just a man on the plane...

i have a story that is worth sharing...

when my coworker and i were coming back from san antonio, we got on the plane... we flew southwest, so we were looking for a place to sit... i saw this guy sitting by himself in an aisle seat... so i thought, "he looks nice" so we sit down next to him and wait for the take-off...

it wasn't too long before we started talking to him... and he was just a normal guy... but there was something about him... in this weird normal way... he was actually a pilot for southwest... so that's kind of what started it off... and it was off from there...

i've never had a better conversation on a plane... between the three of us, we talked about everything from religion to politics to sports to airlines... and a lot of stuff in between... he's a christian... but he wasn't a preacher... he was a pilot with season tickets to the spurs... with 3 kids - twin girls and a son...

but the conversation kept going... we all talked for almost the entire flight... and it was just cool... i got off the plane and i just wanted to tell people about meeting this man who was refreshingly normal... he's probably my favorite chrisitan stranger i've ever met... most of the time i'm either annoyed by their overbearance or unaware that they are christians at all... instead... i liked him...

i thought it was just me... i thought i was the only one who would be affected by this man whose name i don't know... but we got in the car and my coworker called someone to tell them she was back safe. as soon as she said "we got back okay," the next words out of her mouth were about this man... she said, "we sat by this great man on the plane." and she kept talking about him...

and my heart smiled a little bit... because i knew it wasn't just me... and it made me realize the importance of being normal and myself... and also the effect that we can have on each other... if we'll take the time to have a conversation... not to force it... this man wasn't forcing his agenda... he was being nice... and his friendliness had more effect on a couple of unsuspecting business travelers than many evangelists i have heard or seen...