Final 1st trip Israel
O
nce on the plane, Fia was sitting by the window and I in the middle seat. Annie and Alice sat behind us. Just before we were supposed to take off, a large-sized man walked up the path, panting, and plopped up the empty chair next to me. Assuming that the gentleman next to me did not understand Dutch, I said to Fia Hey that's a pity, I would have loved to put my arm on the railing, because it had become very painful the last few days by carrying my bag a lot., to which the man next to me said kindly; Put your arm down, no problem. Oh, he understood me! We got into a conversation and not just like that. He asked what we had seen in Israel and why we had just been to Israel? I could say a lot about that of course. First of all, that we bleief in the God of the bible , and for this reason also Israel, whom He called His people. Finally he asked me THE big question every Jew should have? If God is love, explain to me the holocust?...for a moment there was silence. I noticed that the 2 women behind me were praying for me to answer to such a difficult question. And God gave me wisdom, I said that I also had no answer for this, but that God had given promises in His word about the future of Israel. Jewish people that can be read in the bible books of, among others, Isaiah and Jeremiah. I also told about our church that was founded precisely out of love for Israel. He thought that was so special, something like that he had never heard of, he had a friend at home who was a minister and who once gave him a bible, but he told me honestly that he had never read it. I asked him to do this sometime in the future, especially to read the ax book of Isaiah 53, for the Lord had told me that if I spoke to a Jewish person, I would had to read or this text.
I didn't know at the time that it is precisely that text that the Jews have such a hard time with. It had become very quiet on the plane, more people had been listening to our conversation. The man next to me had also told me some personal things such as that he had a high position in the army, and weekly flew back and forth between Amsterdam and Tel Aviv where he lived. I was honored to hear from him that normally he didn't just start a conversation with everyone sitting next to him, but that he had instilled confidence in me about this to do.
We had talked enough and he wanted to close his eyes for a moment and adjust the back of the chair a bit behind. I silently thanked God for this special conversation. Suddenly there was an incredibly hard kick to the back of his chair. The people around us were also scared. He probably had had enough, but now he wouldn't rest. When I looked back, I saw a man with a terribly repulsive face, to frighten me. The man next to me I'd been talking to didn't even look back. He raised his arm and snapped his finger on which a Stuart walked up, whereupon the man next to me said; The man behind me is having trouble with me wanting to rest, would you like to talk to him about this? For me it was certain that the man next to me was known to the staff!
When leaving the plane he waved us goodbye cheerfully and wished us good luck with our congregation about which he would certainly speak with his friend. An unforgettable 1st trip on behalf of our congregation de Banier!
