Mr. Ward was returning home from a business trip to the West Coast. The plane on which he was flying passed through a line of thunderstorms. The pilot announced to the passengers that the storms were so severe they would have to change their direction and fly several hundred miles south to avoid them. Even so, the plane was buffeted, tossed around, and it dropped suddenly several times. This along with lightning flashes all around them caused the trip to be a very frightening one. Mr. Ward, who was a Christian, bowed his head and asked his Saviour to keep them safe through the storm. After that he was quite relaxed.
He happened to look at the man just across the aisle from him who was very frightened. He and Mr. Ward began to talk. It didn’t take long for Mr. Ward to realize just how terrified the man was. When he asked Mr. Ward if he were frightened, Mr. Ward simply told him how he had prayed to the Lord Jesus and that he knew that he was safe in His hands.
This opened the way for Mr. Ward to tell the man about the love of God for sinners and that the Lord Jesus Christ died for sinners on the cross. Mr. Ward soon found out that the man was a religious person, but he had never heard of needing to be saved from his sins. Mr. Ward carried a small Bible with him which he pulled out of his pocket and read verses to the man that explain that we are all sinners and need to have our sins washed away to get to heaven. Then he turned to that wonderful verse in John: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16).
After an hour of reading different verses, the man bowed his head and asked Jesus Christ to be his Saviour. What a peace and calm came over him even though they were still flying at 37,000 feet through the blackness of the storm.
A little while later a stewardess came by and asked if she could speak with Mr. Ward. He went to the back of the plane with her and talked for some time. She told him she had heard him talking to the man, and when the cabin crew was instructed to sit down because of the storm, she had prayed for Mr. Ward and the man. For over an hour she had prayed to the Lord for the man’s salvation. Both she and her husband were Christians, and she rejoiced with Mr. Ward for the opportunity the Lord had given him in the middle of the storm.
We have no idea who might be praying for us. That stewardess had just as much a part in leading that man to the Saviour as Mr. Ward had.
ML-09/29/1985