The older lady arrived early at the airport and checked in at the ticket counter. She went though all the security checks and found herself at the proper terminal and seated herself against the window. She was fascinated by the planes coming and going, their size and the power that she could feel even through the windows of the terminal as they took off.
It was not her first time to fly, but she was extremely excited for this trip. She was visiting her son, her only son, who was now living in another state and was pastoring a highly successful church. How proud she was of him. He was constantly in her prayers, asking God to richly bless him and his family and ministry.
He has served several smaller churches faithfully and she believed God had rewarded him with this wonderful opportunity. The church had done well even in the short time he had been there and she thanked the Lord for His blessing.
He had been a dedicated Christian since his teens, where he distinguished himself as a leader in the youth group and no one was surprised when he announced that he felt the Lord had called him to preach. He was, she told herself, such a fine, outstanding young man. Everyone told her that, including her pastor, who mentioned to her several times that her son was one of the bright spots of those in the ministry.
She had resisted going to see him to soon, knowing that he would be busy with the new church, but out of the blue he had called and invited her to come for a weekend visit. He said that he would be preaching on Sunday morning but that he had a special missionary speaker for Sunday night so he would be able to spend some time with her and show her around their new home town. She gladly accepted his offer and now she was on her way.
She watched the people as they began to fill the terminal where she was seated. She was fascinated that so many people were traveling. Everywhere she looked she saw people scurrying to find the right terminal and watching the departure and arrival boards to see when they needed to be ready to board their plane.
As she watched, she noticed an attractive young lady come and sit near her. She was nicely dressed, her hair done attractively, but there was one thing that made the older lady especially notice her. All the way down one of her arms was a large tattoo.
"How terrible," she thought, "that a nice looking young lady would do such a thing. I would just die if my son had done that to himself."
She tried to turn her attention to the other people that were around her but she seemed to be drawn to the young lady. She could not help but stare at the markings down her arm. "I know that many of the young people have them, but just think of her testimony?" Suddenly, her mind raced, "I bet she does not even know the Lord. How could she with tattoos like that?" So quietly, to herself, she prayed for the young lady, that the Lord would speak to her.
When they called for her plane be seated, she noticed that the young lady would be riding on the same plane, headed to the same destination and as they took their seats, she noticed that the young lady was seated just a few rows in front of her.
She seemed to posses a good personality, she talked to those that were around her and everyone seemed to enjoy her company. But no matter how hard she tried, those tattoos bothered her. She finally told herself that she would never understand why young people thought getting them was something they felt they had to do to their bodies.
The plane ride was pleasant, just a couple of hours. It amazed her that such a distance could be covered in such a short period of time, but how wonderful it was to be able to go and see her son without having to drive for hours half way across the country.
As soon as the pilot flashed off the Fasten Seat Belt, sign, everyone jumped up from their seats and began taking their carry on luggage out of the overhead racks where it had been stored. The plane was a mad house and she was glad that she had checked her suitcase in at the counter. Slowly the line moved as passengers departed from the plane. She watched as the young lady walked down the runway and was met my several young adults about her age.
"They look very respectable," she thought to herself. "And they seemed to know and are excited about her being here. I hope they can witness to her," she thought. "To me, they look like believers."
Her thoughts were interrupted by the shouts of "grandma, grandma," as her grandson shouted and waved to her. There by his side were her son and his lovely wife waving and smiling as big as could be.
She quickened her pace to meet them,smiling just as big.
"Oh how you have grown young man," she said hugging the boy.
"Hi mom, good to see you," said her son as he and his wife hugged the older lady. His wife kissed her on the cheek and asked "how was the flight?"
"Just wonderful. It is so nice to be able to come so far so fast. I am so glad to be here she said as she hugged them all again. I have been wanting to come see you so bad but I knew how busy you were with your new church, I am so glad you called."
The weekend together flew by, as the family took grandma to all the attractions that they had discovered. They took her by the church and my, what a wonderful building and location this church had. She beamed with excitement when her son introduced her to his staff. They were all so friendly and said that her son talked about his mother all the time and that he had been so excited for her to come and visit.
She was up early on Sunday morning, she was so excited to hear her son preach again. It had been over a year since she had heard him preach and she knew that he would do a wonderful job. However, when he came downstairs she was shocked. He had on a pair of casual slacks, a dress shirt but no coat or tie. Her pastor would have never went to Sunday morning dress like this. And when his wife came downstairs in pants, she could not believe her eyes. But she said nothing, she just wondered how the people at the church would react to the way their pastor and his wife were dressed.
When they arrived at the church, there was already a buzz of excitement about the building. Her son took his Sunday School Class. She had never seen so many young couples in church before. They met in a large room full of round tables. The smell of coffee filled the room and my, what a selection of sweets where along the wall. Donuts of every sort, pastries, many home made, were there and everyone took some and got something to drink even as class was beginning.
It was sure different than her class back home. Her son led the class, but at every table there was a discussion leader that got everyone involved in the lesson. She noticed that many of those in the class carried a notebook in which they were constantly taking notes on what her son said and the discussion questions. She was so surprised at the participation. Back home, hardly anyone would speak and the teacher did almost, well truthfully, all of the talking.
The time flew and soon the bell rang and class was over. Her son met her and asked her what she thought. "Well, it was different that her class back home" she said but she had to confess that she liked how everyone participated and how earnest they were in the discussion.
He took her to the sanctuary, though the signs throughout the building said auditorium. Again, she was struck by the crowd. Young adults and children everywhere. Here and there she spotted someone her age, but the majority of the crowd were young people. And they we all dressed like her son, even the older people that were there. She actually felt overdressed.
