Angry Forgiveness!!!

My Belief

All of my passengers had gotten off of the plane, collected there things and where on there way into the airport. My crew and I were also ready to leave the Jetway and head  into the terminal. As we walked the next crew arrived. We exchanged pleasantry's with the other crew. I asked the other Captain things like, “how long is you day? Where is you next overnight? It’s a good plane. etc…” As I walked by his First Officer I made the passing comment “How is it going man?” He then proceeded to give me an evil look and turn away without saying a thing. I was a little shocked and said, “I guess not very good, huh?” As I walked away I heard him turn to his Captain and say, “I hate that guy”! Now I was mad! I looked back with anger in my eyes and gave him the meanest departing glance that I had given anyone in a very long time.

                  

As we walked through the terminal my First Officer asked me, “what was that all about?” I told him that I did not have any idea, but how dare that insubordinate jerk act like that. I then went on to say things like, “Who does he think he is? And he better hope he never has to fly with me!” I was letting my anger get the better of me over what seemed to be random individual insulting me for no good reason.

When I got to my hotel room I felt bad about the entire situation. I felt bad that someone had so much hatred for me and I felt bad that I had not reacted the way Christ would have reacted. Christ never met anyone with hatred. He always offered love and friendship to all that He encountered. I decided to pray about it. I told God that I did not know who this person was or why he had treated me this way. I asked God to help me in this situation. Humbly I told God that I was angry at this person and did not feel I would react well if I ever saw him again. I asked the Father to help me and to control the situation if I ever encountered this person again.

Wouldn’t you know it. It was only 2 days later on the same trip that I ran into this guy again. The odds of that happening are pretty slim in themselves. There are thousands of pilots at our airline that are scattered all over the world. The chances that I would run into him again in a random city 2 days later are slim. I had just collected my paperwork for the next flight and was walking back toward my departure gate. As I stepped out of a doorway I was face to face with this person again. I felt my face tighten up and my eyes focused directly on him. I was ready for what I thought may be a hostile encounter. As he stepped closer to me I expected some choice words. Instead however, I saw his hand stretch out to me in a gesture of friendship. This really floored me! I was expecting anything but that. We had a good little chat and he apologized and explained that he had been an absolute jerk the other day. He said we had flown together a few years ago and I had done something to upset him. He said that he had been holding it against me all of these years and that he was sorry for the way he had acted. We had a great few minutes of clearing the air and straightening out our misunderstanding. As we parted ways I had to stop for a moment and think to myself WOW! How awesome and powerful is our God!

Scripture

Eph 4:32 Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.

Application for Life

I believe in this life as believers there are many things that we can not handle by ourselves. There are situations that get the best of us and sins that we can not seem to overcome. By our own means it is impossible to beat or overcome these things. It is only when we pray and ask for the Holy Spirit to help us that we are able to prevail. I think God has set it up this way so that we will learn to rely on Him and not to lean on our own capability. Trust God, ask in the name of the Son, and rely on the Holy Spirit. Through Him all things are possible!