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By chance or divine appointment?

Selma Enns

My husband and I were on the way home, on a flight from Amsterdam to Toronto, after one of our annual Church Partnership Evangelism and Discipleship trips to the Ukraine. About halfway into the eight-hour flight, I decided to get out of my seat and try to get my circulation going again.

Reaching the back of the plane, I moved aside to let others go by. Two men stopped beside me and asked: “May we ask you a question?”

“Yes.”

“That man sitting beside you, is he your husband?”

“Yes, for the last 37 years,” I answered, somewhat surprised.

“Would you say you have a happy marriage?”

“Yes, definitely.”

“What value system do you have?”


This was a question that warranted pondering, but I knew I needed to answer now. “I would say it is honesty, love, forgiveness and, above all, my relationship with God, based on the Bible.”

“Would you say your value system has contributed to your happy marriage?”

“No doubt about it.”

“‘Based on the Bible.’ Do you consider the Bible to be that relevant today?”

“Oh yes. I sometimes don’t feel like loving, I don’t feel like forgiving. But the Bible tells me to do it anyway, and later I know that it was the right thing to do.”

“Does your husband have the same kind of value system?”

“Yes, he does.” A question was slowly formulating in the back of my mind, and I could no longer hold it back. “Where do you two come from?” They looked as if they were in their mid-40s, perhaps businessmen.

“From Johannesburg, South Africa, but we live in Toronto. We work for the mines, coming home to Toronto three or four times a year.”

“I have been to Johannesburg during our three-year stay in Zambia,” I offered.

“Did you live in Lusaka?”

I explained that we had been with Mennonite Central Committee and that my husband had been teaching at a boarding school. Then I asked: “Have you heard of Mennonites before?”

Yes. They gave me a name of a Mennonite.

I assumed the conversation was finished. But I was wrong.

“You mentioned faith,” one of them started again. “Everybody has faith – Muslims, Buddhists, Catholics. It does not matter which kind of faith, as long as you have faith.” He declared himself to be “spiritual” and told me that a relative of his was going into the priesthood.

“I would say I am religious,” offered the other. “When I was young, I used to be an altar boy in the Catholic Church. As long as you have faith, any kind of faith.”

“You are right,” I responded, “in saying that each human being longs to have faith in someone beyond her or him. The Bible tells us that there is in each one of us a longing, an emptiness, that only God can fill.”

“Only God?” asked the one who had become the main speaker.

“Yes,” I answered, “You would know that. As a former altar boy, you would have been familiar with the basics of faith: that there is only one God, there is sin, repentance and forgiveness – but only through faith in the death of Christ.”

My “spiritual” friend left to go back to his seat.

“Don’t mind him,” the other commented.

“He thinks that a priest in his family is all he needs.” He continued, “My religion is important to me. I think I could say that I am a Christian. I go to church; I try to make it at least at Christmas or Easter.”

“Going to church is always a good thing. But we need to make a step beyond that. We need to search for God and invite him into our life,” I suggested. “He is very polite. He is not going to come into our life and make us a Christian when we’re not looking. Jesus Himself says that He is standing at the door and knocking. If we hear His voice and open the door, He will come in. He leaves the choice to us.”

“I don’t know about that,” he admitted. “I like to have everything in order and under control. My daughter has just married a young Jewish man. We as parents are very happy for her. Everything is going just fine in our family.”

“Don’t let that stop you from looking for God. He wouldn’t take the control away from you. He wants to help you make it better, less selfish and more loving. God gives us an opportunity to invite Him in.”

“Would you say that these opportunities come during crisis times?”

“Not always. God also wants to speak to us when things are going well.”

“You say God gives each of us that opportunity?” He sounded sincere.

“Yes. Maybe your opportunity is today. From your time as an altar boy, you would know that there are only two places to be after we die and God loves us and wants us to spend eternity with Him.”

“Life after death?”

“Yes, the Bible says so.”

“Do you really believe that?” He looked at me, and I could sense the struggle in him.

“Yes, I do. I encourage you to keep searching the Bible until you find God.” As we were getting ready to go back to our places, I added: “I would like to see you in heaven.”

He turned to look at me. “You will, you will!” he said emphatically.

I didn’t get the names of these two strangers, nor did they ask for mine. At the Toronto Airport, they both stopped to say goodbye. I’m still wondering what the whole thing was all about. Had God organized this appointment?

Selma Enns is Minister of Visitation at Glencairn MB Church in Kitchener, Ont.

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Last modified February 20, 2003.

© 2003 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
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