Recently, I was flying from Portland, Oregon, to Kalispell, Montana, to speak at two events. As I sat down in my seat, a man who was in his mid-30s sat down in front of me. He turned around and greeted me with a big smile. A young college student sat down in the seat next to him and was about to put on headphones when the man in his mid-30’s not only greeted him but proceeded to ask him about his life, his trip to Montana and he kept him engaged in conversation the entire flight— possibly much to the dismay of this younger college student (but he was very gracious about it).
This man reminded me so much of the main character in a movie from 1993 called Rudy— both in appearance and personality. The character, Rudy, in that movie was played by Sean Patrick Astin, and as much as I liked the movie, the character that he played had a personality that would have worn on my nerves (I have a reason for sharing this with you…just wait).
I’ll be completely honest now— I was super tired and thinking how glad I was to be in the seat behind him rather than next to him so that I didn’t have to converse the whole flight.
As we disembarked after landing, he once again looked back at me and said, “Have a nice day.” Immediately, I felt bad about my thoughts of being glad that I didn’t have to engage with him on the trip, so I whispered a quick prayer of blessing over him — and repented for my selfish attitude.
I was only in Montana for four days, and on Pentecost Sunday was flying home. As I boarded the plane, I looked down at my ticket for my seat number…15A. I made my way to row 15 and noticed that a man was already sitting in the seat next to mine.
He looked up at me and with a big smile said, “Weren’t you behind me on the flight last Thursday?”
Yes— you guessed it! It was the very same man who had talked to the young student the entire flight to Montana. I immediately knew that this was not a coincidence but most likely a divine appointment orchestrated by God. To confirm this— the man on the opposite side of me was playing the movie Rudy on his phone!!
What are the chances of that?
As I went to turn my phone onto airplane mode, he saw the photo of my granddaughter, Charli, as my background wallpaper. He asked me, “Is that your granddaughter?” And then he proceeded to show me photos of his adorable two-year-old daughter, Tilly.
From that point on, we engaged in non-stop conversation. About halfway through the flight, the Lord gave me a prophetic word for him that deeply moved him.
He responded by saying, “You have no idea how much this means to me and how accurate it is.”
He was not a believer, but was definitely very open to spiritual things. The remainder of the flight turned into a deep conversation about his life, his dreams, his deferred hopes, and his little family. The Holy Spirit was so kind to give me words of encouragement, wisdom, comfort, and God’s love for him until we parted ways after landing.
I was so blessed as well to be able to experience God’s love and kindness to him. It overflowed onto my heart as well. My simple and quick prayer to bless him after my first flight (and my repentance for being glad that I didn’t have to engage with him) was honored by God, and he gave this beautiful and divine appointment that blessed us both.
I now see that the entire thing was according to God’s timing, purposes, and orchestration. He even chose my seat assignment— 15A
Proverbs 15:
“The eyes of the Lord are everywhere and he takes note of everything that happens. When you speak healing words, you offer others fruit from the tree of life…”
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This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Inscribe Ministries
Featured Image by StockSnap from Pixabay
