A First Class Seat to Witnessing 

I asked the Lord to give me the courage to talk to someone about Him on my trip home. On the flight from Dallas to St. Louis, I sat by an older woman who talked constantly through the entire flight. She was incredibly sweet. I was so happy that the Lord had her sit by me. I chided myself over the feeling of relief I felt when I found out that she was a Christian. I was terrified at the thought of witnessing to someone.  It was so much easier to talk to someone about the Lord, if they already knew Him. 

So there I sat, in the middle of a busy airport, with hundreds of people rushing by me. I wondered how many of these people were living their lives without knowing the love of the Savior. I knew that there was going to be someone on the plane that the Lord wanted me to talk to about Him. I was petrified. I had never witnessed to anyone, other than handing out tracts with our church, and the thought of actually initiating a conversation terrified me. What if they laughed at me? What if they asked a whole bunch of questions that I didn't know how to answer? I told the Lord that I was scared, but willing. I knew that I did not have enough strength, but if I relied on the Lord, He would give me the strength. 

About a half an hour before my plane was supposed to leave, the destination was still not posted on the schedule board. A little anxious as to whether or not I was at the right gate, I got up to ask the flight attendant why my flight wasn't on the board. As I approached her I noticed that she seemed really upset. Obviously she wasn't having a very good day. I wasn't sure if should say anything, I didn't want to make her day worse by bothering her, but I really needed to know if I was at the right gate. I approached her cautiously, with a smile on my face. "Hi" I said. "How are you doing?" She gave a little annoyed grunt, and looked up at me. "Do you know if this is the gate that is going to Louisville?" I asked. 

"They haven't put the signs up yet," she said, "but this is the gate." 

"Great!" I said, noticing that she still wasn't smiling, I tried to make a cheerful note of the weather, but she looked at me kind of strange, and went back to her work. As I went back to my seat, I felt sincerely sorry for the woman. She seemed so sad. 

Finally, it was time for me to board the plane. I looked at my ticket and found out that I was on the very last seat on the plane. A little disappointed with my seat, I boarded the plane. I smiled at the attendant as I went by. She looked up, and gave me sort of a half smile. When I got to my seat I found that I was the only young woman amongst a whole group of businessmen. "Oh, great." I thought to myself, "This is going to be on interesting trip."  I wasn't sure why the Lord would have put me there. I sat with my hands on my lap, trying not to be nervous. It had seemed like the Lord had told me that I was going to share with someone about Him on this trip. Was I supposed to start up a conversation with one of these businessmen? Would that be appropriate? Feeling more and more uneasy, I tried to look out the window. But I was on an aisle seat, so I really couldn't see anything. 

Right before the plane was supposed to leave for the runway, the same stewardess that I had tried to talk to earlier walked up the aisle. She walked all the way towards the back. I wasn't sure what she was doing. She didn't seem to be checking seat belts or anything. She walked right up to where I was sitting, and leaned against one of the chairs. 

"Are you traveling alone?" she asked me. 

"Yes" I answered, puzzled by the question. 

"How would you like to sit in first class?" she asked. 

I am sure that my face showed my surprise. This was a strange turn of events.  "Sure," I said with a grin, as I went to follow her, almost forgetting my carry on bag in the process. 

"I am doing this because you are nice," she said, as we walked down the long aisle towards the front of the plane. 

I was really confused. She was doing this because I was nice? All I did was say "Hi," and smile. 
I had never sat in first class before, but I had always wondered what it was like.  When we got there, one of the stewards offered to take my sweater and hang it up for me.  "That's OK," I replied, I'll just hold it. I am a little chilly." 

"OK," he answered with a smile. Then he went to a closet and pulled out a pile of magazine binders. "Would you like something to read, while the plane is taking off?" he asked. I assured him that I was fine, and grinned. 

"I think I could get used to this," I thought to myself, as the steward brought me a glass of water with a lemon on the side. 

The stewardess that had been so kind had already gone off the plane.  All I really had had the chance to say was "Thank you." I felt like I should have talked to her more, but I really didn't know what to say. At least she seemed to be smiling when she left. 

I sat there in my big plush seat, drinking my lemon water, and feeling a little bit like a pauper given the opportunity to visit the king's palace. I looked around me. There were only about three other people in first class, and the plane door had already been closed. I was pretty sure that I was going to be by myself for the remainder of the journey. I was definitely content with that, but I wondered why I had such an intense feeling, like I was going to witness to somebody on this trip. Maybe the Lord just had in mind the lady I had talked to on the other plane. She was already a Christian, but we did talk of the Lord. Maybe it was the stewardess that I was supposed to talk to. I grimaced. I had had the opportunity, and I didn't take it. I asked the Lord for forgiveness, and then opened my Bible. I had decided before hand that I was going to read my Bible on the trip. If I did not witness verbally, maybe I could be a silent witness. 

I heard the plane engines start up, and felt the plane moving away from the gate, then all of a sudden it stopped. The door opened and a man in his early 50's rushed in with his carry on bag.  I looked up from my seat, the man looked at me and walked straight toward my seat. I sent up a flare prayer to the Lord for wisdom as the man sat down in the seat beside me. He distinctively smelled like liquor. I didn't want to be rude, so I looked over at him and cautiously said hi, and then turned back to my reading, I could feel his eyes boring into the side of my head. One of the stewardesess approached him. 

