By Pastor Mark Hopper

Recently we traveled across the ocean to spend Christmas with all of our family. Since some of our adult kids live in foreign countries, we flew from Los Angeles to Europe so we could celebrate Christmas with them.

We don’t travel often, but when we take those long ten to 12-hour flights, we are reminded of just how far it is. We typically leave L.A. in the evening and fly through the night to arrive in Europe the next day. And then, there is usually a layover in a foreign airport before we get our connecting flight to our final destination. It often takes 18 to 20 hours.

It is hard for me to sleep sitting up in a narrow seat on a crowded airplane through the middle of the night. Thankfully, the movie selections were good this time, but the meals were some of the worst we have experienced on an international flight.

We arrived at our destination at about 10 p.m. European time and got to our destination an hour later. It was a long trip. The grandkids were already in bed so we tried to sleep and adjust to the eight hour time change. We quickly remembered that jet lag is real.

On most international airlines, you are allowed one check-in bag and one smaller carry-on per person. Since we were going for Christmas, our two large check-in bags were filled to capacity with Christmas presents, and we packed our limited amount of clothes in the two small carry-on bags. Clearly, the presents were the priority!

When we were greeted by our smiling grandkids the next day, we knew that all of the hours of travel and the expenses were worth it. They were thrilled with all of the gifts that we brought and we enjoyed all of the time we shared with them.
This was the first time in three years that we had all of our kids and grandkids together. And, we think it was the first time in a decade that we were all together on Christmas.

I hope you enjoyed a wonderful Christmas with your family and friends. This was a Christmas that we will remember for the rest of our lives.

Pastor Mark Hopper is from the Evangelical Free Church of Diamond Bar, 3255 South Diamond Bar Ave. Sunday services are 9 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. For more information, call (909) 594-7604 or visit http://www.efreedb.org.