All of last week I couldn't wait to fly home for my best friends wedding!! I have been waiting for this day for forever! So at 6:05 Wednesday September 21 I took off from the airport right down the road from our house, and started my journey to good ole' Minnesoda ya.
As I was boarding the plane all that was going through my head was, "I wondering who I am going to be sitting with?" For all of you out there who have flown by yourself, you probably know what I'm talking about. You hope you get lucky enough to sit by someone just as interesting and cool as you are. Who can hold an interesting conversation, keeps in their own space and smells good. In the back of your mind your thinking please don't be that really smelly guy, the person who can't stop talking about their whole life story, the complainer, snorer, or the one who doesn't seem to have a sense of personal space.
Well I was walking along looking for my seat 9A. As I'm walking I spot this large man who is sweating profusely up ahead. "Please don't be my seat, please don't be my seat, please don't be my seat!" Fingers crossed. Yup I picked lucky seat number 9A right next to the big sweaty man. Awesome, I love sitting in half of a seat while the other takes up 1 1/2 seats.
And I don't know about you but when I am on a plane and we go through some turbulence my first instinct is to grab whatever is next to me. So, since their was a big sweaty man taking up half of my seat I had to be extra careful not to let this instinct take control of me. So here I am sitting in half of my seat with my arm between my legs to keep me from accidentally grabbing the big sweaty man carrying over into my seat. This was a challenge I will tell you that.
Well while I was sitting there on the plane ride I heard some of the conversation of a girl and boy, that looked about my age, sitting behind me. They were talking about life and about God. This caught my interest. Well, when the plane landed and we were sitting there waiting I decided to turn around and ask, "Can I ask you two a question?"
"Ya."
"Do you go to church in Houston?"
"Yes we do."
And so it began... They asked me were I was from, what I was doing as I did of them. They were both on their way to Minneapolis for the first time to go to a conference on missions. They attend a church in the Houston area called Grace Church in which they said a lot of younger people our age attend. Exactly what I was looking for : ). So, they grabbed my number so that I can go to church with them sometime. I exited the plane with them and chatted with them till it was time to part. I have to say they were a few of the most nicest people I have met on a plane lol.
Well my encounters didn't stop there...
Sunday morning after going to the church I grew up in for a little bit, it was time for me to head back home to Houston. After going through security I checked what gate I needed to get to. The board said GATE CHANGE GATE 19C. So I made my way to Gate 19C, which I might add is the longest I have had to walk to get to a gate before even with those moving sidewalk things. Well around 12:40 we started to board. Awesome 8 minutes earlier than it said on my ticket. As I am standing in line I realize that on the screen it says Philadelphia. Ummm what ? I know their was a gate change but it did say 19C. Confused as ever I went over to the lady at the desk and she informed me that the flight was for Philly and Houston would be next. OK good. So I sat down in a different seat and waited patiently. Then we were informed that the plane wouldn't be in until 1:15, so we would be boarding even later.
As I was sitting there waiting two guys come up and sat down next to me. Well I noticed that the one next to me had pulled out a bible and the other one had some other book and they were talking about verses or something. Well you know me, I couldn't help but ask another question to a stranger. Curiosity has not killed me yet, and until it does I will continue to ask questions.
"Did you guys perhaps go to a conference this weekend?"
"Yes we did."
"I was just wondering, because I met a few people on the flight in and they were going to a conference too."
And it began again...
They were brothers from around the Houston area, who were called to do missions and that's why they were attending this conference. I asked them what kind of missions they wanted to do and they were exactly sure, but knew it would be in the area of the middle east. So, we chatted for a while and a third gentleman walks up.
"I just overheard your conversation and it was really interesting. Are you all Christians?"
"Yes."
This man was from Nina, Wisconsin which I actually knew where that was, because of my Dads old job. This man was going to Houston for some business. We all chatted to pass the time till boarding which ended up not being until 1:45, when we were supposed to leave at 1:28.
This time I did not get stuck sitting with a big sweaty man, thank God!! We did have another delay though... the maintenance people forgot to shut a door so we waited about 15 more minutes for that. Then we were off!!
Towards the end of the flight a flight attendant came up to my seat and handed me a book.
"This is from the two gentlemen in back."
The two guys I met gave me a book from the conference they went to. How thoughtful : )
The book: God Is the Gospel by John Piper
Inside I found this:
All I could think about after these unexpected encounters this weekend was that God works in amazing ways, and he has a great way of telling me that even though I'm over a thousand miles away from my family and friends and everything I have ever known, he is still here right along side of me. What a great feeling and encouraging thought.
