and were getting really nervous. The pilot had turned off the air conditioning since he needed all the power to navigate the aircraft through the winds. It was very hot and unpleasant.
He kept descending.
By this time we were praying louder and louder. The three men in front of us, all at different times, turned their heads back to look at us but we could care less. We were praying in English and in tongues and it didn't matter to us who was looking at us.
The girls and I were holding hands. I started commanding Satan to back off this aircraft. I could believe the pilot was trying to land in such conditions and kept saying out loud: "What is he doing? He can't land this airplane. He shouldn't even try to land in this condition!" Then I started to simply command in the spirit: "Do not land! You can't land this airplane. Get away from here. Go up! In Jesus' Name!"
Wе were coming really close to the runway. I had a terrible feeling in my stomach. It felt just like the other two times when I was in a major car accident. I was totally aware of what was going on, and not in fear, but just this awful awareness we were heading toward something terrible. I told the girls to bend forward, out their heads down and wrap their hands around their legs. The pilot never said anything through the speaker system but I was ready for an emergency landing. The airplane was still jerking to the left and the right.
I knew if he tried to land, it will start spinning out of control.
And then, all of a sudden, at a distance of some 30 feet in the air above the runway, he changed his mind and with full speed started taking the airplane to a higher altitude.
I was relieved. I knew that either the pilot himself or someone at the tower on the ground had made a last minute decision which was also the proof that it was too dangerous to land.
The airplane circled around for another 20 minutes and finally lined up for landing again at the same runway. The weather was only may be 10% better than before. The aircraft was still unstable. Everything felt like a surreal repeat of what had just happened 10 minutes ago. We kept praying. The wind was still beating hard against the airplane and the pilot was struggling to maintain the position he needed for landing.
We finally landed and relieved passengers began clapping, as if to salute the captain for his skill. I, on the other hand was thinking: "Never again with this airline!". I realize wether conditions were mostly to blame, but I also felt that what we had just gone through was not only the result of a bad weather, but also the way the captain was handling it. I knew he was really close to making a big mistake the first time he was about to land.
As we were walking out of the airplane, we could see quite a few people, most of them women, visibly shaken and disturbed, wiping tears from their faces and being comforted by their travel companions.
It was a weird feeling hearing of another airplane's emergency landing at Heathrow airport. We sometimes think: "Oh, it couldn't happen to me!" but unfortunately it could, especially given we live in this confused, dysfunctional world, where so much depends on machines and people. In Heaven it will all work God's way. But while still here on earth, we have a warfare to fight, we have a spiritual conflict to deal with.
Satan hates us but God is with us! Even though we were never really in fear, we went through this experience sensing real danger and calling on the Lord as if our life depended on it. I kept thinking of Jennifer and Emilie the whole time and was so blessed to see them being strong in prayer and calling on God in this tough situation. They are so special, such blessing!
And I want to thank all those of our friends who had prayed and are praying for our well being. Several friends shared they had been prompted to pray for our flight right around the same time all this was going on.
Thank you everyone, your prayers make a huge difference!
George Bakalov
OBSERVATION: The other day I took my daughter Jenny to physical therapy and had to wait for her at a nearby cafe. Someone had posted a missing cat report on the bulletin board of the cafe. The missing cat seems to be a Seal Point Siamese and has all her claws. Good for her. She'll need them out there. The owners obviously love this pet. I mean they had gone out, posted these sheets around the neighborhood and are even willing to pay $100 for GEORGIA (the name of the cat). I can imagine how much they are missing the cat. If they have kids, that's probably even harder. But suppose someone called them and said they found their cat and now they want $1,000 to bring it back to them. How about $10,000? If Sue and Tom had the money, will they pay that kind of cash to get Georgia back? No one knows. But what we know is this: When we miss something, we are willing to pay a price mostly determined by our internal value system.