When I had the privilege of pastoring Marlow, First, we adopted a community in Ecuador. The church took numerous groups down there to do all kinds of mission work including sharing the Gospel. I had the privilege of going on several of those trips. Those changed my life (for the better) and had a most positive impact on the church.
I was thinking about those trips the other day and it dawned on me: I should share some of that with the two or three people that actually read this thing.
On one particular trip, there were four of us that journeyed to Ecuador. One of the four was a medical doctor because when I am with the group a medical doctor is just a good thing to have along. We had flown from Oklahoma City to Houston and boarded a plane there that was supposed to take us to Quito (just a side note that might be important later: this was back when the Quito airport was one of the most dangerous airports in the world. And if a plane actually made the landing all the passengers always applauded).
When we took off from Houston, we encountered a little turbulence. What else would you expect from Texas? It wasn’t too bad. After all I had the medical doctor sitting next to me. But I noticed an elderly Ecuadorian couple sitting across the aisle were visibly upset and not tolerating that Texas turbulence very well.
That’s when the elderly lady started digging around in her purse. I didn’t know whether to be concerned about what she was about to produce from her purse. But then she pulled out a pocket New Testament. That calmed me down a bit. She and her husband read some of the Bible and, low and behold, the Texas turbulence calmed right down.
We had flown for a while when I realized how good of a pilot we had. Somehow out there in the vast unknown, he had located some more turbulence. It was hard to tell if it was the Texas variety or not.
It wasn’t the worst turbulence I had ever experienced. I mean it wasn’t like a bad deacons’ meeting or something. But it just seemed to continue. In a bit, I noticed the elderly Ecuadorian man push the button for the flight attendant.
The flight attendant soon appeared, had a brief conversation with the couple, and then walked away. It wasn’t long before the same flight attendant approached the elderly Ecuadorian couple and handed them one of those little bottles of Jack Daniels whiskey. You may wonder how I, a Baptist preacher, knew what that was. As I recall, I think my medical doctor friend told me.
The little, nervous Ecuadorian lady finally got the top off of that little bottle of Jack Daniels and swigged the whole thing in one rather lengthy drink. She blinked two or three times and smiled a little smile. I guess if one Spirit can’t help you there is always the possibility that another one could calm you down.
As we approached the Quito airport we were in the tray tables up and seatbacks in the upright position mode. I think I was dozing a little bit. I decided if we were going to crash that night, it would be better for me not to know it.
The first time we landed, we hit the ground really hard, bounced back up into the air, and hit the ground again. It was at that moment, that the little, old Bible reading, whiskey drinking Ecuadorian lady reached across the aisle and grabbed my hand. She kept a death grip on my hand while we finished landing and pulled into the terminal.
By the way, when we landed all the passengers applauded. Soon, the little Ecuadorian lady turned loose of my hand. Had she not put it to sleep, I would have applauded too.
Here’s a couple of things to think about. If you are traveling always consider taking a medical doctor along. They can be a great help. Two, stay out of reach of folks who have been swigging Jack Daniels whiskey. Three, always applaud a good performance. Four, we weren’t responsible for taking Jesus to Ecuador. He was there when we got there.
*If the mention of whiskey offended you, just mark it out and write in “really strong iced tea.”
