Boarding Pass

Twice a year I fly from Los Angeles to Chicago to attend a four day meeting. I have been making these trips for at least ten years. I really enjoy the people I meet with but I dread the flight. Getting up before dawn, battling traffic to or from the airport, negotiating crowded air terminals, and then being crammed for four hours in a seat without leg room leaves me spent. But on my last return flight from O’Hare to LAX, I had a different experience.

While in Chicago, four nights in a hard bed had tweaked my back (again!) so I was feeling very stiff. And my assigned seat that afternoon was a window seat in the back row of a very full plane. The more I anticipated the flight home, the more anxious I became, and the more my back hurt. I was near panic.

At the end of our meeting, the group leader asked for prayer requests and I shared my dilemma. We then prayed and one of my friends said, “Lord, give Steve an aisle seat.” Something in my own spirit said “Yes!” But when we got to the airport an hour later, I checked in and discovered that the only vacant aisle seat left on the plane was in the emergency exit row and would cost me an additional $75. Since I was already steamed about the high cost of the plane ticket, I decided to try and trust that Jesus would take care of me regardless of what seat I had to sit in. But I also held on the prayer.

O’Hare Sketch

Twenty minutes before the flight was to board, I found a seat near the window in the boarding area and sketched the plane on the tarmac to distract my mind and ease my anxiety. One minute before we were to board, I hear the following: “Mr. Steven Stuckey, please report to the gate agent at gate H15.” It was at that moment that some part of me began to relax. I gathered my things and walked to the gate. The agent said, “Mr. Stuckey, I have a party of three that I am trying to seat together. If you are traveling alone, would you be willing to move to the aisle seat in the emergency exit row. That would really help me out.” While grinning from ear to ear, I said, I would be delighted to help her out. I took the new boarding pass, thanked her profusely and boarded the plane.

For the next fours, I experienced bliss. My joy was not because of my good fortune of landing in a spacious aisle seat. Rather, I was overcome with gratitude that the hidden presence that we call Father, had seen my anxiety, had heard my friend’s prayer, and had made Himself known in a small but significant way. It was as if for a moment, the curtain between the visible and the invisible had parted and I caught a glimpse of deeper reality. I saw that I am not alone and I sensed that our secret companion is both good and kind.