10:30pm. Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia.
One more flight. Five more hours.
I walk down a narrow aisle of seats, pausing every couple of steps to watch passengers in front of me cram their luggage into an overhead compartment. I can’t believe that I am in Malaysia! Although, most on my World Race squad will argue that we can’t count this as an official visit since we didn’t leave the airport. But the two stamps in my passport prove otherwise, your Honor. 13D…14D…15D…ah, 16D. My seat. My beautiful, red leather, aisle seat. Complete with a fancy gray belt and a silver, “lean-back” button that I’m not allowed to push yet. Best yet, no one is sitting in 16E! Leg Room City! But wait, the flight attendant finds that the passenger in another set of seats is supposed to be in 16E. So me and seven other passengers play “Ring Around the Rosy” for an awkward 30 seconds. Once situated, my squad leaders sitting in the row beside me, whispered that there were emergency seats ahead that no one was sitting in. I think it only took me half a second to levitate to that open row and settle into the window seat. Leg Room Country!
Sir, this is not your seat, you cannot sit here.
But, but, but what if there is an emergency?
Sir, I would let you, but my supervisor said you can’t.
But, but I’m only sitting here for the safety of ALL the passengers.
Sir, I’m sorry.
Well I’ll move, but I sure hope there isn’t an emergency.
Taking off my superhero cape, I flew back to 16D, knowing the fate of the passengers now that this airlines had no need of TayMan, the Man of Steal-ing Open Seats. On the way back to my chair prison, I do a spin move and sit at row 15. This row had an open middle seat, at least. Closing my eyes and holding my breath, I hope the flight attendant won’t call me out again. I feel the breeze of him pass and hear his steps fade further away…Leg Room City! As I inwardly celebrate and pretend to read the emergency-landing booklet, I see a man in my peripheral.
Talk to him.
In my old days and old ways, the earplugs would go in and I would ignore this nudge of the Holy Spirit by playing my music or podcast, drowning out world around me.
Talk to him.
But now I practice being led by the Spirit every day, in every situation. I practice striving to love, outside of myself. Do I succeed every day, in every circumstance? No way. Still working on the whole “love others as you love yourself” concept. But by God’s grace, the Spirit is taking over my life. My life is starting to be more and more about loving God and others. My life is starting to be less and less about me and what I want. My life…My life…Life…Life is starting to make sense. An urgency to tell people all over the world about my Father’s love drives me on.
Talk to him.
*Silence*
Hello, I’m Taylor.
My name is Rahul.
Rahul works in accounting at a major company in Malaysia, but his family lives in India. He flying home to meet his one-month old baby boy, Aarav, for the first time. The first time! How exciting! We talk about his job and then I got to tell him about the World Race. Better than that, I got to tell him of my faith and hope in Jesus Christ. He tells me that whatever god you believe in is right for you. Instead of debating his answer, which (in this case) would have led us no where, but an abrupt conversation halt. The Spirit led me to simply tell Rahul about how much God loves the world. And because of what Jesus did for us, we, Racers(and Christians as a whole), feel compelled to go, serve, love, and tell others about our Lord. He respectfully listened, but I could see I was talking to a sin-numbed heart. The conversation went on and we talked about Calcutta and some of the other great cities in India. By now, the aircraft was taking flight, but it seemed our conversation was landing. The cabin lights dimmed and our eyes followed suit. We exchanged pleasantries and placed our eye masks on and earbuds in.
Father, save this man and his family.
The flight itself was not a fun one. It wasn’t the smoothest, and I kept having thoughts of it having the same fate as that infamous Malaysia Airlines flight from a couple years back; ne’er to be seen again. Realistically, I think I got a solid 18 minutes of sleep, spaced out over three acts of turbulence. And at long last, our flight landed in Calcutta, India. Before leaving the airplane, Rahul and I shook hands. I told him I would ask my friends back in America to pray a blessing on his life and family. He thanked me and that was that.
There is no happy ending to this blog. No radical conversation story. Yet. There is no real ending at all, because Rahul’s earthly story is not over. God is still after Rahul and his family. Does my heart grieve for Rahul that he doesn’t know the abundant, eternal life only found in Christ? Yes, although I pray for my heart to have more compassion. But it’s not my job to make him follow Christ and receive the Father’s love. I am simply an ambassador(2 Corinthians 5:20), sent from the King of kings. God is in charge of the growth. Now do I want to see conversions, healings, and miracles everyday? As Sarah Palin says, “You betcha!” But I must choose to find joy in simply being His messenger of love, no matter what the response. The burden of a conversion count is not something God wants us to carry.
Are you bored with your life? Do you feel your faith has gone stale? Then walk by the Spirit! Die to your flesh and live by the Spirit DAILY. He will lead you. He will urge you to take uncomfortable, exciting steps of faith. Uncomfortable, yet cleansing. And you don’t have to be on a international missions trip to take these steps(although some of you need to take a trip). You can be Spirit-led right now where you are. You can start today. You gotta truly want it though. So pray. Pray now. Be sincere. I’m serious! Pray to die to your flesh and walk by His Spirit right now. In addition to yourself, I will ask you to pray a blessing for Rahul and his family. Pray that Rahul, his son, Aarav, and his wife, Sarla will find true freedom in Christ. And that they, in turn, will make disciples in Calcutta. Pray that Rahul will not remember me, but only God’s relentless pursuit of his heart.
If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. – Galatians 5:25
