The Presence of Destiny

I went to Senci, a mall in the South Jakarta last Sunday and my friend told me that next week is a long weekend (there is a national holiday in Monday), several of my friends is planning to buy a ticket to come back to Surabaya, our hometown and asking what am I planning to do.. Suddenly I felt of going home.. I can’t think of a more perfect moment to surprise my parents than that.. Another reason why I want to go home is my grandma is sick and in Saturday one of my best friend in university is getting married, so I can come to her wedding too and it’s a long weekend so I can stay at home even longer..
The next day, I contacted my friend in Surabaya who worked in a travel agent and asking him whether he can get me a ticket to Surabaya.. After a few minutes or hours, he manage to get me a ticket to Surabaya at Thursday and back to Jakarta at Tuesday.. It’s the cheapest he can get me.. I didn’t even hesitate for a moment and say ok, even though I have to skip 8 hours class for that.. All I can think is a longer time in Surabaya, what else can I asked..
To speed up the story, its Thursday and I’m so thrill to go home.. I’m impatiently counting down how many hours its going to take before I finally reached home.. After my class is finish, I stayed in CCF, like I usually do, to read the newspaper and online for 30 minutes, just to kill time, and than having lunch.. During my lunch, its start raining hard.. Usually when its raining hard like that, it won’t last to long, but that day the rain took all day.. On my count, usually it takes an hours from CCF to my boarding house, and then I need at least 2 hours from my boarding house to the airport and I should be in the airport an hour before the plane took off.. My plane is scheduled to take off at 18.50.. So imagine how terrified I am, knowing that at 15.30 I’m still at CCF, the raining didn’t even get any slower and the fact that I haven’t pack at all and only have like 100.000 in my pocket!! Which mean I still need to go to the ATM machine before I go to the airport.. I already asked the security to get me a taxi since 14.00, but he couldn’t get any, he said with rain like this I usually have to wait a long times before I found one.. At 15.00 I asked the secretary in CCF to call the taxi company, to get a cab for me.. I’m getting even worried when it is so difficult to contact any taxi company and when we’re able to reach one, the taxi is available in one hour.. Yup you heard me right, the taxi is available at 16.00! I’m become even more frighten because according to my calculation, if I’ll get to that cab I’ll reach my boarding house at 17.00 (if somehow in that office hour and rain, there is no traffic jam), which mean I’m only have 1 hour or 1 and a half hour to reach airport, it just impossible to do, specially in that office hour and rain like that.. In that confusing condition, it turns out that the security was able to find a cab for me, it was already 15.30.. So I jumped right away to that taxi and keep worrying whether I’m going to make it or not..
When I’m in taxi, I remembered I haven’t cancel my order and I know neither the telephone number of CCF nor that secretary cell phone.. I text my friend and luckily she knew it and reply soon.. When I’m back at Jakarta and told her my story, she told me that at that moment she was going to sleep (she was already in bed) and she already silence her cell phone so she actually didn’t hear my sms but somehow she felt someone is text her, so she checked her cell phone and found my sms and reply it quickly.. After got the number I call CCF and asked the secretary to cancel my order..
