Holy Spirit Story: Airport Provisions (with Brent Parker)

HEAR Acts 1:8 (NIV) "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” CONSIDER Today our Holy Spirit story comes from pastor Brent Parker. Brent is the founding pastor of the Woodforest Campus of The Woodlands Methodist Church in The Woodlands, Texas. He and his wife, Kori, have three active sons, ages 22, 19, and 10. You'll likely find them on a baseball field, or in a car or airplane trying to get to where the boys are playing. In this story, you'll be encouraged to hear how the Holy Spirit met Brent on one of those trips—in a cold airport terminal—and provided the clear and warm evidence that he truly never leaves or forsakes us. Below, you can read the story in his own words, and, if you listen, you will hear it in his own voice. In the summer of 2021, my oldest son was invited to pitch at a week-long special event in North Carolina. I really wanted to join him for this event but couldn’t get away from work for the entirety of the event. Thankfully, my wife and his girlfriend were available to join him on the trip. While I really wanted to be there with all of them, I found peace in knowing that at least he would have their support. Toward the end of the week, his future college baseball coach called me to ask if it’d be alright for him to sneak up there to surprise my son on Saturday when he was slated to pitch. While on that phone call, I decided that I would really hate to miss this moment and told the coach that I was going to head out there as well. We made plans to meet at the airport and ride together to surprise my son. Coach and I landed in North Carolina and headed to the hotel to surprise my son. He was glad to see me and over-the-moon excited to see coach. (I wasn’t offended by that. Haha.) We traveled over to the facility where he would pitch and enjoyed an afternoon of baseball. When he had finished, coach and I needed to hurry back to the airport to catch our flights home. We said our goodbyes and headed to our separate gates. He hopped onto his plane back to Fort Worth, and I went to my gate to head back to Houston. We took off and landed in my connecting city, and then the fun began.  I sat at the gate watching as my connecting flight was delayed and then delayed again. Eventually, the flight was cancelled. It was approaching midnight, my phone was about dead, and I had no options other than to find a place in the airport to sleep until I could get onto a morning flight home. Thankfully, I found a store selling those neck pillows and I walked to the least crowded gate I could find. Along the way, I asked airport personnel if they had any spare airplane blankets I could borrow for the night. No luck. I found my spot and attempted to fall asleep. It was so cold that I tossed and turned for a few hours. Around 3:00 a.m., I sat up and offered a seemingly foolish prayer: “Jesus. I am so cold. Would you please send me to a warmer spot in this airport. Or, better, take me to a blanket.” It was a silly prayer, but a desperate one as well. I stood up from my spot and started to walk. To my immediate surprise, I looked across the way at the other gate and saw what appeared to be a blanket. I made a B-line to it only to find a pile of “lost and found” that must’ve been collected by the cleaning team while I slept. But I looked through it anyway and found a hoodie. I gave it the sniff test and it passed. I looked it over and could only see the remnant of what appeared to be an iron-on transfer at some point. It was safe and so I put it on. I felt a little guilty taking the sweatshirt, but I assumed its owner was already back in the place they called home and wouldn’t be coming back for it. Later in the morning, I made it onto a flight and eventually made it back to Houston. I put the hoodie into the dirty clothes and forgot about it. The next day, I came home from work and my wife had been folding clothes. She said, “Is this that hoodie you got from the airport?” I said, “Yes. Why? Is there something wrong with it?” She said, “No. But you need to take a closer look at it.” I walked over to it, and to my delight and my surprise I found the following words left behind from the worn off screenprint: “Jesus is free.” No way!  Now, I’m not big into superstition. And I don’t make it a habit of looking for religious symbolism in the clouds or in the froth on the top of my lattes. But this was unmistakable. My plea for warmth in that simple prayer on a cold floor in the airport was met with a no-doubt response from Jesus. Not only had he brought me what I needed in that moment, but He provided yet one more bit of evidence that He is always with me. I’ll never forget that moment. And, yes, I still have the hoodie!  PRAY Lord, Your Word reminds us that You number the hairs on our head and are aware of every detail of our lives. Thank You for this reminder today.  Thank You for Your care and thought into every details of our lives. You never leave us and are with us in every moment. Guiding us and comforting us. Spark in us a fresh sense of courage to come and ask You for help and guidance in every moment, no matter how big or small. Praying in the name of Jesus, amen.