A writing while on the plane heading to Tokyo:
THIS IS FREAKIN AMAZZINGGGG!!!!! I don’t know what I was expecting walking down the ramp onto the plane, but as soon as I stepped onto the plane, I was greeted by a beautiful Asian woman with a bright smile and a bow!! Of course I couldn’t do nothing BUT smile back! Then I literally felt like I walked into heaven!!!! As I was focused squeezing my big backpack between the rather small aisle so I wouldn’t hit anyone, I finally gaze up to see 3-4 flight attendants walking towards me ALL wearing a bright smile!! Showing all 32 of their teeth with their high beautiful cheek bones, and their eyes squeezed tight! I thought to myself, “gahlee, if only every person smiled like this, the world would be such a joyful place!” I’ve never been greeted with so much JOY! Ya’ll don’t understand!! Maybe it was because they don’t see many black men? *shrugs who knows! But I loved it.
Also this plane is HUGEEEE! I’ve never been on a plane this big before. There are two aisles! I am in awe man. I will never forget this moment. Now I am just sitting down waiting for the plane to take off. They provided us with a nice blanket and neck pillow (that I will for sure be keeping). God is awesome man. Well…I am about to scroll through their movie section, signing off!
2 and a half hours into the flight:
The moment I cried. Jesus will do it to you!!!
It may be miniscule to you, but this is grand for me. Where I come from, this doesn’t happen often. I couldn’t do nothing but cry thinking about how far God has brought me. I never thought in a million years I would be on a plane heading to Tokyo getting food served to me. It all just hit me at once; the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. I just couldn’t stop crying, the more I cried the more I thanked God. And during this intimate moment of crying, I heard such a precious soft voice say, “continue to seek Me.” And He literally dropped in my spirit a glimpse of my future. I cried even MORE because of the greatness God has destined for me. I thought to myself, “you’re not Eric Thomas, Mike Todd, or a Steven Furtick. You are Rashad Cohen. God created and molded me to be ME. He brought me this far because I am ME!” The future He has for me is grand all because I decided to drop everything, pick up my cross and follow Him. (Jeremiah 29:11 & Luke 9:23)
Literally right after this precious moment, the plane started to experience severe turbulence. The flight attendants looked worried, but tried to cover it with a painful smile (it looked nothing like the smiles they had when they greeted ya boy!). During this turbulence, God gave me a revelation; all of this comes with a cost. You want to experience the fullness of what God has for you? You will experience turbulence in your life. The higher He takes you, the more turbulence you will experience. But even in the midst of all of this chaos, I had a supernatural peace because I knew God was by my side. Despite flying through some tribulation, I considered it a great joy. For I knew my faith was being tested! Does that sound a little familiar? It should. These words come straight from James 1:1. We as Christians should consider it great joy when we go through trials and suffering because this is when our faith increases in God and makes us stronger! I want you to think of all the tough times in your life. Didn’t you come out stronger? Not only that, but didn’t Jesus bring you through it? Didn’t you grow through it? We have to remember this during the dark times of our life. So we must not only rejoice when we are getting served a 7 course meal on a plane, but also when we are experiencing turbulence.
I say all this to say, I am just GRATEFUL. Grateful for this opportunity to be sitting on a plane heading to Tokyo all because I decided to trust and follow Jesus Christ. The life He has for us if we just have radical faith will literally blow our mind. How much faith do you have to allow God to truly take over every area your life? (finances, career, future, your children, health, etc.) I allowed Him to take over the area of my life that was most important to me at one point of time; my future in my career. And when I put my trust in Him and dropped out of college due to being obedient, He replaced it with a future I never even imagined myself traveling down. I still don’t know exactly where He is taking me, but what I do know is that if it is in His hands, I am in great hands. Trust in Him to be THE Pilot of every area of your life (Proverbs 3:5-6), and I PROMISE you that you will be soaring through the skies thanking Him! And when you do experience that turbulence, consider it great joy because you KNOW that since He has flown you this far, He will surely get you through that rough pocket you are only temporarily soaring through!!
We have safely made it to Da, Nang Vietnam where we serving for the month. Be on the lookout this week for a video explaining what our ministry is!
Peace and Love,
Shad C
God has created us to soar. Do you trust in Him as the Pilot of your life even when there is severe turbulence?
