Divine Appointments While Flying to the Philippines
Cathay Pacific Airlines is bar none. They have personal TV screens, tasty meals that include congee with salted egg and meat (if you have an adventurous palate you must try this dish), Haagen Dazs ice cream for breakfast. This is a pretty legit treatment after three months of rice and beans and no TV. (Tho' I did start watching Alias after getting all the seasons from a fellow teammate in Nicaragua last month and watched it and screamed in suspense at random times in our little cabin in the forest and scared my half asleep teammates next to me.)
Mohnish, a fun, charming and extra-outgoing flight attendant, befriended us immediate while on the flight. Sarah, Sage and I hung out in the back wing for 4 hours straight, talking to him, watching him answer calls from patrons, seeing him serve people and handing out drinks and snacks with a smile that lighted up the night sky. In conversation we got to know Mohnish, he is 25, grew up in London and just moved to Hong Kong recently for this job.
He's an enigma, a mix of cultures, maybe even a third culture individual like me, Arabic, Caucasian, Indian, he introduced us to other crew members, Quentin, Ason and Barbara, who is British Malaysian and the crew manager. They all treated us kindly and attended to our every need.
Mohnish, if you are reading I pray that you're talking to Cathay Pacif once you learn more about AIM and the Wold Race, that it's not just a fun adventure around the world for 11 months, it's that God is using us wherever we go, even in the air, in a flight cabin the same way as in a poverty stricken village in the Philippines, as His mouthpiece, as His hands and feet. I pray you find God this month and rekindle a passion to be in relationship with Him because He is the only one that will blow your mind away and give you the biggest adventure of your life.
It's the same words, Sarah, Sage, Micah, and I's prayer with Mohnish in front of the lavatories as we laid our hands on him. And when we finished, another AMEN came from a man in line for the bathroom. " No wonder I feel extraordinary peace on this flight, you guys are praying." He says. It turns out the man is a missionary in China, his ministry is in teaching business ethic to business men in a large 2nd tier city in China. So we prayed for him too.
Mr. F, if you are reading, may God give you lots and lots of protection and divine favor as you minister to the business men and use you to lead many to Christ through your humility, leaning on Christ's truth and discipleship.
*Meeting new friends in transit has become a normal part of the Race. As I type this I am saying a prayer to many of the friends I met while traveling. Jenny in Costa Rica, Martha in Guatemala, Richard in Chicago, the Chinese couple in Honduras. I pray that God is meeting you where you are struggling or thriving.
