It was early on a Sunday morning when I boarded my flight home to Dallas. I smiled at the woman who was already seated in my row but she didn’t return the smile. She was a very striking woman that I imagined to be in her sixties. I thought, “She either just wants to be left alone or she is afraid to fly.” As I watched her clutch the armrest for dear life I decided it was the latter. “Are you doing okay?” I asked. “I hate to fly,” she said. “We’ll be fine,” I tried to assure her, “God will not take his eyes off us for one moment.” She turned to look me full in the face. “Do you believe that?” she asked. “With every fiber of my being,” I said. “Now I don’t mean that bad things don’t ever happen to those who love him, but I will not go one moment before my time. I have a race to run.”

         

Tears began to form in her beautiful brown eyes and spill down her cheeks. “I’ve never thought of that before,” she said. “I struggle with suffering. I don’t understand why children die or plane crashes happen.” “I don’t either,” I admitted, “some people finish their race in eighty years, others in eighty days, only God knows why.”

         

We talked some more and as our flight was about to land I asked her what the purpose of her trip to California had been? “To meet you,” she said. “I have no doubt now, it was to meet you.”

         

What I saw again that day is how hungry people are to know that God loves them and is watching over them. If you know this outrageous love, don’t miss a moment to shine. Perhaps you are one of the hungry ones. May I just say this; God loves you, as you are right now-don’t waste another moment questioning that!

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