Fiasco in Charleston

So here goes! It pays to obey God. Or maybe I should say there's payback for not obeying God. I let someone talk me into going to Charleston because I felt like I "needed" a mini vacation. Never mind that I didn't have the extra money, had tons of work to do, and I was already exhausted from a busier-than-usual week. I also pushed aside what I learned with the first bed & breakfast I called -- that there was a special event that weekend and all the hotels would be at their peak rates. So what happened? First we checked in at our hotel, which from the outside looked like a war zone because of a major renovation. Next we set out to find a place to eat because we were both starving. I had studied the AAA book up and down for this trip. So how come the restaurant that I had my heart set on was closed for a private party? Then ask me why it took us an hour to find parking before we spent two hours walking around looking for a place to eat in a city known for its restaurants. My companion and I took turns asking why it was so hard to find somewhere to eat that didn't have a dress code and didn't require reservations. I quit asking when the Holy Spirit reminded me that I wasn't supposed to be there. Then I started praying for mercy. When we finally couldn't walk anymore, we ended up at a popular seafood restaurant where the wait time was about 30 minutes. The temperature started dropping really fast while we were waiting outside in the line and we were icicles when they called us in. When we finally sat down I ordered shrimp and grits because I heard so many times how good it was. So ask me why I wanted to cry after my first bite of shrimp and grits because I was so grossed out. For the first time in my entire life I sent back food at a restaurant, even though my stomach was trying to digest itself. And while I waited the 25 minutes for my new order to come out, I filled up on hush puppies. By the time the food came, I wasn't hungry anymore and my slight sniffles had turned into an all out sinus infection. When we got back to the hotel I was burning up with fever. I tossed and turned all night and barely made it out of the bed the next morning. Our first tourist stop was at Eckerd's, where I stocked up on fever reducing medicine and cough drops. By this time I was just praying that God would help me make it through the day without passing out in a strange place. Things started looking up after breakfast. Walking did me some good and a Fort Sumter boat tour made me feel like our time wasn't totally wasted. But then we left Charleston late and somewhere during the drive home I started getting feverish again. In the end I paid for Charleston four times over. I ended up working seven hours on my day off to make up for work I didn't do over the weekend. I ended up on strong antibiotics as my sinuses were so infected that my face was beginning to swell. I missed the BPB outing to the basketball game because I felt like crap. And I missed two days of work to recuperate, marring my perfect attendance record and missing a meeting that I had called. So what did I learn? God may let me live after I've been disobedient, but He won't let me get away with it. And it's much easier to suffer for the sake of righteousness than it is to suffer the consequences for sin.