Shivers

I really cannot count how many times I have started this piece without much success. Not that I don’t have the words to use, but I don’t know maybe just the constant fear and lack of confidence that I can’t do this. Anyway here it goes….

During my most recent trip after a few months, I boarded the plane in pretty much any way I would have if I was taking a trip to Nigeria. Getting into my seat, I buckled up and said a little prayer in preparation for the journey.  I lost any concern for what was going to happen on the trip, like: if I was gonna die of boredom or sleep though, when I saw I had access to entertainment right in front of me. The beginning of the journey was pretty much like any other, with instructions on what to do and not to do and bla bla bla. I zoomed into my entertainment and watched a comedy while the first leg of journey began; I went on like this for about the first hour and a half before something caught my eye.

To every other person on the plane there wasn’t anything unusual going on, but I would like to think it was just the Holy Spirit convicting me to do what was right. I really can’t say if it was cause of the constant news I had been hearing about the Boko Haram guys or the many documentaries I had watched on bombs been activated in planes. All I can say was that the constant movement of a particular man brought my heart into my throat. The guy honestly just had the look of Osama bin laden, and the way he was walking around, OMG, that was another thing entirely. I could have at that point guaranteed anyone he had a bomb on and was just waiting to activate it. My heart was beating a hundred times faster than normal and just then the little voice began to do his Job.

I really don’t really think I have ever being in a position where I thought I was going to die and then actually and practically assess where I would go just if I should die until that point. The Holy Spirit made me conscious of who I was and I started thinking, have I praised God enough? Have I been the best I can be for him? Have I given my all to him? Really, would I go to heaven? Ok, if I did would I have any treasures there?  This was my point of reckoning, where I began to check myself piece by piece, ask for forgiveness, re-surrender…. 

This didn’t end the fast beating of my heart, nor did it give me any assurance the guy was not really an Al Qaeda guy. But it gave me a deep and eternal assurance that I was secure. I don’t know how many people actually sit down in a day, assess their lives and check their purity in the presence of God. I don’t know how many people who have been at the verge of death and actually had the time to be assured at the last minute? But in those few seconds that seemed like hours, one thing I knew was and is that I never wanted to wait till the last minute to know who I was, or where I was going to be. I realized I wanted an everlasting assurance of where I was going all the time. And most importantly I never wanted to either leave God’s side or him leave me.

I know many would say of what importance is this, as it is believed that every Christian is going to heaven, but NO the reality of heaven and hell exists and the only way of ever be assured of this is by total surrender to our maker.

 Eventually, the guy ended up being a normal Ethiopian dude who had a long beard, and just liked to move around and all. I am glad the actions of this one man got me thinking again, and wanna be ever assured, and I am glad I had the Holy Spirit with me doing the job he does best….