Well, if you have read my dad's post on Facebook, you're probably wondering-
so what happened ??!
If you haven't, well, I'll share the whole story :)
It all started with a delayed flight.
My dad and I were flying back from Pennsylvania. I had just finished visiting my first college- Lancaster Bible College, which is pretty amazing by the way. ( If you're looking at colleges, you should definitely check this one out.) We flew from Harrisburg to Washington D.C., where we were supposed to get onto to our next flight in 2 hours. We walked around the airport for a little while, since we had time, and then we ate lunch/supper. After that we walked over to the gate where we were supposed to get onto our flight. As we were walking over, my dad looked at our tickets. They had different seating arrangements for us, and we realized that we weren't going to be able to sit together. So we walked up to the desk and asked one of the lady's if there was a possible way we could switch so we could sit together. We saw that there was a row open by the exit, and my dad asked if we could just switch our seats to that row instead. The lady asked how old I was, and when she found out that I was a minor, she wouldn't let me sit there- for safety reasons or something. All of a sudden, one of the ladies at the desk looked at her computer. She then proceeded to tell us that the crew for the flight were not there yet, and that our flight was delayed for around 45 minutes. Just as she finished telling us this, a lady came running up to the desk and breathlessly said, " I made it !" We all looked at her. She then said, " Isn't this the flight leaving for Minneapolis ?" The lady at the desk replied with yes, it was, but that it had been delayed for another 45 minutes or so. The breathless and now greatly annoyed lady said, " What ?! Well, you should of told me sooner ! You should have updated quicker- I almost died running to get here !" Let me just say it took a lot of self control from me to keep from laughing really hard when she said that. A lot. We were all a little frustrated, but hey, it was only a 45 minute delay. Or so we thought. It passed the estimated time, and the lady at the desk estimated another time, and then another, and then another, and then another. It just kept getting later and later, and I just kept getting more exhausted as the minutes and hours passed by. While we were sitting down, my dad kept asking me, "Hey, do you see that Chinese lady anywhere ?" And, " I just know she's Chinese. I just know it." My response was mainly every time, " dad, how do you
know she's Chinese ? She could be Korean or Japanese or something." I was pretty sure that she
wasn't Chinese. Then he told me that he was praying that I would be able to sit next to her and speak Mandarin to her and tell her about Christ. I laughed at first, and said again that I was pretty sure she wasn't Chinese. He replied : "Well, I'm going to pray that she is. I know she will be Chinese." Well, finally we got onto the plane. I found my seat and sat down, waiting to see
who would sit by me. I was talking to God, and basically said " Lord,
please, I'm just so exhausted. I just want to sleep. I don't have the energy to talk to her." There's a verse in the Bible that says "And those who serve, by the strength
God supplies." Haha. Can I just say, God has an amazing sense of humor. Then I asked Him to just show me that He was really in this, and that it was His will- if it was, I asked Him to have her sit by me. After I said that, I quickly whispered, "Never mind, Lord; this is silly. She won't sit by me."
I saw her walk down the aisle, looking for her seat. She passed me, and I have to admit, I was a little relieved. Hallelujah. I can sleep. Thank You Jesus.
Then she turned around, looked at the seat number again, and put her stuff beside me.
She sat down beside me.
I sat there in complete shock; my mouth was wide open.
Nothing is too big for God. Nothing.
There was over 100 people in that plane, and she sat down beside me.
Me. I'm still amazed at this.
So now, you're probably wondering,
what happened ?! Was she Chinese ??
I sat there for 5 minutes in sheer shock and confusion. How should I bring this up ? I was scared. I started praying, "Ok, Lord. You obviously have this for a reason. But what if she isn't Chinese ? If I ask and she isn't, then what will I say ? 'Okay, um, well, that's interesting, I was just, uh....wondering.' It could be so awkward." Then I remembered something I had actually learned and heard in the Intercultural Studies class the day before. They were all talking about what keeps you from witnessing to someone. We're scared. We may be ignorant. But the heart of the issue: we don't believe that God is
God. I realized I just had to trust Him. He would give me the words to say. And if I didn't say anything, I would be responsible and held accountable for
not telling her. She could die and go to hell, and I'd be partially responsible.
