To the woman in seat 8B en route to NYC,

I don't remember what your name is, but I wanted to write and thank you for the conversation we had. Thank you for breaking the ice and for your friendly inquiries when I first sat down. You see, I fly a lot for work, and I happen to work for an organization where it seems like everyone has amazing spiritual conversations with their seatmates on the plane. Our founder Bill Bright led dozens of people to Christ during the course of his travels. But I must confess - when I get on planes (and this one was no exception), I usually tell God, "God, I'm fried. Can I just sleep on this flight?"

However, as I was putting my carry-on away in the overhead compartment, I saw you and felt the Holy Spirit nudging me to talk to you. I groaned inwardly, but then you greeted me and started a conversation with me! I had no excuse not to chat anymore.

Later on, when there was a lull in the conversation, I even tried taking a nap to get out of any further obligation to talk to you, but that didn't work either. You asked to borrow the People magazine that I had been reading -- which I never read, by the way. I just borrowed it from a coworker on the same flight because I had neglected to pack my own reading material. And it just happened to have a story on The Bachelorette, your favorite TV show. I'm amazed at what God used to bring us together into a conversation because from The Bachelorette, we talked for the rest of the cross-country flight on just about everything.

Thanks for opening up about your life, your family, and your culture. I really enjoyed learning about Jewish weddings and bar/bat mitzvahs and expectations Jewish parents have on their kids -- they're not so different from Asian parents! Thank you also for your openness and honesty in sharing about your exploration in spirituality and how unsatisfying, "God does everything for a purpose" sounds when you're in the middle of hard times and you can't understand why things are happening to you.

As I was reflecting on our conversation, I realized that that line is only meaningful when you know him and trust his character. I pray that you will not only learn about God in your searching, but as the Pslamist writes, that you will "taste and see that the Lord is good" (Psalm 34:8). I pray that you will get to know him, trust him, delight in him, and fall head over heels in love with him because he loves you far more fervently, relentlessly, and ardently than you know. May you find the satisfaction of your soul in his arms.

Your friend,

Jessica in 8C