The Airplane Flight

Special Note to all Readers:

This was one of the first stories I shared on this blog.  I was asked to re-share it this month because many thought it was appropriate for the upcoming holiday travel season.  I hope it is worth re-sharing. 

John Hollingsworth placed his carry-on luggage in the overhead compartment and sat down in his seat.  He knew it was going to be a long flight and was glad he brought along a book to read between his planned naps.  Just prior to take-off, a group of young soldiers walked down the aisle and sat in the seats surrounding him.  John leaned over and asked a young man across the aisle, "Where are you guys headed?"

 

"Petawawa.  We'll be training there for a few weeks; then we ship off to Afghanistan after the first of the year."

About an hour into the flight, a flight attendant came on the PA and announced that snack lunches were available for five dollars for anyone who wished to purchase one.  Since the flight would take several hours, John decided to purchase one just to help pass the time.  As he leaned forward to retrieve his wallet from his back pocket, he heard one of the young soldiers in front of him ask his buddy, "Are you going to get a snack lunch?"

 

"Naw, $5 is a lot of money just for snacks.  I'll wait till we get to the base tonight to eat."

 

"Yeah, that’s what I think,” said his friend.

John stood up and walked towards the rear of the plane.  When he got to the galley he handed one of the flight attendants a fifty dollar bill and said, "Please give all ten soldiers on board a snack lunch."

 

She grabbed his arm, squeezed it tight and said, "Thanks.  My son was in the Army; he served in Iraq."

John returned to his seat and began to read his book.  Soon the flight attendant, with ten snack lunches in her arms, began handing out the snack lunches to all the soldiers on board.  Rather than return to the galley, she headed up the aisle.  Several minutes later, the same flight attendant walked up to John, leaned forward and whispered quietly in his ear, "Which would you prefer - beef or chicken?"

 

What?  "Beef or Chicken?"  Chicken I guess he replied, as he wondered why the heck she wanted to know.  

 

A few minutes later she returned with a dinner plate from first class.  "This is for you … courtesy of the Captain."

After his meal, John walked to the back of the plane, heading for the restroom.  A man seated near the galley stopped him and said, "I heard what you told the attendant and, with your permission, I'd like to chip in," and he handed John a twenty dollar bill.

Not long after John returned to his seat, the Captain walked down the aisle.  When he arrived at John’s row he stopped, smiled, held out his hand and said, "I wanted to shake your hand, Mr. Hollingsworth."  Quickly John unfastened his seatbelt, stood up and shook the Captain's hand.  With a booming voice, the Captain said, "I was once a military pilot and when I was young, lonely and broke, someone bought me a lunch when I was traveling home for Christmas.  It was an act of kindness I've never forgotten."  Then the Captain placed a folded twenty dollar bill in John's shirt pocket and said, "Put this toward my share."  As the Captain walked away, John was embarrassed as the passengers nearby erupted into a loud applause.

An hour or so later, just to stretch his legs, John walked toward the front of the plane.  A man seated near the magazine rack reached out to shake John's hand.  When he finished shaking John's hand, a twenty dollar bill was neatly folded and left in John's palm.

When the plane finally touched down several hours later, John began to gather his belongings and head for the door.  Waiting just outside the plane's door was an elderly lady obviously well off, and when John stepped through the door, she put something in his shirt pocket, then turned and walked away.  She never said a word. When John looked in his pocket, there was crisp fifty dollar bill.

As he entered the terminal area, John saw all the young soldiers gathering over in one corner of the terminal for their trip to their new base.  John walked over, handed one of them the $110 and said, "It might take you guys some time to reach base tonight and you might get hungry - Merry Christmas!"

Best Wishes for a Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!

A Christmas We Should All Remember

A pastor and his wife were transferred to a new ministry in Brooklyn New York. Their assignment was to reopen an old church.  When they arrived at their new assignment in early October, they were excited. 

