Last weekend, I had the honor of attending a memorial service for a very dear friend of mine, a life mentor of mine, a man by the name

of Pastor Jack Hayford.

Jack had poured into my life with friendship and love and wisdom and kindness and counsel for

over 50 years.

He's a dear friend.

And I'll miss him very much.

But he shared a story one time that I just, I got to share with you.

He traveled a lot because he taught all over the world. And he always tried to fly in the same airline.

So he had a lot of status, which meant that whenever he would fly, the airline would just automatically give him an upgrade

to a first class seat because of all of the travel he did with him.

Well, there was one particular trip that he had to make, and at the last minute there were a

bunch of changes that happened in the schedule, and he wound up having to change his plans

and take an airline that he never flew anywhere.

So he had no status with these people.

I didn't know who he was.

And so needless to say, he did not get his first class upgrade.

Not only that, the only seat available on the plane was in the back row in the middle seat.

So he was not happy. Actually, to use his words, he was

cranky. So, but he thought, you know, there's nothing I can do about this. It's a two and a half

hour flight. I'm just going to power through it. I'm going to get out my notes. I'm going to take

that middle seat. I'm just going to focus on my stuff. I'm not talking to anybody.

I don't want any conversations.

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