“Fasten your seat belts, and make sure that your seat backs are in the upright position,” announced the flight attendant.
Obediently, I did so. I’ve been flying as a passenger for forty-four years. I could make the announcement, but I’ve always felt a little apprehensive about takeoffs and landings. It seems that most accidents happen during these two phases of the flight.
I sensed the descending plane as I sat with my eyes closed. I opened them just in time to see that we had almost touched the ground. The wing flaps usually opened wide to slow the plane down on touchdown. However, I heard the engines rev up, not down. We started on a steep climb. I looked out the window.
I’d had enough experience to know that something was drastically wrong. Did the landing gear not come down? Unlikely, I thought, since we had almost touched down. I waited for the pilot’s voice, sure he would give an announcement. After we had leveled off, the pilot’s calm voice came on the speaker.
“Folks, we had to take back off because we had wind pushing us forward rapidly and a plane that hadn’t quite taken off in front of us,” he said in that deadpan, placid pilot’s voice.
“A near miss,” excitedly exclaimed my seatmate.
I thought about how quickly our lives could have changed or been snuffed out. However, the quick-thinking pilot averted the disaster by a hairbreadth decision.
Isn’t that like God and me? As I ask God to pilot me, He makes the decisions that may divert or avoid disasters in my life. I couldn’t see out the plane’s front window, but the pilot could. Can I not trust God more than an earthly pilot that He will guide me safely to my heavenly home?
God is our all-seeing pilot. He sees the whole picture while we see only a portion of it. Learn to trust Him.
Patricia Newton is amazed at the universe God created. She loves to read historical and scientific topics and make connections between the Bible, science, history, and literature, seeing how they intersect in her understanding of the world. She believes there will never be enough time to indulge her thirst for knowledge. Patricia is an unashamed follower of Jesus Christ and believes the Bible has the answer for all that's out of kilter in our present world. She is a member of a big family and has a passel of children of her own. She has earned a B.A. in history, a Masters of Education, and a Bible school diploma.