However, upon seeing their assigned church and how run down it actually was and all the work it needed, they decided to set a goal to have it ready to open on Christmas Eve.



The pastor and his wife worked hard everyday repairing the pews, scrubbing the floors, plastering and painting the walls, etc.; however on December 18, they were ahead of schedule and so happy that they were just about finished.

On December 19 a terrible driving rainstorm hit the area. The storm conditions lasted for two days and, when the pastor arrived at the church on the morning of December 21, his heart sank. The old roof had leaked, causing water to enter the building and the water damaged a large area of a wall they had re-plastered - an area of about 20 feet by 8 feet – near the front of the sanctuary.  

The pastor did his best to clean up the mess on the floor, but not knowing what else he could do, he decided to tell his wife they would have to postpone the Christmas Eve service.  However on his drive home, he noticed a local flea market type sale for charity, so he stopped in to look around.   One of the items he noticed was a beautiful, handmade, ivory-colored, hand-crocheted tablecloth. It was really an exquisite piece of work, with fine colors and a large cross embroidered in the center.  The pastor thought this tablecloth might be just the right size to cover up the hole in the front wall of the church so he bought it and headed back to the church.

By now it had started to snow now and when he arrived back at the church, he saw an elderly woman running, trying to catch a bus. Unfortunately, she missed the bus.   Knowing the next bus wouldn’t come for about 30 minutes, the pastor invited her in the church to get out of the cold and keep warm as she waited for her bus.   

As she sat in a pew, she watched the pastor get a ladder and hangers to mount the tablecloth up on the wall as a tapestry.  The pastor could hardly believe how beautiful it looked, as it was the perfect size to cover up the entire problem area.

The woman, upon seeing the tablecloth hanging on the wall, stood up and walked toward the pastor.  Her face was white as a sheet. "Pastor," she asked, "Where did you get this tablecloth?"  The pastor explained the story.  The woman asked him to check the lower right hand corner to see if the initials, EBG were crocheted into it. He checked and yes they were.   These were her initials - initials which she sewed in this tablecloth when she made it 45 years ago in Austria. The woman explained that, before the war, she and her husband were Austrians. 

Then the Nazis came and her husband asked her to leave for America.  He promised he would follow in two weeks; however she later learned he was captured by the Nazis and sent to concentration camp.   She never saw her husband or her homeland again.

The pastor got back on the ladder and offered to give her the tablecloth; but she insisted he keep it for his church. The pastor then insisted on driving her home as that was the least he could do for her.  She lived way over on Staten Island and had come to Brooklyn just for the day.

Well when Christmas Eve arrived, the old church was almost full.  The music and the holiday spirit of the people filled the air.  At the end of the service, the pastor and his wife stood at the door and greeted everyone goodbye and wished them a Merry Christmas.

When they returned to lock up the church, they noticed an old man sitting in a pew crying.  The pastor had recognized from the neighborhood but did not know him.   The old man just sat silently in the pew, weeping and staring at the tapestry. The pastor wondered why he didn't leave and walked over to talk to him.

The man asked him where he had gotten the tablecloth on the wall because it was identical to one his wife made for him many years ago when they lived in Austria before the war, and how could it be possible that two tablecloths could be so much alike?

He told the pastor how the Nazis came and how he forced his wife to flee to America for her safety and that he promised he would follow her, but he was arrested and put in a concentration camp for four years until the Allied soldiers can and freed the prisoners. With the war over he had come to America to look for his wife but could not find her.  He never again saw his wife or his home land.

The Pastor asked the gentlemen if he would allow him to take him for a ride; the man agreed.  The Pastor drove over to Staten Island to an old brown stone apartment building - the same building the pastor had taken an old woman too just a few days earlier. 

The pastor helped the old man walk the three flights of stairs to the woman's apartment.   Once at the door, the Pastor knocked and then right before him he witnessed the greatest Christmas present ever imaginable - a reunion never to be forgotten.

This is a 'True Story" -  which happened to Pastor Rob Reid