Conversation on a Plane: A Divine Appointment at 30,000 Feet

I stowed my carry-on in the overhead, sat down, buckled my seatbelt, and settled in for the final leg of my flight into Billings, Montana. My mind was already drifting to the work waiting for me when I landed. He was to my left, talking on the phone. Sunglasses on, ripped skinny jeans, and a grey zippered sweatshirt with the hood pulled over his head, mid to late fifties.

Finishing up a few last-minute messages before switching my phone to airplane mode, I saw him pull out a small 3 x 5 size prescription case. He opened the lid, picked up a toothpick lying in the case, and lifted two or three gummies out of the tray. He popped them in his mouth, stored the toothpick, closed the lid, slid the prescription cover back over the medicine case, and set the case on the armrest between us. It was done by feel more than sight. A series of movements it seemed he’d done a thousand times.

As the plane leveled out at cruising altitude, we were engaged in small talk. He told me his name, asked about my occupation, and why I was traveling to Billings. I gave him my answers and asked him the same questions. As to why he was traveling to Billings, he simply said "treatment."

He changed the subject. Sensing pain, I tried to steer the conversation towards hope. Somewhere in the conversation, I mentioned church. He was excited to know I was a follower of Jesus. A fan of cinema, he started naming Christian films he enjoyed, asking if I'd seen each one. While talking movies, the prescription between us was turned to where I could read it. Fentanyl.

Movie conversation turned to biblical and existential questions. He had knowledge of God but little knowledge of the Bible. He would ask a question, I would give him chapter and verse for his answer, and he would sit there mouth agape. I eventually told him I was a pastor-teacher. He was really stoked then. "You are doing the real kind of discipleship!" he said. No brother, real discipleship happens one-on-one right where we're sitting.

He'd been in a car accident. Should have died. Lives in chronic pain that has to be treated bi-weekly at a clinic in the town where we were headed. Every answer I had given to his questions from Scripture, he typed the chapter and verse reference into the notes app on his phone. Before we walked off the plane, he gave me his phone number and invited me to his home in California. Then he hugged my neck and told me it was the best conversation he's ever had on a plane. Ditto brother. Perhaps for an hour, I was able to help occupy his mind with something other than the pain. 

There was so much I was expecting to get to on that flight. I had a checklist a mile long that I needed to run through for the acquisition I was enroute to lead. Teams were soon to be flying into five locations across two different states. My mind was thinking towards just getting into the air so I could get back on my laptop and work through the logistics of what needed to happen in the coming days. Last-minute preparations and review. Urgent emails. Checklists. I was feeling the full weight of what was ahead of me, but in the busyness I nearly missed the man God placed right beside me.

I confess. Sometimes, I am too wrapped up in my own problems to recognize that those problems pale in comparison to those of many around me. I am grateful, from time to time, God in his mercy holds up the mirror of perspective before me that reflects my selfishness, compels me to repentance, and guides me towards gratitude. Salt and light. That is what we have been commissioned to bring to this world. Healing and hope. And opportunities abound. The next time we board a plane, stand in a line, or sit in a waiting room, let's look for them.