Our flight from Miami to Santiago, Chile was made less routine when I woke up feeling weird, went back to get some water from the stewardess and summarily passed out. Dr. Himmelstein, who responded to the call for medical help, was calm and told me it appeared to be a classic vagal fainting spell. The oxygen mask and canister made for a convenient conversation starter but I'm hoping it won't become a common subject.

Besides our youth ministry seminars, we'll also be visiting the hospital just to make sure these fainting spells are not a sign that I'm becoming a female character from a 19th century British novel.

All joking aside, I would appreciate your prayers for this weird health issue - which also happened to me once in '88 but was never diagnosed - as well as for the training seminars Annette and I are leading over the next 20 days.