Airplanes are beautiful to watch. From the ground.
I don’t like to fly in them. I’ll do it if I absolutely have to, but I’d rather spend days driving my car to a distant location than spend a few terrified hours flying to it.
Yes, I’ve heard it said you are safer in an airplane than you are in a car. But I also heard a wise man once say there’s no such thing as a fender bender at 30,000 feet.
Turbulence
The worst flights I’ve been on are the short hops between Birmingham and Atlanta. We always seem to encounter some sort of turbulence, which, to say the least, I don’t handle well. I tense up, welded to my seat, paralyzed with fright as the plane rocks and freefalls like a DisneyWorld roller coaster. I glance dumbfounded across the aisle where there is a guy somehow relaxed as can be, reading a newspaper or surfing his phone, oblivious to the wild motion. How can he remain so calm while I’m confessing sin and asking God to provide for my family?
‘Ultimate traffic controller’
I suppose the reason for my distress is because I am literally putting my life in the hands of the pilot, a person I know absolutely nothing about. Is he (or she) having a good day? Is he sleepy because he stayed up too late watching football last night? Does he have a toothache distracting him? A fight with his wife? Is he worried about how he will find the money to put his kids through college?
Hey, I need this guy to be focused and alert. I’m depending on him to land us safely at our destination
Come to think of it, maybe that’s the reason so many folks are afraid of Christianity. They’re hesitant to put their life in the hands of Jesus Christ because they don’t know Him very well. Fortunately, Jesus, unlike that airplane pilot, is easily researched. He provided the Bible, His complete family history and biography. The more you read it, the more your trust grows.
I think every time you get on an airplane the flight attendant should distribute a bio on the pilot, listing his background and qualifications. Maybe that would give me some peace. The kind of peace I get from knowing that Jesus is my ultimate air traffic controller.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Ken Lass is a retired Birmingham television news and sports anchor and an award-winning columnist for numerous publications and websites.
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