God Alone

I wearily stood in line, waiting to get on the plane. I was tired and all I wanted to do was get home and lay down in my bed. I did not want to sit next to two people I did not know. I didn’t even want to be on that plane. Too bad I was stuck. Not only was I stuck on that plane, it looked like I was going to be stuck between two 250 pound guys, in the middle seat. Not only were they big, they were intimidating. They both looked like they were probably wrestlers or something like that, and I didn’t feel like being the person who got in their way. Too bad, there were two seats left in the plane and another lady was already headed for the other one, the one between two small nice looking ladies. Of course, I had to end up with the two guys who I though seemed really scary.

I slipped as smoothly as I could into the seat and tried not to touch their muscled arms that happened to be on the armrests… I don’t think they could have fit them anywhere else. So here I was awkwardly stuck into a space I could hardly fit into, let alone relax or nap in, with a three-hour flight to go.

The men were nice enough, actually they were all around pretty cool, but I was still a little scared. Then, as the plane finally rose off the ground one of them turned on his ipod and started to sing along. Surprisingly this huge intimidating man was listening to a praise song. Not just any song, it was You are God Alone, a song I have sung many times at church. So here I was sitting next to a large, muscled man who was singing a praise song to the same God I believed in. I may have been practically ready to fall asleep at the time, but looking back on the fact that the man was willing to sing out loud in a crowded plane to his God, who happened to also be my God, influenced me in a major way.

There have been times since then that I have been tempted to cover up my faith, but that mans willingness to sing out loud has encouraged me not to. I shared probably three words with the man, all I know is that he was a trucker, but I don’t know his name or much else about him. There is one thing I do know about him, I will remember him for rest of my life whenever I am making a decision about letting people know what I believe. That man was not ashamed and I will not be either. I am called to live for God and I will. That man making his voice heard may have annoyed someone else, but it greatly impacted me, and it made that three-hour plane ride a whole lot better. Maybe someday I’ll get the chance to encourage another Christian the way he encouraged me. It might be in another way, I’m not sure I’ll ever have the courage needed to sing out the way he did, but now I am determined to stand out because I know I do have the power to encourage others.

That's all I've got, <3 Paisleybokeh
p.s. this was written as a practice college entrance essay for my English class and may be slightly exaggerated :)