Aborted Landing

I have to begin with a confession... I don't like flying! If God meant for us to fly we would have wings and I have yet to find anyone who can tell me what good it is that my seat cushion can serve as a flotation device when I'm at 36,000 feet. At that altitude I need an anti-gravity device or parachute. What bureaucrat decided that flotation devices where cheaper than parachutes?

As you can imagine my favorite part of flying is when we are safely on the ground. So as we approached the Minneapolis airport I was playing my usual mind game of guessing how long it would take to be safely on the ground. I looked out the window and could see the runway some 20 feet below, I knew we weren't going to land short, I could breath again when... the engines roared and we went up and to the right with great gusto! The flight attendant made an announement, "you may have noticed we didn't land!" No, really, we didn't land, I thought we were on the ground!

A few moments later the captain spoke over the intercom system. She told us that air traffic control had brought us in to close the plane in front of us and we had to abort our landing and go round again.

I was glad that we had a competent well trained pilot, I was less than thrilled that the air traffic controller made an error, but in retrospect I was delighted that with all the air traffic in the area there was still someone looking out for us.

When I'm sitting in the seat of a plane my life is in the hands of the pilot and tower. I can see out the side to see where I am but I can't see what lies ahead, I had no idea there was anything, much less another plane right in from of us. When I fly I am forced to live in the present, I can't see the future, I can only live in the moment. Of course all of life is lived in the present, we only fool ourselves when we think we know the future. But there is one who knows my future so I have to trust in the greatest pilot of all, Jesus Christ. He not only knows where we've been and where we are but he also knows where we are going. Travelling through life at the side of Jesus is the greatest adventure of all.

Second time was a charm, perfect landing!

Comments

[Michael W. Kruse]

I could have sworn this was going to end up with some reference to "God is my Co-pilot." :)

Great post!

[Ann]

Your post reminds me of a sermon I once heard at a former church.
The pastor was discussing how to respond to people who ask 'How can you believe in a God who you can't see, and who you can't hear?'. In other words, how can you have 'blind faith'? The pastor responded to the question with an automobile analogy. Very few of us understand exactly how the intricate design of a car allow it to accelerate, stop, and generally function. Each of us get into our car each day and drive along our way trusting that the car will perform as expected, even when we don't quite understand or see how. The same should hold true for faith. Even though we don't necessarily see God or audibly hear him, we trust (or should) that he is there and will consistently love and support us.
Not directly related to your post, but it just came to mind.