A night with JFK

My trip home from three weeks in Virginia over the Christmas/New Year's holidays was, let's say, eventful. My connecting flight getting into NYC was late Monday night, then sat on the runway for 30 minutes ... just enough time for my flight to Portland to take off without me. Nice. So went my stint in JFK International in New York City: A night in the airport. But God has these things all figured out, right?

I spent about 2 hours in a CNN bookstore talking with a Navy dude named Cameron. He's assigned to intelligence and stationed in Virginia Beach. I asked him what sort of intelligence we were talking about and he said something to the effect of, "Without getting too specific, we look at what other people are doing." If he told me much more than that he'd probably have to kill me. Which wasn't really an option for me, seeing as how I was really looking forward to getting home to my wife and 12 kids. We chatted about all sorts of things and he told me he had a Catholic background. He had a bunch of questions and misguided observations and we started talking about the Bible. I got to share with him the deity of Christ, why some books are in the Bible and others aren't and a bunch of others aren't and a bunch of other stuff I learned in my first term of studies. Cameron was on his way to Naples, Italy, and may God bless him and I pray some seeds have been planted in his heart.

The next morning I made it to Salt Lake City and on the next plane to Portland I sat next to a woman from Salem and wouldn't you know it we started talking Christianity. She made a comment about how she doesn't believe in the Trinity and whoa! I walked her through how the Bible lays out the Trinity from the first verse in Genesis all the way through, including the gospel of John and on and on and on ... again maybe some seeds were planted. I think my enduring memory is landing in Portland and knowing what awaited me just outside the security area: Julie and 9 of my kids (the oldest three were already in Corvallis at the church for classes). I think I'll always remember striding toward the security area, breaking out in a big ol' grin and laughing.