Admist the travelers in the terminal, my eyes were drawn to them. A middle-aged couple waiting like the rest of us to board the Delta plane for the 14+ hour flight from Atlanta to Tokyo. A young girl spots them and runs over, surprised and delighted to see them. Hugs all around. It was like a reunion, the kind you don’t usually encounter getting on a plane. It made me smile.
I was travelling alone.
We all found our seats, and who was across from me? The young girl and the couple besider her. How ironic that they should have seats together when it didn’t appear that they were travelling together. Even moreso that on a plane that big I’d be across the aisle from them.
Not too long into the flight I stood to stow something in my carry-on above me and felt a tap on my shoulder. My first thought was that perhaps I’d gotten up too soon and the flight attendant was asking me to sit down. Instead I turned to find the lady I’d seen before. She said that they were all with Adventures in Missions and that they’d noticed my AIM shirt. She and her husband travel every other month to meet with World Race squads for debriefing and encouragement. The younger lady, Hope, was also on staff with AIM and was headed out on a missions trip too.
Turns out I wasn’t travelling alone after all.
My brothers and sisters in Christ were right beside me. We didn’t speak long, but it was enough. Enough to know that perhaps God had placed us on the same flight, in the same row, for a reason.
The couple and Hope were on my next flight too, this one from Tokyo to Bangkok. As as I prepared to disembark from the plane, while standing in the aisle waiting, a woman behind me asked if I was with AIM. Her name was Darlene. She, too, had been on a missions trip with AIM to Thailand two years ago, and knew my leader, Connie Rock. Now she and her friend were headed out on another missions trip to Thailand (to a different location within the country).
Two more sisters.
Finally through customs and out to the team’s designated meeting area… flowing with the crowd… I hear someone call my name. It was Connie. She came out to meet me, giving me a hug like we were old friends. The rest of the group did too. We’d never met in person before, but I actually had to remind myself of that. God had already united us in purpose. In ministry. In love.
