From Back Row to Front Row #livefreeThursday

Excited to be back joining with my friend Suzie Eller for #livefreeThursday.  This week’s prompt:  from front row to back row.

 

I always pray what seems to be the silliest prayer when I fly.  I pray that  for some crazy wild reason they will upgrade me to first class.  I pray this extra hard on the long overseas flights I take.  I often fly to Nepal which takes like 5 1/2 years to get to (ok, that is a slight overstatement but still it is like 2 days).  I would longingly look at the First class section in the front as I walked to the back.

The position of your seat made all the difference in the flight.  The worst place in my opinion was the seat in the middle of the row of four.  I always prayed NOT to get that seat.

Last year when I was traveling to serve right after an earthquake had rocked my beloved Nepal, I had a very tight connection flight from Abu Dhabi to Kathmandu.  I had been on the plane for 18 hours and only had a 30 minute layover.  I said that silly prayer about being upgraded, and when I gave them my ticket to get on the plane, they said, “Ms. Hand there has been a ticket change.”  I was thinking, oh no, I have been moved to the dreaded middle seat.

She then said enjoy first class!!   ( I still have to catch my breath when I say that!)  For the next flight my position went from front to back.  It was undeserved and unpaid for, but I was given the chance to sit in the front.  In the first class.

I giggled like a school girl the whole time.  They served me the best five course meal I have ever had.  On a white tablecloth.  On a plane. I tried to act like I was used to being able to recline my seat like a bed.  But I was having so much fun I kept going up and down with the seat like an amusement park ride.  I tried to act like I knew what a mint julip was when the stewardess offered it to me.  I tried not to grab the man next to me and say, Do you know how much fun this is!!

I tried to act like this was normal, but I was used to back seat flying.

 

 

 

The journey changed when my position changed.

I am currently studying the book of Esther.  I am in Chapter 2 where Esther was chosen from a huge pool of ladies to be the Queen.

Her position changed everything.

She was now Queen.  And that put her in a position to save her people.  It was not an easy task.  It required bravery and guts.  Boldness.  But her position allowed her to have influence in the kingdom

Esther 4:14 And who knows if I have not brought you to the kingdom for such a time as this.

Friends, it is so easy for us to forget our position. The enemy wants to make us listen to  shouts of failures, our shame, our insecurities.  He wants us to want to stay on the back row of this Christian walk.

Truthfully we did not earn our position in the front row of the kingdom of God.  We did not have the means or resources to pay for that ticket.

But Jesus.  Jesus did.  He bought us with a price.

We become His when we accept His invitation to the John 3:16 life.

And when we do our position changes.  We are in the kingdom of God for such a time as this.

Invited to dine with the King.

I want my position in Christ to change EVERYTHING.

Ps:  on the way back from Nepal to Abu Dhabi I wanted to try the first class route again.  So I winked and spoke my best Nepalese to the ticket counter guy  and he again upgraded me to first class.  Blue eyes for the win!

PPS:  I am not in any way saying that living as a Christian is health wealth and prosperity.  I just want to get the point across that in Christ we are adopted as His daughters, so let’s use the position as a daughter of the king to be shakers of the kingdom for Christ!