(I wrote this blog over 4 days because I was too tired each night to finish! It's about Saturday and Sunday.)
Saturday night, we went into Manhattan to get dinner and dessert at Serendipity. Our food was amazing and the atmosphere was fun.
What I enjoyed the most, though, was this...
Yeah, it was even better than it looks. After dinner, we were spent. We came back to the hotel and got a great nights sleep.
This morning (Sunday), we headed to the World Trade Center Memorial and Museum.
It was beautiful, sad, and moving.
The spot where one of the Twin Towers used to stand. There was an identical memorial for the other tower. Inside the exhibits prior to entering the museum, we heard voices describing experiences, saw before and after photos of the skyline, and saw debris from the wreckage.
Once inside the museum, we took it in at our own pace. Katie and I took the longest and were still processing it all hours later. We were paged around 2:00 to "hurry it up already--we're hungry." (They were actually much nicer than that, but it's more fun to exaggerate).
Footage of planes hitting the towers. Evacuations. Buildings collapsing. People covered in dust.
But the most heartbreaking part was knowing that many of those people died without Jesus. Some people who survived that day have given up their faith in a God that, in their opinion, wouldn't let tragedies happen if He were actually a loving God. Recordings of their stories were included in the "After 9/11" section.
After that, we got some New York pizza and visited the Bethesda fountain in Central Park. We then went to church and had dinner with Ryan and Leslie Sims in their new apartment.
It was great to meet my fellow Meridian, MS transplant, Leslie. We got to love on this sweet couple (and adorable kids) and hopefully give them a little piece of home.
Now to the best part.
My seats were separate from the other four. On the flight from Birmingham to Atlanta, I sat with two boys from Huntsville who were going to visit their Mom. I prayed before and during the flight that God would give me the opportunity to share the gospel with someone on the plane. I tried to broach the topic of God with the boys, but nothing landed.
Meanwhile, Heather is entertaining the other girls while doped up on Dramamine... Which is impressive since she was actually asleep most of the flight.
Since she was planning to sleep on the way to NY, I asked if she would swap seats so I could talk to the others. Since she's awesome, she agreed.
I believe this was God's plan, not mine.
Christy and I end up sitting next to a man named Brent. Once in the air, I ask Brent where he's headed. He tells us that he's an airplane mechanic flying to Africa for 4 months. When he asks our plans, I tell him we're on a mission trip to work with the Nepali and Tibetans in Queens. He assumes we'll be helping with relief efforts for displaced earthquake victims.
When I tell him our goal is actually to share the gospel with these people groups, he says, "Huh, that's interesting."
He pulls a shopping bag from the seat pocket and takes out a KJV Bible with his name engraved and tells us his grandkids just gave it to him. He tries to read it when he can and says that he's a Christian. In the next breath, Brent admits he doesn't know what he believes about God's existence. He believes that we were created by something, but he doesn't know what.
Christy hears this part of the conversation and jumps in to help me out. We talk about our beliefs and give rationales for those beliefs. He agrees with some (we were created by something) but not others (God created Adam and Eve from dust and a rib).
Brent is 99% sure that Earth was colonized by our ancestors from another planet because they were running out of room. What else explains how the pyramids were created?
Christy did a great job of asking questions in a way that his answers would make him think:
Where did those people come from? Who created them? I don't know. That's why I may believe in God. I definitely don't believe we came from apes.
If it's true that we came from another planet, why doesn't anyone know this as fact? If they were intelligent enough to colonize another planet, they should have been able to find a way to ensure we know where we came from. Well, maybe that's where the Bible came from. Maybe the story of Jesus returning is actually the commander or whoever coming back for us.
Brent only has positive thoughts, so the idea of hell doesn't mesh with his beliefs. We asked where he thinks we go when we die.
He doesn't know.
Well, we believe that if you trust in Jesus and live your life for Him, you go to heaven. Anything else takes to you hell. Why would you want to think about that? I only want to think about positives.
There are really only two choices in the life. Choosing God, or choosing Satan. There is no third option. I can see that, but I only like to think about positives. There's no need for negative energy.
That's a one sided view. Nothing in this world is only positive or only negative. I just try to be a good person and help other people. That's great, but how do you know what's good? I know it in my heart.
How do you know that's good? What if someone knows in their heart it's good to kill people who don't agree with them? Well, that's just wrong. They should know that. I was raised to do the right thing. What if they were raised to think killing is actually good? It's just not right.
I don't see how a God who loves could let natural disasters and bad things happen. Christy explained that Adam and Eve allowed sin to enter all of creation when they disobeyed God. Not only are we broken, but nature is broken. Since we continue to sin, everything continues to be broken.
We talked to him for the entirety of our fight. He asked questions, we asked questions. He answered, we answered.
It was an entirely pleasant discussion with no arguing whatsoever.
God answered my prayers. I wanted to opportunity to share the truth of Jesus with someone who didn't know Him. Brent is obviously lost and seeking answers. Between his wife's support (she's a believer), reading the Bible, and our conversation, we pray Brent sees the truth soon. Please pray with us that he does!
It is so humbling seeing God work.
He doesn't need us, but He allows us to help Him. He spoke through sleep, Dramamine, seat arrangements, and two women on a flight to make sure Brent heard truth about Him.
What a powerful, amazing, loving God we serve.
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