A few years ago I was flying out of Chicago after speaking at a teacher’s conference. Plane flights are great for getting into spiritual conversations because you have a captive audience. On this flight I was seated next to a young lady named Linda who was returning to San Diego to be with her boyfriend. The flight was showing the movie Contact and after some friendly conversation she started watching the film.
Contact is a science fiction drama I knew would open the door for a spiritual conversation. All I had to do was read my book, wait and pray. Once the movie was over I knew in my heart that I was going to be given a chance to share Christ.
I started right in and to my surprise she really wanted to talk about God. An even bigger surprise was every question she asked, when I answered, she said things like, “wow I never thought of it that way” or “that really makes sense now.” I was bewildered because most spiritual conversations I have, the other person never agrees with me. In fact I was so astonished I was at a loss for words, which is strange for me.
During the next 30 minutes we talked about Christ, sin, punishment, and the church in general and I soon realized we were about to land and I needed to move her towards salvation. So we went through some key passages, such as Romans 3:23 “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” and Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” I used these verses to show her the need for forgiveness. Finally, as we were taxing on the runway and I recited from memory Romans 10:9-10 “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”
When I finished she said she believed what those verses said and that “Jesus was Lord.” At that point the airplane came to a stop and I had to say goodbye. Even though I had no opportunity to follow-up on her decision I am trusting in the work of the Holy Spirit that she made an eternal decision for Christ. Maybe someday I will see Linda in heaven.
The only thing I would have done differently was I would have shared contact information so I could have followed up on her commitment. At the time of the flight my web site didn't exist. My point is after sharing Jesus on a plane, bus, taxi ride, or other situation leave them with someway to take that next step. On flights today I am much more prepared to share something as we part company.
