Stories
Hally 's Story
January 23rd, 2012
How God is using the "Radical" book... It was Dec. 2nd, and I was leaving for a weekend visit to my little sister’s place in Texas. As a mother of 3 busy little kiddos, I was extremely excited for the weekend of adult time – movies, relaxing, good conversation… However, I was equally excited for my plane ride because it would give me a few hours of uninterrupted “me time” to do whatever I wanted. As I boarded the plane I was pleased to see that I was seated in 7A – a seat on the side of the plane that had only one row, meaning I wasn’t sitting by anyone - awesome! There was a gentleman seated across the aisle from me, but once the plane was full and no one had sat down next to him, he scooted over to the window seat. Bonus! Even more privacy for me and less of a chance that I would have to make small talk with a stranger. So, I settled in and started making my little “nest” – covered up with my coat as a blanket, got out my junk food (funyons and candy) and balanced it on the arm rest, and placed my two books out in front of me. I was looking forward to a quiet and relaxing trip. I had gotten about three lines into my book when I heard, “funyons, huh?” I thought to myself, “did this guy just say ‘funyons, huh?” Sure enough, I looked over at him and he continued with, “I didn’t know they still made those!” I smiled back and said, “yep, they do” and continued reading. Not two seconds later I hear, “do you eat funyons a lot?” Oh my, seriously????? I just really wanted some time to myself. This gentleman was destroying my plan, and I wasn’t very happy about it. I looked over and said, “sometimes I guess, I like to eat them when I fly” and quickly turned back to my book. I had about 30 seconds of silence, and I thought I had escaped the conversation, but no… “That’s some small print there, what are you reading?” he says. Well, at this time I realized that he was not going to give up. I closed the book, turned toward him and told him that I was reading the Bible and Revolution in World Missions. He asked me a few surface questions about myself, I asked him a few surface questions about himself. I learned that he was from Dallas. He was returning from a business trip in Mitchell, SD. He said he went to a church called “The Heights” in Dallas, but no other details about his faith. He seemed like a very nice gentleman. We chatted for about ten minutes then I went back to my books, and I was pleased to see that he laid his head down to rest. After a few minutes of reading a felt like God was telling me to talk to this gentleman again. But not just “talk” to him, I felt like he wanted me to tell him about a specific book – Radical, by David Platt. I dismissed this thought as something I created in my head. I had just read Radical a few weeks back, and I figured that it was just on my mind. Over the next hour, I could not shake this thought. I felt strongly that God was telling me to tell my airplane acquaintance about this book. Finally, after about an hour I said to God, “first of all, I don’t want to talk to anyone right now. I just really want some alone time. Second, I don’t even know this guy’s name, why would I tell him about a book?” I went back to my reading. I don’t think I actually read much over the remainder of the flight, because I kept feeling that God was leading me to talk to this guy. I continued to argue with God asking him, “why the Radical book? Why not an easier, lighter book like Heaven is for Real? Or why can’t I just talk to him? I really don’t want to just randomly tell him about Radical.” My conversations with God took up most of the plane ride, and I was happy to see that we were landing and the gentleman was still sleeping. I took this as a sign I didn’t need to say anything. Whew, I was safe. I had gate-checked my carry-on so when we landed I had to stop on the jet way and wait for my bag. As I moved to the side to wait I saw they gentleman and said “good-bye.” He responded, “actually, I have to wait for my bag here too,” and he slid in next to me. I was thankful that he carried the entire conversation, and my bag came up right away. Once again, I escaped without having to have the awkward conversation! Whew! I grabbed my bag and quickly walked off the jet way and into the airport. I even glanced behind me a few times and saw no trace of my new acquaintance. As I was walking toward the exit I received a text message from my sister who was supposed to come and pick me up. I stopped on the side of the walkway, read my text and responded. I then grabbed my bag and made my way back into the walkway, and, you guessed it, there he was right next to me again. I silently said to God, “seriously??? I suppose I can’t ignore it this time. Well, okay, here I go…” “Excuse me sir, do you mind if I ask you a question?” The gentleman smiled and said, “sure.” With a funny look on my face I reluctantly asked, “Have you ever heard of the book Radical by David Platt?” He stopped, turned towards me, looked me in the eye and said, “I have it in my briefcase…” I think my heart skipped a beat right then. I was so sure this was from God (it only took me how many nudges?????). He opened his briefcase and pulled out the book to show me. He told me, “my wife gave me this book awhile back. She’s been trying to get me to read it, but for some reason I just haven’t. I’ve been carrying it around for awhile now.” Stunned, I replied, “well, during the plane ride I kept feeling like God wanted me to tell you to read this book. To be honest, I didn’t want to, because I hardly know you, but I think you need to read it.” He agreed, “wow…, I think I do too.” We were both very much in awe of the situation at that point. Next, I got out $50 in cash and held it out for him. I told him, “our church is doing this $50 challenge thing where we are challenged to give $50 to somehow impact the world. I would like to give it to you. I want you to read that book and, when you’re done, take this money, go out and buy more Radical books and give them out to others that you think would be affected by them.” He looked me straight in the eyes and calmly, slowly said, “you want me to take this money from you?” I said, “yes.” After a few seconds he replies, “okay, I will read this book. I am obligated to you. I need to do this.” He wanted to exchange contact information and then said, “I will get back to you to report how this turns out.” We both smiled, said “good-bye” and headed our separate directions. I’m not sure how I even got out of the airport that night. I was in such a daze of astonishment and utter amazement that I could hardly focus. I quickly asked God’s forgiveness for my repeated unwillingness to cooperate and thanked him for not giving up on me. He taught me several very important lessons that night; 1- stop trying to trump God’s plans with my plans, 2-when I feel like God is speaking to me, don’t dismiss it as my own thoughts (over and over again), 3-even the smallest most insignificant interactions in our lives have the potential to make a big impact, 4-always, always be ready to act on God’s command no matter where you are or what you are doing.