"Sir" she said, "Your seat is over here," pointing to the seat in the next aisle. 

"That's OK, I'm just fine" he said looking at me. 

"I am sure you are just fine, mister," I thought to myself, feeling sick to my stomach. What was I going to do? Surely this wasn't in the Lord's plan. I prayed for His protection and wisdom. 
A man on the other side also told the man next me that his seat was cross the aisle, but he again said "No, that's OK, I'm fine." 

I was very embarrassed. I tried to focus on my reading. A piece of my hair had fallen down on my Bible cover, the man next to me picked it up, and swore as he commented how long it was.  (My hair was down to my waist at the time.) Feeling quite offended that he would take My Lord's name in vain while commenting on my hair I turned and looked at him, not knowing what to say.  Then I turned back to my reading. I was in the middle of Psalm 106 "And He saved them from the hand of him that hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy." The Psalm was speaking about God delivering the Israelites from the Egyptians.  I didn't realize how parallel this verse was to witnessing.  Unsaved people are in the hand of the enemy, God is able to deliver them from the power of darkness, into His eternal light. 

I was having a hard time concentrating on my reading, I asked the Lord for wisdom. 

"How many times have you read that?" 

"The whole thing? Or This Psalm?" I asked. I was having a very hard time concentrating, so I had read the same psalm about five times. 

"No! The whole thing." He said with a grin. 

"Actually, this is my first time." I said somewhat sheepishly. "I have read many parts of it before, but this is my first time reading it through altogether." 

"Oh. What is the difference between the first and second one?" 

"You mean, the Old and New Testament?" I asked. 

"Yeah, I guess." He answered. 

I tried to explain to him how the New Testament was the fulfillment of the Prophecies in the Old Testament, and how Jesus was the complete fulfillment. 

"What about Jews?" He asked. 

"Jews don't believe that Jesus is the Messaiah. Thus they don't believe what God says in the New Testament." 

"Well I guess I am sort of a Jew then." he said, "I only believe in the Old Testament." 

"Why?" I asked. 

He didn't really know.  "How do you know that the Bible wasn't just written by men, how do you know that is really true?" 

At this point I started to get really scared, I wasn't prepared for these questions. How could I explain to someone that I knew without a shadow of a doubt that it is true. I felt that I had no way to prove to him that it was true. I sent up another flare prayer, I knew that I could not answer this question on my own power. 

I really feel that the Lord gave me the words to say, because I couldn't think of the words.  Another reason is that I don't remember what I said, I just know that I felt confident that it was what God wanted me to say. The Lord was giving me utterance! 

He asked many other questions about what I thought about confessionals, Unitarians, and Mormons. The Lord was amazing!  He brought to my memory things that I had studied just a few weeks prior on these subjects, especially on Mormanism. 

"You are supposed to know all that." He said after I had finished talking. 

I remember asking him the question, "If this plane were to crash, and you died, are you sure that you would go to Heaven." 

"Right now," he said, "I am not sure that there really is a..." and he pointed up, then down. 

"Well," I said not knowing really what to say, "I guess you will find out." To that he laughed. I wasn't sure why the Lord had me here, I felt like I was casting pearls before swine, so to speak. 

Then he started throwing questions at me left and right, most of which I would have normally not been able to answer, but God gave me recollection. I asked him what he thought about Evolution and Creation. He said that he believed in both. I asked him if he could believe that the plane that we were sitting on suddenly appeared because of an explosion in a metal factory.  He of course laughed, and said that was ridiculous.  I said that our bodies were more complex than this plane, and how could he believe that we just happened from nothing? 

We started talking about the problems in our society, especially with the young people.  He said that if only parents and teachers would teach their kids to be like him, he was a good person, he said, he wouldn't go out and murder or rape someone. 

I tried to explain to him that, that is what they have been trying to teach them, in school, they teach them to be good and kind to others, but it doesn't work! Why, because they have no reason to.  Why do good when it feels so much better to do evil? It is a matter of the heart, if they don't know Jesus Christ, they have no motivation to want to please Him by doing good. And just doing good isn't going to change things for them eternally, they can do good all their lives, and still go to Hell if they don't know the Lord. 

We talked for about 45 minutes until the plane landed, there were about 4 other people in the cabin, and when I looked around I noticed that they had been listening to our conversation. 

Right before we landed he said to me, "You could change you know." 

"No, I couldn't" I replied. 

"Yes you could, you could change." 

"Even if I did change, that would not change anything, I would still be Jesus', because He said that no one could ever take me out of His hand." 

 As I left the plane, I said to him, "I hope that you find what you are looking for." 

"Yeah, you too," He said. 

"I already have." I said. 

As I left the plane, I was humbled at all that I still did not know. I was also in complete awe of my God, Who through His grace, gave me the words to glorify Him, and how He had arranged all the details of the trip. Had He not prompted me to smile at the stewardess, she would not have offered me a seat in first class, he gave me the courage to talk to someone whom I would have normally been afraid of. I left with both a new joy, and a determination to study so that I would always be ready to give an answer for the hope that is inside me. 

May His Mighty Name be praised! He is ever Faithful! 

"WHEREVER YOU ARE, BE ALL THERE. LIVE TO THE HILT OF EVERY SITUATION YOU BELIEVE TO BE THE WILL OF GOD." JIM ELLIOT

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