adventures of flying: israel

The first leg of my adventure to Israel consisted of a simple domestic Southwest flight from OAK to LAX. I thought it was going to be a time to stop thinking about almost everything and crash before the long 13 hour leg of the journey from LAX to Istanbul. One would think...

Oddly enough about halfway into a two hour flight, as I had settled into some deep dialogue with another member of our Global Immersion Team, I was struck by what seemed to be evolving in the rows of seats directly in front of us. A fierce heavy set man with dark thick sunglasses (we will call him Fred), 2 rows in front of ours, was turned around yelling at a 5 year old little boy named Jack. Now Jack, his sister Ali, and dad Tim were on their way to Disneyland for vacation. Apparently Jack had bumped the man's seat not once, but twice and Fred was not going to have any more of it. He was upset with Tim and decided he was going to let the flight attendant know about it too.

Now, I know we have all been there. We have all been in the same spot as Fred, where our seat is being kicked repeatedly by a little kid, at the worst possible moment in our day. So my heart actually broke for Fred. I did not agree with who he was being or how he was handling the situation, but I could sympathize.

At the same time though... As a dad of two beautiful little girls, who at times have the ability to be Jekyll or Hyde, my heart was breaking for Tim, whose hands were tied. He was doing the best he could to manage the situation. He was trying to be sympathetic with Fred who was being irrational, trying to keep a smile on his face, and trying to teach his son a lesson in the midst of challenging circumstances.

The next thing I knew the other two members of the our TGIP team and I were inviting Tim and his kids to switch rows with us. We could feel the tension rising. We all were observing the flight attendant as she was unsure of what was unfolding exactly. And others around us were beginning to wonder what the next step was too. But in that moment I learned that we all have choices to make... We can be observers to the life that is happening around us or we can embrace the moments where God allows us to intentionally love another by standing in the gap for the other. That gap in this case was just a simple row on a plane. And Tim didn't need to accept. He just needed to know that we cared enough to offer. Maybe even Fred felt loved as well, even if it did just come as a result of feeling relief.

In the end, we changed rows, Fred stormed off the plane as soon as we landed, Tim and his kids were headed off to a peaceful time at Disney, and our adventure to Israel continued... But not without a lesson about pursuing the other in love and not judgment.