Just about everyone has been inconvenienced by a flight delay. Today, the story of a man who took advantage of his inconvenience to share the gospel.
Two months ago, Michael Cabell booked a flight to Anaheim to be part of the Southern Baptist Convention. Last week, his flight was canceled. His ticket was refunded, and he booked a flight on a different airline. Then to add insult to injury he was told to change seats.
Cabell, who works for the Kentucky Baptist Convention, found himself in a row with a couple who seemed “exasperated” as they put away their items and sat beside him. The woman had cancer surgery a few months ago and was exhausted.
It wasn’t long until Cabell, a former pastor, understood there was a reason why his flight was cancelled and why he was sitting beside these two people. God had put him there.
Tears were streaming down the couple’s faces as he began to counsel with Bartolo and Ana, who were headed to California from Massachusetts. They told him that their 27-year-old daughter and son-in-law were hit by a car that morning while checking the mailbox in their front yard. Their daughter was instantly killed, and their son-in-law was in a coma. The couple’s 4-year-old granddaughter was in the house asleep, later to be picked up by an aunt.
Cabell listened to them intently, and through the four-hour flight they talked about their daughter, their grief and the Lord.
“They were weeping over this tragic loss,” Cabell said. “In a pastoral way, I was trying to help comfort them and shared Gospel. They didn’t pray to receive Christ as Savior, but they were interested.”
Cabell immediately prayed for them and asks others to do the same as the couple goes through this tragic situation.