Last week I flew to Texas and is my habit, I selected an aisle seat when I made my reservation. When I arrived at my reserved seat 19D, a woman with a baby was standing in the middle of my row. It turned out that she and her husband, along with a two year old child and the infant she was holding were all seated in separate rows. So she stood there ready to ask me if I would mind swapping seats. "Show me your seat" I said and she pointed to 19B. Looking across the aisle I saw a man with a one year old in his lap seated in 19A and a woman seated in 19C. The row looked pretty full to me. As I was assessing the situation a man behind us started to volunteer to move somewhere. This made me feel extremely guilty so I reluctantly said "okay I'll move to 19B."

The lady still did not have the three seats in a row that she desired and she looked at me in 19B and said "you want your seat back" and with that she took off for the rear of the plane. Her husband soon followed saying they would ask the stewardess for assistance. My logic told me I'd better get back to my assigned seat 19D until it was all sorted out.

Now the stewardess came forth and it seemed to me that she was explaining the situation to the entire plane. So once more a man made a motion to move but this time the stewardess looked directly at me. "Okaaaaay, I'll go." I will be totally honest I did not want to sit in a middle seat next to a man with a child on his lap for a two and a half hour flight. I just didn't!

Well not too long after take off I started a conversation with the woman next to me in 19C. We talked like old buddies all the way to Texas. I "happened" to have some notes from the movie Avatar that I had printed off the night before not really knowing why I was taking them with me to Texas. She needed them. She "happened" to give me some really good advice, sort of her philosophy about life. It is never too late to start something new....and you need to take risk and step out. I needed to be reminded of that. The child in 19A never made a peep, never fussed, just sat and played with her father for two and half hours.

There is a great lesson in all of this. It goes far beyond giving up my seat and helping others and doing what a Christian "ought" to do. I obviously failed at that because my reluctance was very evident to all. The lesson is I never asked the Lord what seat He wanted me to select when I made my reservation. I knew what I liked and what I wanted so I went for it and it never entered my mind to inquire of the Lord and say where do you want me? Maybe He would have said "take your pick", or maybe "19B", who knows???? The really scary part for me is I know how many major decisions I make in my life in the same manner I selected my airplane seat. I do what I want.