After may be 15 minutes in the taxi, I can already see the effect of the raining, the traffic jam is so crowded that for the next 15 minutes the taxi didn’t even move.. From the beginning, I found the taxi driver is very thoughtful, I already spoke to him about my condition and he try his best to find a short cut to my boarding house, but the traffic jam is really serious.. So he gave me an idea to take an ojek (motor taxi), at first I’m hesitated because its still raining outside, but after a few minutes it became very clear to me that I won’t be able to reach my boarding house on time unless I take an ojek.. What happened next is shocking, the taxi driver go out from the taxi and search for an ojek for me, not only once or twice but four times until he finally found an ojek for me and don’t forget its still raining outside.. What even more stunning every time he left his taxi, he stop the rate from going up, so I didn’t have to pay him more.. After the first three times and didn’t found any ojek, he try to get my a bajaj but none would go that far to my boarding house specially in the rain and the traffic jam like that.. When he go out the fourth times, he finally found an ojek to me.. I checked the rate, and its written that I have to pay 24000 but I felt so grateful in him so I gave him 30000.. When I go out from his taxi, he even warn me to ask for the price first before take the ojek.. I rarely see a person like him who didn’t know me but gave such sacrifice.. Right now I’m thinking if he’s looking for a profit in me, he wouldn’t offer me to take an ojek, he will drive me to my boarding house himself, its going to take a long time, and at the end I’m going to have pay him a lot of money, at least much bigger then what I gave him that day.. Even if he wants to help me, he can just offer me to take the ojek and just leave me and then let me do the search alone, instead he’s the one that go out in the rain to search for an ojek for me, accompany me until he found an ojek, stop his rate every time he go out from his taxi and even warn me to ask for the price for the ojek in the beginning so I didn’t get cheated..
The ojek ask 20000 to take me to my boarding house, I agreed immediately.. I’m very lucky to find an ojek driver that know well the route to my boarding house.. He didn’t take the normal route instead he took the small route, the route is so small that if it isn’t an ojek, the other vehicle won’t be able to pass by.. When a bus normally took an hour to go to my boarding house, he only took 15 minutes.. I felt truly fortunate because if the bajaj agree to take me to my boarding house, it probably going to take longer time to reach my boarding house.. There is a lot of bajaj at that moment but all of them refuse the offer of the taxi driver.. While in the taxi I already ask my sister to pack for me and give a precise instruction on what I want to carry to Surabaya.. I reach my boarding house at 16.30, I took a quick shower and then run to the nearest ATM machine and look for the taxi.. Normally it takes nearly an hour to get a taxi near my boarding house.. The last time I went home to Surabaya, it took 45 minutes just to get a taxi, the same things happens for my sister.. But somehow I can get the taxi so quickly even my sister surprise on how fast I can get the taxi.. From the very beginning I already told the taxi driver that I’m in hurry and asking him to drive faster which he did.. Another lucky thing is somehow that day the traffic jam didn’t as severe as it used to be.. It took only one and a half hour to get to the airport (which normally going to take 2 hours) and I reach airport at 18.10, just in time for check in..
While in CCF in prayed to God so there will be a delay on my flight.. People say be careful on what you’re hoping for, it might come true.. And it did, the flight delayed for like 30 minutes but I’m too relieved, I can get to the airport in time, I didn’t complain at all.. I can finally going home..
There is so many lesson I can learn that day.. The first is the kindness of many people showed me that day, the security and secretary in CCF, my friend who reply my sms, the taxi drivers, the ojek driver and my sister.. Each of them played their own role and without them, it just seems impossible to get to the airport in time.. I didn’t surprised if people that we knew well show us their compassion but in that day, many people that I didn’t know before, like the security in CCF, the taxi drivers, and the ojek driver give their best to help me and I’m truly indebted to them.. The second is never quit trying and believing.. Although I’m really panic that day, I didn’t give hope or quit trying to go home.. I’ll try my best to find a way to took me to the airport, even when it means running looking for a cab or take an ojek, both in the middle of raining.. Lastly, I can’t help notice how many ‘coincidence’ happened that day.. I’m one of the people who didn’t believe in coincidence, what I believe is God’s will.. I always try to be independent and doing things on my own with my own way but that that day I learned to lean more in God because I won’t be able to go to the airport in time if He didn’t send the right person to help me that day.. I realized how weak and useless I am if I count on myself that day and didn’t get any help from anybody.. I can truly felt the presence of destiny somehow guiding me to get to next right step so I can get to the airport in time and safely.. As the plane start to took off and heading to Surabaya, I was thinking maybe God used the rain to teach me to lean more to Him, that no matter what happened I can count on Him, and I realize what no matter what plan I had for the future can fall that easily if God turning his back on me..