“I Need Someone to Look After Me”
by Max Lucado

“Good, I’m glad you’re sitting by me. Sometimes I throw up.”

Not exactly what you like to hear from the airline passenger in the next seat. Before I had time to store my bag in the overhead compartment, I knew his name, age, and itinerary. “I’m Billy Jack. I’m fourteen, and I’m going home to see my daddy.” I started to tell him my name, but he spoke first.

“I need someone to look after me. I get confused a lot.”

He told me about the special school he attended and the medication he took. “Can you remind me to take my pill in a few minutes?” Before we buckled up he stopped the airline attendant. “Don’t forget about me,” he told her. “I get confused.”

Billy Jack was a little boy in a big body. “Can clouds hit the ground?” he asked me. I started to answer, but he looked back out the window like he’d never asked. Unashamed of his needs, he didn’t let a flight attendant pass without a reminder: “Don’t forget to look after me.”

When they brought the food: “Don’t forget to look after me.”

When they brought more drinks: “Don’t forget to look after me.”

When any attendant would pass, Billy Jack would urge: “Don’t forget to look after me.”

I honestly can’t think of one time Billy Jack didn’t remind the crew that he needed attention. The rest of us didn’t. We never asked for help. We were grownups. Sophisticated. Self-reliant. Seasoned travelers. Most of us didn’t even listen to the emergency landing instructions. (Billy Jack asked me to explain them to him.)

 Billy Jack would have understood the idea of grace.

Have you?

 Many haven’t. We are sophisticated, mature. An epistle to challenge the self-sufficient, Romans was written for folks like us. Confession of need is admission of weakness, something we are slow to do. That’s why I think Billy Jack would have understood grace. It occurred to me that he was the safest person on the flight. Had the plane encountered trouble, he would have received primary assistance. The flight attendants would have bypassed me and gone to him. Why? He had placed himself in the care of someone stronger.
***
One last thought. Billy Jack spent the final hour of the flight with his head on my shoulder, his hands folded between his knees. Just when I thought he was asleep, his head popped up and he said, “My dad is going to meet me at the airport. I can’t wait to see him because he watches after me.”

I read Max Lucado's upwords almost daily and he relays the message of God so eloquently and touches me so much. I guess I am just an old softie and some people think it's a sign of weakness but I don't think so. I know there are people who don't believe as I do and I am not trying to influence your choice as to how you believe. I do say a short prayer for everyone on here every day because I would rather err on the safe side and if there is no hereafter then I will have lost nothing but since I believe there is then so much I will have gained. So laugh at me if ya must, or shake ya head with my ramblings, yes I know yeserday I was aggravated, but I am human as well and get aggravated too, like the old saying says..I am a christian...I am not perfect...just forgiven.

Two blogs in one day...I must be thinking too much!:)

Have a great evening everyone!!! God Bless and Hugzzz to all!:D~Bekka