The Journey to Thailand

This has been amazing so far.  Absotely all the amazing stuff we did at training camp and with the team, and now here in Bangkok, too.  But God was moving in a ton of other ways, too.

I’ve been wanting to share my plane story like all week. Turns out now I have several of them. So here goes: The overall lesson:  Don’t hesitate. Follow God.

Plane 1: Troy, NY to Baltimore, MD

As I boarded the Southwest plane and tried to sit next to a college-aged kid. I hear from behind me, “hey that’s my seat.” No worries I thought, I’ll sit in the third seat. The two of them, however, had a different idea, they both turned around and said, “I think there are other seats back there.” I got the hint, and moved to an open window seat. As the plane filled, a woman walked by my row, and came back looking slightly disappointed, and sat in the isle seat. Another young lady boarded, and sat between us. We made casual small talk about a book one of them was carrying. The young lady in the middle pulled out from her purse a old, raggedy piece of paper, with Arabic writing on it. She asked, “do you mind if I pray before we leave?” Of course I said not at all, so she prayed. Afterwards, I asked her to translate what was on the paper. Turns out she is Muslim and the prayers asked for safety, if it was in Allah’s will for her to be safe. That spurred an absolutely fantastic and good-natured conversation about Christianity and Islam. Many of her friends are Christian and so she had a lot of questions. The main thing she asked about was the two-way communication, personal relationship with God. Unfortunately just saying “Jesus” doesn’t yield an instantaneous VoIP connection with God. I had a small pocket NIV New Testament that I gave her. She was so excited! She’d been reading a KJV Bible frequently, but she said it’s really hard to understand. I agreed, haha. At the end of the trip, the woman on the isle entered the conversation as well, and said “I believe.” Hallelujah.

Plane 2: Baltimore, MD to Atlanta, GA

I’m pretty used to talking to people on planes, “Single Serving Friends” as the movie Fight Club puts it. So, this plane I was excited to see who God would have me talk to.  A gentleman sat in the isle. It’s weird to talk over an empty chair, so I asked God, “Aiight God, who’s going to sit next to me?” I looked up and down at the line of people boarding. And BAM, there he was. I knew, immediately, God was just like “him” while he was still several rows in front of me. I had presuppositions about the man. The way he carried himself made me think negative thoughts about him, and God said, “See, you’re still biased, you need to get over it. He needs me, and who’s going to tell him?” This gentleman sat next to me, and we made pathetically awkward small talk. We took off, and I was exhausted (having went to bed at 1:30 and woken up at 3:30AM to get the airport). God was constantly urging me to talk with the man, but I retorted “I’m tired, I’ll talk to him after a short nap.” I knew this was not good, but I was stupid. So I tried to dose off. God was still prompting me, but I tried to ignore Him. There seemed to be a sense of urgency. But I knew it was an hour and a half plane ride, plenty of time to ignore God then listen…. Right.. No. About half an hour into the flight, right when I was about to finally start cool conversation, a flight attendant came to our row and spoke to the gentleman next to me. “There are a few open isle seats up front if you want to move.” My heart stopped. “No, I’m alright here, thanks” he replied. Phew! Still time to talk! “Actually I think there’s even an entire row open up there,” “In that case, sure!” …… What? What just happened? He left. My heart sank. I spent the next hour repenting and praying. I can’t believe it. I learned my lesson that day. No hesitation. Make the most of every opportunity, for the days are evil (Ephesians 5:16)

Plane 3: Atlanta, GA to Detroit, MI

As we were going to sit in the terminal in Atlanta, there were just enough seats so that I got to sit next to this African American Woman. It’s always awkward being in a group and sitting next to someone else. So I tried to make it as non-awkward as possible. I said hello. We got chatting about why she was going to Detroit. Her name is Mary and she has I think 8 kids and 10 grand-children so far and was visiting some of them. Her husband doesn’t like to travel. She used to always take the train, and this was her first plane ride ever. The reason she switched, she said, was because she’s a born-again Christian. “Amen, Sister!!” She realized she doesn’t need to fear man, only God, and that He’s got her back in all things. I learned a lot from her just talking there. She told me some amazing God stories, and we spent the next 20-30 minutes praising God. I told her about Thailand, and she was so excited. We prayed before getting on the plane. It was really cool. Praise God!

Plane 4: Detroit, MI to Tokyo, Japan.

LOOONG. 12 hrs.

Plane 5: Tokyo, Japan to Bangkok, Thailand.

So, I felt like I wasted a lot of the previous flight, not really praying or reading too much. So I decided to read like crazy this flight. Really, I was trying to find a verse which I still haven’t found, but God let me know I’d learn a lot before finding it. So, I was reading, and a woman was walking through the isle coming back from the bathroom. She stopped next to my seat, leaned in and asked “Ooo, whatcha reading? 1^st John, awesome.” Turns out she and her husband are retired missionaries to Thailand. WHAT? How crazy is that. I told her about the trip, and she was excited about it. It was really encouraging. God is awesome.

Anyway, there’s like 10,000x more than this which happened even yet so far. Pray like woah. Unity and vulnerability has been amazing so far, more more more! And pray that we’re open to His voice, and protected from the enemy’s. Thank be to God!