Street Stories - A Ringside Seat To Over 4 Decades Of Taking Jesus To The Streets Of The World

a female flight attendant would be tapping me on my shoulder referring to me as “Father.”

As my eyes met hers, she insisted, “ Father, we need you. There is a man a few rows back that is having a heart attack. We need you !” And then it hit me. Because I had not had enough time to change my clothes before I got on the plane, I was still wearing my black suit, and most of all, I was still wearing my white clerical collar I had worn while ministering at Ground Zero. As we were halfway from New York City to Los Angeles, a man a few rows behind me was having a heart attack and the flight attendant assumed I was a priest and they needed to come back and tend to him. Oh, my Lord! I quickly jumped up from my seat, closely followed the flight attendant a few rows back to see a man, sitting in an aisle seat, in some form of medical distress, It appeared he was having a heart attack and the anxious onlookers all around him were looking at me to perform some type of priestly duties. After all, in their minds, I was the priest on board the plane, the “Father.” I wasn’t sure if they expected me to pray for God to touch him and avert this heart attack he was presumably having, of did they want me to perform last rites? I wasn’t sure and I don’t think they were sure either. I had spent the last ten days near death and destruction, ministering at Ground Zero and ministering to distraught families throughout the city, so I was not about to be deterred in this situation.

242