Today was iTour-Detour Day which means we had a change in plans. (As Bro. James always says, “We maintain a rigid state of flexibility at all times.”) Rather than the planned agenda for the day, we headed off to Grand Central Station in our “GO OU” shirts to catch a commuter train up the Hudson River to West Point where cadet Katie Fitchner (the niece of one of our sponsors, Mark Gandy) was waiting to serve us sandwiches and to escort us from one end of the campus to the other. You’ve heard of The Long Gray Line? Well, ours was The Long Red Line.
After 19 billion steps, we finally made our way up to the chapel. But…it was well worth the effort.
Even though the pipe organ was being tuned, the tuner stopped long enough for us to sing “America, the Beautiful.” Then, as you can see, what they say is true. What goes up really must come down.
With an invitation from the clerks in the bookstore, we were compelled to sing “America” once again.
By the way, have I mentioned the sponsors lately? Their love for the kids and their team spirit can’t be topped anywhere. Take Shaun Boyd, for example. How else do you explain a Navy officer and an avid A&M fan wearing an Army hat with a GO OU t-shirt?…and at the same time!
And while we were waiting…and waiting…and waiting for our transportation across the river to arrive so we could catch the train back to Grand Central Station, the boys played a little football. I guess they can now say they played football at West Point.
When our transportation did show up we hurried across the river, but alas, it was to no avail. The train left without us! So, we had to just hang around the train station until the next train came an hour later.
All was not lost, though, because in that extra hour a man walked up and started talking to Bro. James and some of the sponsors. Before it was over, James had the opportunity to privately share the gospel with Michael, and Michael prayed to receive Christ. As they said “Amen” and shook hands, the train whistle blew from just around the bend. Now we were ready to leave.
When we returned to the city one group made a detour through Central Park and others went straight to Juilliard to take a rest before seeing “The Phantom of the Opera.”
With mostly second and third row seats, the kids were pretty much overwhelmed by the show…especially when that chandelier started coming towards them.
Any time we wound up with extra tickets to an event, James was constantly on the lookout for people to give the tickets to. He met a couple from Spain on top of the Empire State Building and they came as our guests, as well as Paulette (a subway attendant) and her husband (also named James).
After the theatre we went to Uno’s Pizza for Chicago style pizza. (Go figure!) Then we made one last ride on the subway back to Juilliard to pack and sleep, and to get ready to load the bus at 5:45 am in the morning.
