by Erwin Bourne As the Director of Flying World Mission Inc., I boast that the only airplane we own is a 757 jumbo jet—at least I’m making regular annual payments on this one! I like to fly American Air, especially because it flies from Colorado Springs, Colorado, to Bogota, Colombia. However, on November 12, 1999, Jean and I were compelled—because of a special arrangement—to fly Continental, leaving out of Denver. Now notice the strange occurrences on this trip to Colombia, South America. As the departure time was rapidly approaching, we were informed that Continental’s flight to Houston, Texas, would not be able to make its connecting flight to Bogota due to weather conditions. Our agency suggested that they rewrite our ticket, after all on American Airline. So off we flew to Miami on our favorite airline, but this time out of Denver. Our connection time in the gigantic Miami International Airport was limited, and we knew that we’d have to rush through. Since we weren’t flying Denver/Houston/Bogota, our luggage would be shipped straight through. Upon reaching the American Airline ticket counter, we were informed that our tickets had not been rewritten from Continental to A/A on the Miami/Bogota leg of our flight. We’d have to go way across the terminal to get the tickets rewritten. The rather small, blunt agent informed us that our flight on A/A was even now ready to depart, we had no tickets, so we must make plans to over-night in Miami to catch another flight in the morning. Here’s where my hackles began to rise! “No, sir,” I said quite firmly. “Our luggage is already on this day’s flight, and we, too, were flying with it!” “I don’t know how,” the short, harsh agent snapped. “How do you think you can cross the airport, get other tickets, and arrive at your gate in time to board the plane that is ready to leave now,” My staunch answer surprised even me. “God has placed a big angel in front of this airliner, and it will not leave until we’re on board.” Jean and I lost precious few seconds obtaining the services of two elderly, black women attendants with two wheelchairs to hustle us across the terminal to Continental, The black women were both breathless when we arrived! But all in vain. “No,” we were told, “We’d have to return to the first A/A ticket counter.” “Let’s go!” I said to the tired women. I was holding two five-dollar bills in my hands as an incentive to the women. Now I silently prayed an intense prayer as we rolled down the corridor. “Lord, Please give us a BIG AGENT instead of the small, brusk agent we had first been dealing with.” I was breathless, myself, with intensity as we neared the A/A ticket counter. I quickly observed that nobody was manning the counter. Now what? How long would we have to wait for an agent? A big man was some distance out in front of the counters—but he was in an American Airline uniform. He walked toward us as we approached. “What is your problem?” he kindly asked. “Let me see your tickets.” Jean handed them over. “Why you have tickets here all the way to Bogota. What are you waiting for? Please hurry to the gate and get on board. The plane is waiting! Please hurry!” I looked up at the two tired women who were panting for breath. “We must hurry!” I said. And away we went again. An A/A female agent met us out front of the check-in counter. “Wait here,” she said excitedly, as she rushed down the loading corridor of the plane. In a minute she returned on the run, made out our boarding passes, then exclaimed, “Hurry, they are waiting!” The exhausted women rolled Jean and me down the corridor to the door of the plane. I gave them each their generous tip and dismissed them. We boarded American Airline destined to Bogota, Colombia, fastened our seat belts with a prayer of thankfulness and relief. Although we couldn’t see down on the tarmac, we were confident that a big angel—an administrator of God, visible or invisible—stepped away from the 757 airliner as it revved its engines for departure. Very shortly, we were taxiing the runway, lifting off—destination Bogota, Colombia, November 12, 1999. Oh, was there one angel attending American Air that day or were there two? Perhaps the big, calm man in front of the America ticket counter was also a ministering spirit sent forth to minister to the saints of God. We wonder how many more were attending their duties in the Miami International Airport? Such experiences bolster up our confidence in an Almighty God.  Erwin Bourne Outreach_amazon@yahoo.com <HOME <ARCHIVES