As I was boarding the plane all that was going through my head was, "I wondering who I am going to be sitting with?" For all of you out there who have flown by yourself, you probably know what I'm talking about. You hope you get lucky enough to sit by someone just as interesting and cool as you are. Who can hold an interesting conversation, keeps in their own space and smells good. In the back of your mind your thinking please don't be that really smelly guy, the person who can't stop talking about their whole life story, the complainer, snorer, or the one who doesn't seem to have a sense of personal space.
Well I was walking along looking for my seat 9A. As I'm walking I spot this large man who is sweating profusely up ahead. "Please don't be my seat, please don't be my seat, please don't be my seat!" Fingers crossed. Yup I picked lucky seat number 9A right next to the big sweaty man. Awesome, I love sitting in half of a seat while the other takes up 1 1/2 seats.
And I don't know about you but when I am on a plane and we go through some turbulence my first instinct is to grab whatever is next to me. So, since their was a big sweaty man taking up half of my seat I had to be extra careful not to let this instinct take control of me. So here I am sitting in half of my seat with my arm between my legs to keep me from accidentally grabbing the big sweaty man carrying over into my seat. This was a challenge I will tell you that.
Well while I was sitting there on the plane ride I heard some of the conversation of a girl and boy, that looked about my age, sitting behind me. They were talking about life and about God. This caught my interest. Well, when the plane landed and we were sitting there waiting I decided to turn around and ask, "Can I ask you two a question?"
"Ya."
"Do you go to church in Houston?"
"Yes we do."
And so it began... They asked me were I was from, what I was doing as I did of them. They were both on their way to Minneapolis for the first time to go to a conference on missions. They attend a church in the Houston area called Grace Church in which they said a lot of younger people our age attend. Exactly what I was looking for : ). So, they grabbed my number so that I can go to church with them sometime. I exited the plane with them and chatted with them till it was time to part. I have to say they were a few of the most nicest people I have met on a plane lol.
Well my encounters didn't stop there...
Sunday morning after going to the church I grew up in for a little bit, it was time for me to head back home to Houston. After going through security I checked what gate I needed to get to. The board said GATE CHANGE GATE 19C. So I made my way to Gate 19C, which I might add is the longest I have had to walk to get to a gate before even with those moving sidewalk things. Well around 12:40 we started to board. Awesome 8 minutes earlier than it said on my ticket. As I am standing in line I realize that on the screen it says Philadelphia. Ummm what ? I know their was a gate change but it did say 19C. Confused as ever I went over to the lady at the desk and she informed me that the flight was for Philly and Houston would be next. OK good. So I sat down in a different seat and waited patiently. Then we were informed that the plane wouldn't be in until 1:15, so we would be boarding even later.
As I was sitting there waiting two guys come up and sat down next to me. Well I noticed that the one next to me had pulled out a bible and the other one had some other book and they were talking about verses or something. Well you know me, I couldn't help but ask another question to a stranger. Curiosity has not killed me yet, and until it does I will continue to ask questions.
"Did you guys perhaps go to a conference this weekend?"
"Yes we did."
"I was just wondering, because I met a few people on the flight in and they were going to a conference too."
And it began again...
They were brothers from around the Houston area, who were called to do missions and that's why they were attending this conference. I asked them what kind of missions they wanted to do and they were exactly sure, but knew it would be in the area of the middle east. So, we chatted for a while and a third gentleman walks up.
"I just overheard your conversation and it was really interesting. Are you all Christians?"
"Yes."
This man was from Nina, Wisconsin which I actually knew where that was, because of my Dads old job. This man was going to Houston for some business. We all chatted to pass the time till boarding which ended up not being until 1:45, when we were supposed to leave at 1:28.
This time I did not get stuck sitting with a big sweaty man, thank God!! We did have another delay though... the maintenance people forgot to shut a door so we waited about 15 more minutes for that. Then we were off!!
Towards the end of the flight a flight attendant came up to my seat and handed me a book.
"This is from the two gentlemen in back."
The two guys I met gave me a book from the conference they went to. How thoughtful : )
The book: God Is the Gospel by John Piper
Inside I found this:
All I could think about after these unexpected encounters this weekend was that God works in amazing ways, and he has a great way of telling me that even though I'm over a thousand miles away from my family and friends and everything I have ever known, he is still here right along side of me. What a great feeling and encouraging thought.
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