STRANGERS ON A PLANE

"Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." (I Timothy 4:12)

It had been well over three years since I'd done any commercial airline travel, but a few afternoons ago I found myself on Spirit Airlines Flight 857 from Boston's Logan Airport to Dallas-Ft. Worth Airport in Texas. Almost immediately upon being seated, and well prior to take-off I began to overhear the conversation of three young men seated in the row directly behind me. Their words caught my attention because they were laced with phrases about Theology, phrases about Philosophy, and quoting of Bible verses. At least two of the young men speaking had heavy British accents. A took a few very quick glances at the men seated to the rear of me and noticed they were caucasians but somewhat dark-skinned. I wondered if they might be from some foreign country like Guyana.

I took the title for this piece as a slight re-doing of the Alfred Hitchcock film title "Strangers on a Train". Indeed these WERE strangers on a PLANE. I'm not ashamed to speak about my faith in public, but I'm not even sure I'd have been comfortable talking on and on in the manner that these young male students did. They spoke of the faculty and students they admired at their school due to their intellectual qualities. They talked a bit about romance and dating. They spoke with great judgmentalism about those who did not accept their faith, and proudly proclaimed matters such as "I'm now CONVINCED and I'm declaring myself a CALVINIST!".

I wondered if they were seminary students. Upon listening further, however, it was evident they were undergraduates at a secular university. They were evangelical Christians and they were very sure of themselves. One stated he intended to go into politics; not immediately after graduation, but certainly in his young like. All had great ambition. All were filled with confidence. All seemed ready to take on the world and confident that with a few Bible verses quoted and explained and a few theologians quoted and explained they could silence any and every argument and solve the world's problems. They annoyed me.

I wondered what they'd tell a mother struggling to care for her autistic young child. I wondered what they'd tell a troubled 60-year-old with terminal lung cancer. I wondered how they'd convince a pro-choice liberal to support their political aspirations. I wondered if any of them knew how to change a tire or bleed a heating system.

They had no real life experience. They were probably between age 19 and age 23. They were just kids. Yes, they annoyed me. But, I suppose that thirty-four years ago when I was a student at Central Bible College, I was a lot like them.

Yes, kids like that read a few books and study a few chapters of the Bible and suddenly they're a Calvinist or an Arminian or a Dispensationalist or a believer in Theistic Evolution, or WHATEVER. Yes, a couple of classes and a couple of books and everything was all set.

Part of me SO wanted to engage them in dialogue! But that would have been very awkward. It would have been very insensitive to the guys traveling in MY row who were working on their laptop computers. It would have been physically uncomfortable to be trying to twiswt my body and talk to them. I decided against it.

Upon arrival at Dallas-Ft.Worth, I simply turned their way to get one final look at these excited, judgmental, hopeful, confident young Believers and I walked off the plane. I fly home on Monday. I wonder if I will encounter any more interesting Strangers on a Plane!