Flights, tracts and encounters
A couple of us flew to Bombay for some meetings that had to happen. Thank God they let me on the plane at 8 months and I was thankful I had gotten a ‘fit to travel’ document from my doctor. It was funny to see the people at the ticketing counter looking at my belly out of the corner of their eyes, and then all of the sudden they jerked back the boarding passes and started whispering. Oops. Good thing I had the paper….I almost attempted flying without.
Something interesting happened on the way back. We had prayed in the morning that God would lead us to someone special at the airport, and as the day went along we sort of forgot about the prayer and got ready to go. Our flight was a fashionable 2 hours late so we decided to stroll along the bookstore that was at the Mumbai airport. There was a sale on kids’ books, so I bought a little shiner prize for Kaila and some baby books and kept looking around. All the while there was this guy, maybe in his thirties, obviously part of some multinational company, and rather dignified looking, checking out the bookstore as well. I ventured to give him a tract, (a small paper with a simple message about God’s love). This paper is called ‘Somebody Loves You’. I was initially a bit embarrassed to give this guy a tract, after all here I was 8 months pregnant and bulging, totally wiped out , not looking my best, and with a pile of baby books in my arms. Heh. Well, I’m happy I did….-.I gave him the tract and spoke to him for about 30 seconds, exchanged names, and bid him farewell. He was very grateful that I had taken the time to say hello and was quite surprised. I had scribbled my number on the back of the tract just before, but I was kicking myself that I had not gotten his number – why do I forget everything these days. The whole journey I just couldn’t forget about it and I prayed that somehow the Lord would lead him to us again. That evening as I arrived home I got an SMS from Sandeep. Here’s what it said;
‘Hello Sarah, thanks for the wonderful note you gave me at the bookshop at Mumbai airport. I wish you and your group the same happiness and love that you are spreading. In this age and time it is truly an incredible gesture. Warm regards, Sandeep’
I certainly didn’t care now about the flight being 2 hours late and the sweaty wait at the airport. We had been in the right place, at the right time, and had somehow been God’s channel to someone who needed to know that ‘Somebody loved them’. That was a pretty good feeling!