An Answer Comes From A Stranger With Love

Be careful of what you wish or ask because God is listening and will fulfil it according to what He knows is best. Even through a stranger.

I asked a very simple thing to God in the middle of my confusion.

“God, please tell me what to do? Just say it to me and I will follow no matter how it costs, either it to the right or left side or forward or backward, just tell me what You want so I feel sure that what I’m doing, it comes from you. It is fine if you are not talking to me directly, just send someone, someone whom I don’t even know, a child, a woman, a man, a teenager, or no matter who that person is, just send someone to tell me what You want. Someone who comes to me and says “hi, God wants you to know that …” or “Hello, God told me to tell you that…” (sigh) God, just please send strangers or someone who at least I don’t have any idea will come and talk to me. Amen”

“Hi… Do you know where can we recharge mobile phone?” a simple soft voice asked me in Bahasa Indonesia.

“What? Charging? Ah, probably at Starbucks, just go one floor up” out of a surprise of being asked, I answered after noticing about the question.

“Oh Thank you, are you also waiting?” she gave me another question when I didn’t expect to have long conversations.

“Hmm… You can say like that” I replied, hoping there wouldn’t any question afterward.

“Do you know how to go in town?” she came again after a half hour and I just couldn’t ignore her so I finally pleased her to sit beside me and we talked.

I told her that the train to the city had stopped operating few hours before she came and she had only one option to reach the city, by taking a taxi. After talking for hours, she and her daughter decided to stay at the Airport for waiting the train station got back to its operation until the morning came.

At midnight, the airport wasn’t as busy as the daytime and a bunch of backpackers sleeping on the chair even floor without going against the rules. The reason why I love Changi Airport is that no rules prohibit them from sleeping at the airport and I told them that they could sleep on the chair or on the floor if they sleepy.

“Really? Is it okay here?” she asked me like never expected it would happen in such a big airport like Changi Airport so I told about it more.

“I’ve been staying here for almost a week and it’s fine”

“A week?” “Why?” and there were more questions came from her. I could choose to not answer it, but somehow I just felt that we had known for a long time and I told her about myself and some stories of mine. Somehow I felt so lighter inside. To have someone listens to you without even interrupt your stories is just so good.

She finally felt so sleepy and decided to sleep. After trying to sleep on the chair which wasn’t nice at all for her age, she looked uncomfortable and I felt like how if she was my mom, I would feel bad for her so I decided to lend her my sleeping bed. She refused it at the first, I knew it was because she would feel bad to sleep well when other not well. I convinced her that I would be just fine.

I woke up early morning just to avoid more people coming. She was still sleeping while her daughter had woken up. We talked for a while and decided to go to Starbucks, which located one floor up and headed right to the place we could charge our gadgets and sat there. We talked, talked and talked. It was just so easy to talk to someone you just met a couple of hours before. We went back after when we saw our gadgets were fully charged.

Her mom has woken up and looked fresh after taking a rest. I guided them to the restroom where they could wash their face, brush their teeth and other women stuffs. We sat back again and people are getting more and more coming to the airport.

We continued our conversation like never-ending conversation. It felt like there were so many things left to talk. We felt that we had been separated so long until we had so many things held inside. We hugged and said good words to each other and of course took a picture. Then we finally exchanged our contact. When the time was about to leave, I even sent them to the train and we had our “first” official farewell.

Months pass, we hadn’t contacted each other until there was something [I couldn’t recall what was it] I was contacted by her daughter through Line and we had our never-ending conversation for days. I finally called her by phone and had a very nice conversation. I met also with her daughter like an official second meeting.

THE MUSINGS

There is a saying “You think the only people who are people are the people who look and think like you, but if you walk the footsteps of a stranger, you’ll learn things you never knew you never knew”.

Every time I remember that unexpected meeting I will recall those conversations and somehow I feel bless. We were once stranger then God made thing happened the way we couldn’t imagine. They didn’t just pass to say something, but they stay as a family inside, encourage with its own way. We may not meet every day or we may not talk to each other for weeks, but when we do, it’s as if you’d never stopped talking.