When we arrived at the airport in Memphis we were informed by the agent at the gate that the flight to Houston was overbooked and that so far only one person had agreed to take the compensatory free flight and give up his seat. This after Jim spent 5 hours on the phone with Delta changing our times and securing a direct flight. Just as I was explaining our situation a rather disheveled man walks up and hears our plight. "Perhaps I can help," he said. "I have a seat on this flight but I will give it up if you can book me on another that will get me to Houston in time to make my connecting flight to Dallas. In fact, I don't have to be home until Monday--if you will pay for me to stay I can fly out tomorrow."
Wow! God works fast!
After twenty minutes of negotiations (for him) we had our seats on the 1:40 flight. The man came over and sat down by us as I thanked him for his kindness. He had been in St. Louis for a reunion of his Vietnam platoon. From the smell, I think they had been celebrating non-stop. Turns out he is a published author, Thomas R. Hargrove, who just happened to have a few of his books with him. The book, which I purchased is A Dragon Lives Forever: War and Rice in Vietnam's Mekong Delta published by Texas A & M University Press in 1994. He has 2 more published by Random House one of which--about his captivity by NARC in Columbia--has been made into a movie. I don't remember the name. They called us to board. I will look it up on line. Very interesting guy.
Making this divine encounter even more amazing--he was traveling to Dallas to get his wife who is being treated for LUNG CANCER. We gave him one of our cards. I will follow up later.
God is full of surprises.
When we got the call from Tara that you all might miss your flight, we were eating at Steak and Shake (I too needed a little comfort food). I hung up the phone and explained to Chris and the girls what had happened. I prayed out loud at the table and then went on to eat my BLT and drink my chocolate shake. Tara called no less then 10 minutes later to tell me that you all were on the plane. I told the girls and Chris and matter a fact Meg said, "what did you expect Mama? I knew God would answer our prayers". It reminded me to have that child like faith and reminded me that our problems and fears are resting in God's hands. He will answer our prayers!
ReplyDeleteLove you,
Ashleigh
Your Mr. Hargove must have been a good buy because he's an Aggie. He has a a double degree ag science and journalism. The book you mentioned -- "Long March to Freedom" -- was the inspiration for the movie "Proof of Life", featuring Russell Crowe and Meg Ryan.
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