This past Monday was supposed to have been the first of a two-day trip that a co-worker and I were taking to visit a customer in Toronto. However, we were immediately faced by airline delays and canceled flights. It was only a few hours into our day when we could clearly see that we were not going to have nearly enough time on the ground in Toronto to accomplish what we were going there for. So, instead of being the start of our trip to Toronto, Monday turned out to be a 12 hour jaunt to Philadelphia and back, basically to have Chinese food in the Terminal F food court!

But, on the way out, I was truly blessed by something. I had the opportunity to sit next to a woman who was bravely facing a major fear in her life. She had not flown since the Flight 103 crash over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988. Prior to that, she had flown a lot but something changed inside her with that event and, for the past 18 years, she had lived with a huge fear of flying ... until this past Monday when I was blessed with the opportunity to watch her overcome that fear.

She was forced by her employer to be on the flight this past Monday. She was unhappy about it but she had done her research. She knew that the type of plane we were on had a reasonably good history and had even had some modifications made to it for safety. Her husband is a private pilot and he flies all the time, including internationally. He is wanting her to go with him on an international flight in the next year or so in fact. He has told her many types how safe it is to fly, how many times she'd have to fly before being at any real risk of being in a crash. But still her fear lingered.

I quickly dug to find some commonalities with her that we could talk about during the flight. She is a professional writer. That was neat. Though she works at a place that employs 3500 people, she had heard of a relative of ours that works there. That was good. Her husband is a trumpet player and professional musician. Bing -- I had plenty of fodder to stimulate conversation during the flight as well as during the delay time we had on the ground before taking off.

Before our scheduled take-off, I could see her wiping her eyes. This was real fear. I engaged her in conversation and by the time we actually did take off, she was doing very well.

Fortunately, it was a smooth flight and we landed in Philadelphia in good shape. I congratulated her for doing so well and wished her a good business trip.

Yet the memory of her facing her fear will stay with me forever. This was a huge 18-year-long fear she was harboring. I have written before about the fears that I have when dealing with people who I don't know real well. It can be just as paralyzing as her fear of flying. She will forever be an inspiration to me.

So, even though Monday was a very odd day and we never made it to Toronto, I can clearly see God's blessing and His plan for me on that day. Wow.