The service was not like anything she had been to before, The words were shown on a big screen in the front of the church, with beautiful background scenes behind the words. There was a band that played instead of the organ a piano, complete with guitars and drums, and a group of singers instead of a single song leader like her church back home. She did not know any of the songs, but she was struck by the worship of the crowd. She had sung in the choir for years at her church and she had looked many times over the crowd and saw that many did not sing, and even though there's were hymn books right in front of them, they never opened the book, but here everyone seemed to sing, many with eyes closed and hands raised in worship. Those who were not singing were involved in worship, praying silently, eyes closed and faces lifted towards heaven.
There was no special music, one of the members of the band
prayed and when she opened her eyes, there was her son. His message was wonderful, and she enjoyed the notes on the screen. His message was so practical, it applied to everyday life. She again noticed that many had Bibles and notebooks open and were taking notes. Her son talked to those that were there, presenting the message as if he were talking to each person one on one. When he finished, he gave simple instructions as to how people could respond to the invitation. As the band played again, people responded and he met each one, talking with them and then calling others to meet with them.
After the invitation, her son reminded the church that they had a special guest at the evening service, a young lady that had visited the church before he had become the pastor. She had so impacted several in the church with her testimony, that they had asked if she could be invited back. The young lady was going to the mission field to help with children's ministry and had raised all her support. This was her last service before leaving. He told them that she has gladly accepted the invitation to return to speak at the church, that she had such wonderful memories of the service there and the warm reception she had received.
After service, they all went to lunch together. She commented on how much she enjoyed the service, though it was much different that her church back home. "You have so many young people, my, how wonderful it was to see that many young adults and small children in church," she said. "Our children's program at church is so small, and we only have three or four young families coming to our church."
"We are blessed," responded her son. "It is exciting what God is doing. It was one of the main reasons that I believe God called us here and why we love it so much. We loved the smaller churches where we served and the people treated us wonderful but this is such a special place, we really feel like we fit. We are really happy here."
The afternoon was a much needed time of rest back at the house.
Grandma and grandson played games, while mom and dad rested and watched with pleasure as they played. Though she was tired, she was not about to miss out on the opportunity to spend time with her grandson, she could always sleep when she got home.
They grabbed a snack and headed off to church. The grandson was excited about the children's program that took place at the church on Sunday night and on the way to church he told his grandma everything he had done since they had come to their new church. She was pleased to see how eager he was to come and how much he knew about the Bible.
As they went into the auditorium, she saw the young adult pastor call her son over introduced him to a young lady. She just glanced at the meeting but was drawn back again. The young lady her son was talking to was the young lady from the airport, the one with the tattoos down her arm, the one she had prayed for, the one she just knew in her heart needed to hear the gospel. That very young lady was going to the mission field. That young lady had touched the lives of many in the very church where her son was pastor.
The band began to play, and though the crowd was smaller, there was a good number present. The music was just as good as in the morning service, and she noticed that the members of both the band and the singers were different. She spotted several in the crowd that had been on the stage in the morning service.
Her son sat with her and his wife and the young adult pastor introduced the young lady. She was neatly dressed but she had short sleeves on and those tattoos were showing. As she looked around, she wondered if anyone was bothered. She could have covered them up, she though to herself.
The young lady began by thanking the church for their support and that she wanted to share with them her burden and call to missions. She began to tell them of her youth, the mistakes she had made and the mess her life was in before she met Christ. She told them how the tattoos on her arm was a reminder to her of what kind of life she had lived before she came to Christ. She told them how God, in his mercy and grace, had saved her and turned her life around and called her to go and minister to children and how excited she was to go teach children about Jesus. She reminded them that God still changes people, she was living proof and that no matter how much they had messed up, God could and would change their life.
The older lady sat in amazement, the Spirit of God touching her heart. She was moved by this young lady's testimony. It wasn't so much what she said as it was the conviction of her heart that she spoke with. She thought to herself, here is a young lady who had met the Lord. He has changed her heart. Here I was looking on the outside but God was looking on the inside. I judged her by her looks, thought she wasn't or couldn't have been a believer, and here I sit, my heart touched by her testimony. And this morning, I was worried about the way my son and his wife dressed, because there were dressed differently that I thought.
She did not speak long, but her testimony was indeed powerful. To the group of young adults gathered there, her words were words of encouragement that God uses people who have made mistakes, sometimes big mistakes, and He still calls and uses them for His honor and glory.
But it was not just a message to the young adults that were there. It spoke to at least older saint, reminding her that while man may look on the outside, God looks on the heart.
When the service was over, the older lady walked to the front where people were gathered around the young lady. As she approached, the crowd seem to part for her and there she stood face to face with the young lady. Tears filled her eyes as she took the young lady by the hands.
"May god bless you," she said. "I do not know if you remember me, but we were on the same flight on Friday. My son is the pastor of this church and he invited me to come and visit this weekend because he had a special speaker coming tonight. He said that he could spend extra time with me because he would not have to preach this evening. I saw you in the airport and I must confess to you that I misjudged you terribly."
She continued, "When I saw those tattoos on your arm, I just knew that you were a sinner and that you really needed the Lord. And when I saw you before the service, I could not imagine that you could have said anything that would touch my heart but my dear, God had used you in a special way to open my eyes. Thank you."
The young lady reached out and hugged the older lady. They stood there for a moment, and heaven opened on their hearts, and a bond of sisterhood between saints took place that only children of God are privilege to understand.
They never saw each other again, that older lady and new missionary but they prayed for each other often. Heaven heard as they each called out the others name and asked for God to bless them richly. Children were born into the kingdom of God on the mission field and visitors, no matter what they looked like or how they were dressed, were warmly welcomed at the door of the old church. Isn't God good.
