Foreign Exchange | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: Foreign Exchange | Previous Challenge Entry
By Karen Shell
01/15/09
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Mr. Young sat down, weary from the flight, from the job, maybe life in general. Twenty-six years of traveling was getting to him, one city after another. The last few years had taken him to four other countries. Although he’d had a great career, things were changing; retirement was looking more inviting each day.

Picking up a newspaper, he glanced around at the crowded airport. Although travelers were insured that every safety precaution was being taken, Mr. Young couldn’t help but be a little suspicious in crowds, especially in an international airport. Maybe more so today, three days before July 4th.

An uneasiness settled over him as a dark-haired young man sat down only a couple seats away. Unable to concentrate on his paper, he silently muttered a quick prayer, then reached inside his coat and pulled out his pocket-size New Testament and placed it in front of the newspaper, turning to a Psalm of David for comfort. This layover is way too long, he thought to himself, as he glanced at his watch. Mr. Young suddenly became uncomfortable as the stranger got up and sat in the chair directly next to him. Nervously, he glanced up, trying not to look him in the eye, but the stranger began talking.

“Are you Christian?” he asked quietly.

Mr. Young was startled, fear creeping through his mind. When he looked at the stranger, he was smiling, pointing to the Bible, almost hidden in the newspaper.

“Oh. Yes I am,” he finally answered, although with a slight reservation.

The stranger, now looking directly into his face, said, “And you are American?”

“Yes,” he answered hesitantly, trying to identify the stranger’s accent. His apprehension turned to confusion when the stranger looked him in the eye and proudly said “Yes, yes, me ,too.” Without an invitation, the stranger explained that he was returning home from his mother’s funeral.

Mr. Young, still cautious with his words, expressed his sympathy to the stranger, but the man’s smile only grew bigger as he replied, “Oh, I was with her the day before she died. She accepted Jesus Christ, too. Now she’s in Heaven.” A tear fell down his cheek, only slightly breaking the enthusiasm with which he spoke. “Now, I can be back to home on July 4th, that is day I become a citizen of our great U.S.A. country,” he said as he gestured back and forth between himself and Mr. Young.

Just then, the announcement came to board the plane. Mr. Young and the stranger stood at the same time, laughing as they noticed each other’s tickets. Now they could continue their stories as they sat side-by-side on the long flight home.

As Mr. Young pulled into his driveway, his daughter, home from college for the summer, met him with a hug and a question, “Hey Dad, how about a big backyard barbeque for the fourth?”

“Yes, yes,” he said with an unexpected enthusiasm. “Let‘s have fireworks, watermelon, the works. This year, we will celebrate our great U.S.A. country.”

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