Angels on the Seoul Subway
To accompany this blog, I have included the song “Jordan Dream” from my CD “Soul River.” Enjoy![audio mp3="http://chrisatkins.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Jordan-Dream.mp3"][/audio]My wife Terese and I just returned from a week visiting our daughter who is studying in Seoul, South Korea. Seoul is a beautiful, very modern metropolis of 24 million friendly people (FYI: Seoul is the 4th largest city in the world!). One of the impressive features of Seoul is its comprehensive subway/rail system that carries countless people to and from work, shopping, and leisure activities. Even through the trains are often packed with people, we loved using the public transportation system to get to the various sites we visited while in Seoul. While there we spend precious time with our daughter, her roommate, and on our own soaking in the sights, sound, and great tastes of the Korean culture.Our youngest daughter was at class when our oldest daughter and her friend arrived on a flight from the United States, so Terese and I decided to meet them at Incheon International airport via the airport rail. Soon we hopped on what we thought was the right rail line to the airport. We thought all was well until about twenty minutes into our journey when we heard an announcement in English and realized that we were on the wrong line, heading far away from the airport. At that moment (and for the next two hours) our life became like a frantic scene from the TV show “The Amazing Race” as we tried to figure out where we were and how to get to the airport. Mixed in with prayers were our stuttering attempts to ask various Korean passengers how to get to Incheon airport. Like angels from heaven, many people went the extra mile to help us. One older gentleman gave us instructions to take a train to the city of Incheon, which was still far from the airport. After we boarded this train and tried to figure our next move we met a young Korean woman who not only showed us the correct route to the airport (via three more trains) but also offered to escort us to the right train at our next stop. God used these people—and more—to help us finally arrive at Incheon International Airport. Amazingly, our daughter’s plane arrived late, so they didn’t have to wait long.The day we left Seoul—with that experience in the back of our minds—we asked God to help us arrive at the airport on time for our departing flight. As we entered our hotel elevator to leave for the airport, a woman heard us speaking English and asked where we were headed. When we informed her of our travel information, she told us she was going on the same flight, and then offered to escort us to the airport! In addition to acting as our guide, she insisted on paying for our airport express train tickets, helped us at the airport, and then used her priority status to help us get checked in quickly. We thanked God—and this dear woman named Sun—for her graciousness and help.Think about this: What are the odds, that in a city of 24 million people, we would enter an elevator with a woman heading to the same flight as ours? This was no chance occurrence. We have a BIG God who watches over and superintends the details of our life if only we ask and give Him permission to do so!These two events reminded me of a much bigger spiritual lesson: We all are trying to find our way to our eternal destination with God forever. Whether or not our intentions are good, on our own we end up on the wrong route, far from where we need to be. We’ll often follow on own way until we’re so far away from God it feels like we’ll never find or reach Him.But that isn’t true. God hasn’t moved or forgotten us. In fact, God made way for us by sending His only son Jesus to be our guide and the one and only way to reach Him. Just as there is the only route to the Incheon International Airport, so there is only one way to the Father: Jesus Christ. We simply have to ask Jesus to take the lead in our life and then follow Him, just like we followed our friend Sun, all the way to our final destination.A side note: I’m convinced that God sends “angels” our way in life: people who will help us grow and flourish in our new journey with God, as long as we’re willing to follow Jesus. An exciting part of our new path with God is the people and relationships He blesses us with as we move through life with Him. Believe me, the people we met in Korea taught us a lot about being an angel to people who are in need.We pray God’s blessings on the dear people of Korea. We left with much love and appreciation for them,I also pray for all of us traveling along life’s journey, that we will turn to God and Jesus and allow Him to guide and carry us through life and into eternity... and that we’ll look for the angels God has placed in our life.Chris AtkinsConsider giving my book to someone as a Christmas gift this year! You’ll find “The Isaiah Encounter: Living An Everyday Life of Worship” at Barnes and Noble and Amazon:Barnes and Noble:http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-isaiah-encounter-chris-atkins/1122720646?ean=9781630477523Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Isaiah-Encounter-Living-Everyday-Worship-ebook/dp/B019CCJLXI