The Eight-Hour Flight with Screaming Little Girls

Charlotte and Hubert Hutchens

          Charlotte Hutchens, our dear neighbor, celebrates her 90th birthday today. She has shared many stories over the years, but this one is possibly my favorite one. I think this story honors the type of friend and neighbor Charlotte has been to our family. Happy 90th Birthday, Charlotte!

            An eight-hour flight with two little girls - aged five and seven screaming at the top of their lungs! What a boarding line to be in! thought Charlotte. As they inched closer, they could hear the two little high-pitched voices shrieking, "I don't want to fly on an airplane!" Charlotte was almost ready to join with them. Who would want to fly a third of a day on this plane?

            Charlotte and Hube, her husband, were flying to visit their daughter and family in Alaska, but the auditory torture caused Charlotte to seriously consider refusing to board that flight. She contemplated choosing to delay their arrival to visit their daughter. She even commented to her husband, “I can’t take that for eight hours!”

            Instantly, other passengers crowded behind her and Hubert making her escape impossible. Instead of acting on her deep-seated desire to bolt, she continued settling in for the lengthy flight. She and her husband were not seated together. To her horror, she was assigned the seat between the “screaming sisters.”

            Upon comprehension of her reality, she breathed a prayer, “Lord, you’ve got to help me get through this.” Immediately, a calm, fear-numbing peace enveloped her entire being.

            She spoke to both saying, “Now we’ve got to stop this.” She reaffirmed in a calming, quiet voice that she enjoyed flying and agreed to hold a hand of each frightened child. Charlotte began to extol the delights of flying. As the plane took off, with their free hand, the two frightened little ones lifted the pillow they each clutched to covered their eyes.

            Charlotte mentally searched the dark recesses of her memory for a soothing lullaby.  She could only recall a song I had given her from the curriculum I had used as a part of the International School Project curriculum in 1995. She began singing the lilting, catchy tune with the words:

The Spirit of God

Is my Helper and Guide

Giving me power

To do what is right.

Spirit of God, Spirit of God,

Spirit of God, Spirit of God.

He gives love,

He gives joy,

He gives peace,

He gives

Patience to both young and old.

Kindness and goodness,

And faithfulness, gentleness,

He even gives self-control.

            The girls quieted and nestled close to Charlotte. Soon the flight attendant spoke in hushed tones to Charlotte, “Ma’am, is there anything I can get you – champagne, anything?”

            Charlotte, knowing she was experiencing a divine empowerment in her own being that had led to an intervention by the Prince of Peace in the lives of these little distraught girls, responded, “No, I am doing fine.”

            The smallest one of the girls seated herself on Charlotte’s lap after takeoff, retaining the pillow over her eyes. Charlotte had ceased singing momentarily. Tiny, bright eyes peeked from the side of the pillow and said, “Keep singing.”

            They wanted their grandma. Charlotte reassured them she was a grandma with grandchildren much like them. To her sorrow, she learned their mother had died. Following her death, the two scared siblings had flown to live with their grandmother whom they apparently adored. Recently, the two had been informed their father had remarried. Now they were flying to meet a woman for the first time – a woman whom they were expected to call “Mother.” No wonder they were screaming – it wasn’t flying they didn’t want to do. They didn’t want to land. Who could blame them?

            Everyone on the flight from the mainland to the 49^th state realized something had transpired on the flight that had seemed doomed to be “torturous” to all except the profoundly deaf. The woman seated next to Hubert commented, “That woman up there must be a saint!”

            I can envision the twinkle in his eye as Hube responded to her complimentary statement, “That’s my wife.” Nobody had to tell him what a remarkable young woman he had taken as a bride many years earlier. (One of my favorite photos of Hube and his "bride" as he still refers to her.)

            As the flight neared its end, the flight attendant returned. Charlotte had sung the simple, but profound song many times during the eight hours while sitting between the two little girls who needed the grandma from Oklahoma more than she could ever imagine.

            Once again, the hushed voice of the flight attendant leaned over to speak with Charlotte. She intimated, “We had 17 children flying unattended on this flight, and every one of them was listening to you.”

            Only eternity will reveal how many people were impacted by Charlotte’s willingness to rely on the Lord instead of running off the plane, like she wanted to do. Even though many years have passed since that flight, Charlotte continues to reflect on one of the greatest divine interventions when the Lord used her as a catalyst in accomplishing His heavenly purpose.

            Jesus spoke these words that transformed that plane flight those years ago as recorded by the Apostle John in John 14:27: Peace I leave with you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Only a relationship with Jesus, prophetically called the Prince of Peace, endows a person with His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, that enveloped that plane and can bring peace and direction to our daily lives.

To listen to children singing "Spirit of God" click on this link to Douglas Eltzroth's composition: https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=61qsqZ5umKE