Adultery in the Heart

huck Swindoll had been asked to speak in New Orleans at the Super Bowl breakfast in January 1990 by Athletes in Action. He had to change planes en route from Los Angeles to New Orleans. His connecting flight was packed as others were traveling to Super Bowl XXIV also. Pastor Swindoll noticed that the seat behind him was empty - the only one on the plane. He records what happened next.

Only minutes before we backed away from the terminal, one final passenger hurried on board. Her plane had been late in arriving, making it questionable if she could make her New Orleans connection. She did. As she hurried on . . . she immediately broke into a broad smile as her eyes met those of the man sitting next to the seat she would occupy. She didn’t simply sit down - she fell into his arms as they kissed, giggled, and embraced for the next ten minutes.

My immediate thought was, “Now there’s a happily married couple!” How wrong I was. They were both married . . . but not to each other. Because they sat right behind me, I got the full scoop . . . Their carefully arranged plan was to rendezvous on the plane, then spend the weekend together in New Orleans. Their conversation, mixed with frequent kisses, included . . . comments about the fun they had in front of them, the intimate ecstasy of being together for a couple of nights, along with attending the Super Bowl. Both laughed and joked as they talked about how each other’s mate knew nothing of it. I might add here that neither made mention of the possible consequences . . . of depression that was sure to follow, the possibility of unexpected pregnancy . . . . Why, of course not! This couple was on fire. Their full focus turned to the delightful time they would have together. They just couldn’t talk about anything else.

All the while I’m sitting there in front of them, working on a chapter on sexual temptation, thirty-six inches behind me is a living illustration of lust in action (Swindoll, Chuck. Sanctity of Life. The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart. W. Publishing Group. 1998. p. 17-18).

The Beginning. The couple had planned for some fun in New Orleans, but they did not know that most likely their relationship would end in emotional pain. Did they know that only three percent of couples involved in extra-marital affairs get married and seventy-five percent of them end in divorce? Those are not very encouraging statistics. Many get divorced in order to marry someone else and do not realize the misery that awaits them.