We made awkward eye contact a number of times while waiting to board our flight to Jacksonville… Too many times for comfort. He boarded before me, and thus was already sitting in seat 2A when I entered the plane. Now friends, I just want you to take a wild guess at what seat number was mine. Yep, seat 2B. Are you kidding me? I have to sit next to awkward eye-contact guy? The guy with the tiger tattoo holding a pack of cigarettes in his hand? Awesome. Just awesome. I sat down, awkwardly slid past him, and started to assimilate the ‘I’m really tired and going to sleep so don’t talk to me’ plan. It was then that I realized my foolishness. Two people don’t just end up sitting next to each other on a plane by accident. As I pulled out my Mac to get some editing done, God quickly changed my heart from intentions of ignoring to a prayerful attitude that desired a divine appointment with awkward tiger guy. Mid-prayer, he turns to me and says, “You’re a Christian, aren’t you?” Uhhhh… I’m sorry, what? Just out of the blue he asks me this. Please keep in mind, I am not wearing anything (clothes or jewelry) that would suggest that I was a Christian. I glance to my computer screen to see if there’s a Bible verse on the screen. Nope. Nothing. “Yeah, I am… How did you know?” “I can just tell by looking at you. Your pictures show it too. Sorry, that’s probably creepy.” Ha… Maybe it was a little creepy, but I didn’t really notice because I was straight-up dumfounded.
For the past two or three months, my heart’s desire has been that when people see me, they wouldn’t see Kelsey. I want them to see Christ, a desire that has stemmed from studying II Corinthians 3. But this desire has left me feeling defeated. Sure, I can act in a way that reflects Christ, but really, how is someone going to look completely past my exterior and only see Christ? It almost seemed impossible. Until I was sitting in seat 2B. For the next hour or so, I talked with awkward eye-contact guy about all things Christ. He is a believer, knows his Bible, his dad’s a pastor and he grew up in the church. After a string of curse words, I realized that he probably wasn’t walking with the Lord. He verbally confirmed that by telling me story after story of how he and his family had been mistreated by the church – the people that are supposed to carry out the love of Christ. Because of this, he’s done with it all. He still believes in God & that Jesus is the Messiah, but he’s done being identified with the people that call themselves Christ followers but act nothing like Christ.
Internet, I wish I could type out our entire conversation word-for-word because it would just blow your mind to see how the Lord was working through it. I talked with him for a majority of the time about the object of our faith… How it can’t be people, because they will fail us. The object of our faith is Christ, who is forever faithful and true. He agreed with almost everything I said, and it seemed like he even had some lightbulb moments. When we landed and were leaving the plane, he said to me, “I don’t know how it just happened like that, but I’m really glad I got to sit by you.” Ha… I know how it happened. As we were walking out of the terminal, headed towards baggage claim, he told me that his mind was full of things to think about. I can’t stop thinking about/praying for him… I want so bad for him to find the Lord again, and I am blessed beyond words to think that God may have used me in even a small way to draw him back to the Lord. I am praising God for US Airways flight #4330 from Charlotte to Jacksonville and seat 2B… Glory to HIM!
PS… I just got back from FL because I was at Breakaway, CFC’s Sr. High fall retreat. These are the students I worked with all summer, and the Lord ROCKED our lives this weekend. When I uploaded this picture, I cried a little bit because they mean so much more to me than I could ever put into words.
“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.” -II Corinthians 3:18