Monday, March 31, 2008

The Love of Flying & First Class

I am glad to be back in the land of warmth. Connecticut was a little bit too chilly for me.
The Youth Rally was fantastic. I spoke 4 times, and then I split the pulpit with my buddy Sam Garner yesterday at his church. WOW--Sam is a fantastic preacher.
At the Youth Rally, 2 hours was set aside for mission/service activities. The teens were given 3 choices: 1) sing at the nursing home, 2) visit shut-ins, and 3) take sack lunches to the homeless in Hartford. 75% of the teens chose to feed the homeless. I wonder what adults would have chosen.

A few notes about flying:
1) DO NOT fly through Chicago. I was delayed...and delayed...and delayed. I got to Hartford at 2:30 am on Friday morning.
2) I sat next to a 10-year-old kid on my flight from Houston to Chicago. He ate an entire bag of gummy bears, ate dozens of Pringles, and passed gas the entire flight. As we were getting off the plane, I was holding my Bible (which I had out the entire flight) and the kid said, "What is that?" I said, "It is a Bible." He said, "Oh...I'm Jewish. I have no clue what that book is." I laughed!
3) The man taking my flight information in Hartford yesterday, looked at my driver's license and said, "I heard they are cutting back on the making of cowboy boots down in Texas." He was shocked when I told him I don't own a pair. Can you say--"STEREOTYPE."
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Last thing, (confession time), I hate the first class section on a plane. What I despise the most is the method:
-"We will now begin boarding the plane. We will first accept all of those in first class."
-Then, they seat from the back to the front. So, every other person walks past the folks in first class. We see them sitting in their nice, comfortable chairs. They have their nice drinks. Their pillows and blankets are in place. They have their own restroom.
-I'll stop right there!

Every time I walk by "the" section, I can't help but think of Jesus' words, "You always want the best seats..."
But just as I begin to judge, God puts me in my place.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You should have slipped the kid with gas a couple of bucks to step into first class and cut loose.

Rick Ross said...

While I am glad that so many teens wanted to feed the poor, it sounds like any of the choices they made would have been "feeding" people.

John, you are hilarious!

Eric said...

Speaking of flying, we look forward to seeing you at the end of your flight this weekend! We sure wish Kayci was going to be coming with you. I know that Natalie would love to catch up with her.