So I said something I've heard my dad say to many people throughout the years. "I was just wondering, what is your ethnicity ?" She turned and looked at me. "Me ?" she asked. "Yeah," I replied, " I was just wondering." She then said, " Oh, I'm Chinese."
Oh man. I could not believe it. I just had to laugh. "You're Chinese ?! Oh my word, I'm learning Chinese this semester ! I can't believe this." She smiled, like anyone does when they find they have something in common with someone else. "Would you like to practice ?" she asked. "Sure," I replied. "我的名字是 Victoria." ( My name is Victoria.) 你呢？(And you ?) 你的名字是什么？”( what is your name ?) She replied that her name was Jing. After talking about China for a while, I asked her if she had any religious background. She replied that her mother was kind of Buddhist, and so I asked her, " So what do
you believe in ?" She said that she was more of a secularist, and I asked her what that meant for her. She said, "Oh, you know, I just don't really...believe in anything." I asked her if she believed in God, and she just sat there for a minute or two, thinking. "You know," she said, "sometimes ? To an extent, I guess..." I asked her if she thought she was a good person, and again she thought for a minute or two. Then she turned to me and said, "Yes, I guess I do." I asked her if she had heard of the Ten Commandments before, because I was meaning to go through them with her and then ask her, if God judged her by the Ten Commandments would she be innocent or guilty; would she go to heaven or hell; does that concern her, etc. She said that she hadn't really heard of them before, and then she looked at me directly and said, " You know, I don't think we should talk about this. I'm not interested in this really; I'm a secularist." I said alright, and sat there for 5 to 10 minutes, thinking and praying.
Now she won't let me say anything about Christ or what He's done for her, so what am I going to say ??
I felt like God spoke to my heart and said-
just tell her the story.
So I turned back to her and said, " Do you want to hear something amazing that happened today ?" She was instantly curious, and so I told her. " Well, when you came running up and they had announced that the flight was delayed; we were all frustrated of course. And my dad said to me, ' I think she's Chinese !' I told him over and over that I just didn't think you were. Then he told me that he was going to pray that I would get to sit with you and that you were Chinese. I kept asking him, 'what if she's Korean- or Japanese ? I really just don't think she's Chinese.' Then we finally got on the plane, and I sat waiting to see who would sit by me. I prayed to God, and I asked 'God, show me that You really are who You say You are, and that this is Your will.' And then you sat down by me. I couldn't believe it. And then you said you were Chinese. I was so shocked ! I really think that God led you to me today for a reason; I really don't know exactly why, but I really think that He did this for a reason." She sat there for almost 5 minutes in shocked silence. I could see the shocked look on her face.
You see, she didn't want to hear before; but then she actually heard and witnessed God do something amazing like that. She laughed and finally said, "Coincidence." I replied, "You know, I really don't think it was."
She sat there for a long time saying nothing. I didn't say anything else throughout the rest of the plane ride. There was really nothing else I could say- she wouldn't let me talk about it, so I prayed and prayed and thought and thought. I remembered that I had some tracts in my wallet. I knew I would give her one once we got there. The tract I had was a fake million dollar bill. Of course there is no such thing as a
million dollar bill, so it's ok to bring those around :) It has a gospel message on the back. When we finally landed, I said, "Well, it was nice to meet you ! Here, this is for you." She looked at it, and she said, just as I knew she would, " What
is this ?" I told her that it was a million dollar bill. I quickly said, " Of course it isn't real, but this is just something for you to remember me and our conversation by. And it has something on the back for you to read, when you get a chance." She thanked me, we got off the plane, I said 再见 ( goodbye), and she left.
So that is the story. God really works in amazing ways. I just still can't believe it. Please, pray for Jing when you think of it. Pray that she finds Christ and comes to know Him as her Redeemer and best friend.
God is so
amazing. I know now that this whole trip wasn't just about my college visit. It was about meeting a lady named Jing and sharing Christ with her.
