Apple of His Eye

It had been a packed week of meetings and work and house guests so there had been little time to prepare for the talk I was to give to the women of the First Presbyterian Church in Orlando. As I drove to the airport I prayed fervently that God would somehow give me the time I needed to put the finishing touches on the speech.

When I got to the airport the Delta official announced that there was a full plane so we were to board as quickly as possible in order to stay on time. As I handed him my boarding pass he said, “Mrs. Harley we have upgraded you to first class.” I couldn’t believe my ears but sure enough, there was “my seat”, large and comfortable with the amenities that go with First Class!

The man next to me was quiet, engrossed in his own work and so for nearly two hours I had all the time I needed to fully prepare. No other passenger was as thankful as I was! I praised God all the way down to Orlando for His great kindness to me.

Two days later I was returning to Atlanta. As I again boarded the plane I realized that this time my seat was in the VERY back and I was squeezed between two rather large men. As I fastened my seat belt I had to laugh! “Lord, I see that when I am going to do your work, you give me the best seat but when I am all done, here I am in the very back!”

A few minutes later the stewardess came to the back of the plane and announced that there was a seat up front and wanted someone to move up there. No one raised their hand and she left.

“That is weird”, I thought. I would have assumed that EVERYONE would have wanted to move to first class.

Again she returned and asked the same question. No one moved and again I wondered why no one raised their hand. This was all so strange!

The third time she returned and with firmness stated that the plane could not take off until SOMEONE took that seat! I raised my hand and was ushered to First Class and there had not only had ONE seat but TWO large seats to spread out in!

As I slid my body into those wonderful leather, comfortable seats I started laughing out loud! “Lord, you are just beyond WONDERFUL and I now can see that you can do and will do ANYTHING for your children! I am spoiled beyond belief!”

Does our God have a sense of humor? I think so, in fact I think that day proved not only His sense of humor but His omnipresence, omnipotence and above al His personal love for and delight in His children. And in those moments I think He is calling from heaven, “I know YOU and I love YOU! You really are the apple of My eye!”

I have flown many times since then and never again have I received an upgrade. But on that day I received a special gift, a personal love gift from a personal God.

We have experienced this often in Big Dream Ministries. There have been many times that we have heard a shout from Heaven as God does something BIG for the ministry such as a large financial gift from one of our generous donors. But there are other times when He does small things that take our breath away such as providing a copier at no cost from a company who doesn’t even know much about the ministry. These overwhelm us because He shows Himself so very personal, so intimate in His love, so aware of even our smallest needs. And in both times we are thankful.

Psalm 17:8
Keep me as the apple of Your eye.