You Never Know What to Expect on Airplanes...

The first leg of my travels home from my visit with JV in Virginia was on a jet carrying no more than 40 passengers. Steve, the lone flight attendant, attempted to crack jokes as the plane departed the gate 45 minutes behind the scheduled departure time. The jokes did not do it for me - the delay already got me irritated, and I feared missing my connecting flight in Minneapolis. To make matters worse, a young and seemingly untrained mother with long stringy brown hair pulled back in a plain ponytail emotionlessly caressed a crying two (maybe three) year old in her arms. The child screamed unceasingly throughout the first hour of the flight. The entire time I thought to myself: "What is wrong with that child? That baby has a problem, a really big problem. Maybe she is just a bad parent. There is something seriously wrong with that baby." The constant screaming of the child kept me from falling asleep, even though I had a window seat this time. I decided to finish the last chapters of Four Souls , and even as I flipped the pages, I could not push the sounds of the child out of my thoughts. When I came to a chapters set in Vietnam, I read about the lack of freedom the believers had under the government and yet the authors witnessed an unmatched joy in the community of believers. In those pages, sitting in seat 4-D, I came to see my own sin. I knew I had to ask for forgiveness, forgiveness from judging the woman and her ability and love as a mother, forgiveness from hating them with my unkind thoughts and stare, forgiveness from selfishly thinking about my own discomforts, and forgiveness from my impatience. I asked the Lord to give the child rest, a few moments of peace to calm his lungs, and to allow the mother a break. My heart yearned for forgiveness and the love to love the unlovable. I almost shed a tear when the Lord immediately silenced the child, answering my short prayer and bringing a calmness over the plane. Wow! That was cool.

Now, on my connecting flight out of Minneapolis, another baby decided to show off his (her?) mighty lungs even before the take-off. Here we go again... I sort of chuckled to myself as I said to the Lord: "are you for real? what is this?" And then I continued: "Are you testing me or something? Alright, please give this child as well." I waited, no change. "Lord?" Still hearing those lungs... "Lord?" And then, silence. Wow! That was cool too.

I guess since the beginning of the year, I have asked the Lord to show me more of my sin. You see, I have always thought of myself as a pretty good person - I never really considered myself as sinful. Why should have I? I never did steal, lie, murder... I did not even cut in line. Well, beware of what you ask because the Lord just may answer your prayer. I am both interested and a bit scared to see what more the Lord will show me...