First Class

First class. For the first time ever, I got to sit in first class today on one of the legs of my flight. Of course it was the shortest leg, only a twenty minute flight, but it was still first class. Due to my recent travels, I have secured quite a few miles and have moved up in rank to get automatic upgrades. But, because I’m so new to the upgrades, they are usually filled by other people ahead of me before they ever get to my name. So, while I get the perks of automatic upgrades, I’ve never actually received the perk of sitting in first class; until today.

My original seat was all the way in the back of the plane, in row nineteen. I was sitting there and a lady came and sat at the window seat next to me and we started up the normal conversation with someone who sits next to you: heading home? where you coming from? how long you been gone? - stuff like that. All of a sudden the guy from the check-in counter was walking down the aisle looking for someone in a particular seat. He stopped at my seat and asked my name. When I told him, he said, “would you like to upgrade to first class?”  I didn’t hesitate in agreeing to the seat change.

As I walked from the back of the plane to the front, I’m sure people were watching to see where I was off to. The others that had been seated in first class sort of looked at me funny when I made my way into their protected territory. They were probably asking themselves why I was getting to move up to the empty first class seat. Some of them probably understood that I was next on the list for the upgrade, but it felt like I was looked at sort of funny for joining their group so late.

It made me think of church. When the invitation is given and people come from the back up to the altar, I think about when I did it for the first time. You wonder what people are thinking as you walk past them to the front. We tend to think the worst - that they’re living in some sort of sin and are there to confess of their wrongdoing. They may be there for that reason but they may also be there praying for a loved one who is lost or they may be praying for something in their life that has nothing to do with sin. Why do we automatically think the worst?

“‘Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.’” - Matthew 7:1-5.

Have a great day and God bless.