When You're Busted for Judging Someone...
Friends! I recently had the craziest thing happen to me while flying to Naples, Florida. I was flying alone, so I had my prayer radar on high alert. And this little coincidence (a/k/a a God-incident), dear friends, is total proof our Lord knows and sees everything....
This particular afternoon, I was at Standiford Field, in Louisville, at my gate. Delta began the boarding process.
While making my way down the aisle in the smallish aircraft (I’m not a fan of smaller planes), I noticed a blonde, curly haired, vivacious woman happily helping passengers with placing their luggage in the overhead compartments. Curious, she was sporting a pilot’s uniform...
Once seated, I could peer into the cockpit, where I could now see this very same woman sitting there, with no co-pilot or pilot in sight. “Super swell,” I thought, “a WOMAN DRIVER and no co-pilot?” Surely not...
Off we go, bouncing thru’ the clouds, like, a LOT of bouncing... I’m now convincing myself I may not make it to Atlanta...
Prior to take-off, I shared my concern with John and my friend, Sherry, who both thought my worry was comical. Except, I was not trying to be funny! (Remember when your parents would say, “Oh, honey, we’re not laughing at you, we’re laughing with you.” And you, clearly were not laughing?)
Somehow one of my favorite group of Scripture verses had evaporated from my brain:
Oh ME of little faith, we landed just fine and off I went to find the gate for my next flight. With not much time to spare, I arrived to discover they were already boarding...
Standing in line, was the very same female pilot to board my very same flight. A wee bit convicted, I decided to strike up a conversation with her. (Another detail is upon landing and exiting the first flight, I realized our female pilot was indeed in the jump seat, behind a pilot and a co-pilot...oh ME of little faith, again.)
The female pilot was most gracious. I learned she’d been off for several months because of Covid and was re-training, gaining more hours before she could take control of the cockpit again. I also learned she makes up only three percent of female pilots (not sure if that’s across the board or within Delta’s pilots.). By this point, I’d still not confessed my doubt about her ability to fly a plane.
Off I went, finding my seat, getting settled with books to read, turning on my reading light, etc. I no sooner had buckled my seatbelt than in comes the very same female pilot whose seat was, oh yes, right next to me. It took every ounce of restraint in me not to burst out laughing...
I knew now I had to confess my judgment of her and apologize. Sigh. Our gracious Lord truly has a colossal sense of humor.
Sheepishly I said, “You know I must confess I totally judged you back on our last flight. I was convinced you were flying our very small plane solo!” Thankfully she took this like a champ and said, “You know, you’d be surprised how many comments and questions I get. We female pilots are just too new to the system!”
I was able to ask her a lot of questions. I learned she’s married to a pilot, also with Delta. She hails from Germany and truly has a fascinating story.
I learned a lot about her life as a pilot, including one of many perks she and her husband enjoy. When they can, they hop a UPS flight to a fun destination where they wish to vacation.
I wound up giving her a copy of my book as I often tote a spare copy with me should the Lord cross my path with someone. I just didn’t realize I’d be in the “jump seat”, getting busted for misjudging someone. The Lord surely wasn’t going to let it go until I apologized, placing her right next to me for a longer flight!
Naturally John found this story hilarious since he’d made fun of me and my fear of a woman flying our plane on the first flight. This was a good lesson for me to remember WHO is in control.
It was also a good reminder that our very big God sees our every need and hears our every thought, spoken, and in my case, unspoken. (See Psalm 139:1-5 above, again, and savor Jeremiah 32:17 below.)
‘Til next time!
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