Meeting strangers in the airport.

One positive of an airport layover is people watching. I always wonder where people are from, where they are going, what their family is like and if they know Him.

There are times when I speak, there are times when I am silent, but it never fails that I find myself watching all that surrounds me.

And then I get to the gate that comes home. That beautiful gate that says "Jackson, Miss.". After eight days away, it almost makes me want to cry. So close, yet still away. There is something so refreshing about being around people that call your home their home as well.

Yesterday I noticed an older gentleman sitting across from me in the terminal. I was playing on my phone, my computer, etc. and watched occasionally as he sat quietly, carefully watching his surroundings. He was a very unassuming man - wore wranglers that were dry cleaned with the perfect press, work boots and a button up. He had scruff - the kind of scruff of one that works on the land.

I left to speak to a neighbor of my parents, and came back and rotated seats. I noticed he sat down beside me (facing the other way). He started to talk. About anything and everything. Politics (how he didn't trust anyone in the government), traveling (where he had been), hunting (what he lives to do), marriage (how he had failed) and Jesus.

I guessed I looked like someone that he could talk to. I guess at that moment I had the reflection of Christ and was able to gently open a listening ear. I guess this man was a bit lonely, although he'd never admit it.

And then He rocked my world. He said, "I grew up in a christian family, but did not know what a relationship was like. I just believed, but I didn't know. And then one day, I saw the face of Christ and I knew that He is real. I KNOW Him."

I got chills all over my body. The experience for me was strangely similiar. I believed it cause that was what I was taught. But I know it because He revealed His love and grace over me. And that was that. This sweet older gentleman left me talking about killing a turkey tomorrow (which is today) - doing what he loves most.

Yet I was left with a strong sense of encouragement of my conversations with a sweet, older, unassuming gentleman. My faith is not to be quieted, I am to be bold.

2 Corinthians 3:

⁷Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, ⁸will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? ⁹If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! ¹⁰For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. ¹¹And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!

¹²Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. ¹³We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. ¹⁴But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. ¹⁵Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. ¹⁶But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. ¹⁷Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. ¹⁸And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect^a]">[a] the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.