The Ride of your Life!

I was reminded today of a particular trip we took as a family. My father is a small plane pilot and many times we would go somewhere on vacation in our plane. I believe we were going to Boston on this occasion and we were flying over LaGuardia Airport. Air traffic control is very strict in this area due to the large number of planes around you, so when the air traffic controller gives you a flight pattern you have to remain on it. We were approaching a very large thunder storm and my father radioed the tower to try and get another vector, the controller said that no one had reported any bad weather in the area so it probably wasn’t that big of a system and to just continue on. Back then Doppler radar didn’t exist so radar screens did not show weather patterns. When we hit this giant thunderstorm it became very dark and extremely bumpy, we were immediately caught in an updraft that took us up almost a thousand feet in just a few seconds. As we were rising my father killed power to the motor to slow our ascent, which caused a loud beeping sound and red blinking lights to appear on the console… it was a stall indicator, but to me I thought it meant we were crashing because my dad was on the radio to the tower screaming, Mayday, Mayday, Mayday, and I knew full good and well what that meant. The wings on the plane were flapping up and down like a bird and I thought they were going to be torn off, and periodically I could see patches of water below us. My only thought was; “I can’t swim”, as if I would somehow have survived the impact of slamming into the water. I remember the ashen faced look of my brother sitting next to me while our stomach’s turned flip flops as G-forces tore through us and threw us up and down, left and right… I remember at one point looking in the back of the plane and my other two younger brother and sister, who were about four and five at the time, were being bounced up and down in their loosely fitting seat belts. They were literally going from the seat to the ceiling in repetitive motion in the small space they were confined in. I will never forget the contrast between my sheer terror and the absolute shouts of joy and glee that were coming from their mouths. They just thought dad was doing this for their entertainment and they trusted completely, that he knew what he was doing.

Shouldn’t that be the way it is for us? I remember after we landed thinking about how much fun my younger siblings were having and thinking: “If I had known that we were going to land safely, it would have been one heck of a fun roller coaster ride that I could have enjoyed”. And under those circumstances I most certainly would have done it again. But, isn’t life the same for us! Our father in heaven has promised to take care of us and that nothing is going to happen that is outside of His control. In Luke 12:22 He very plainly tells us; “Do not worry about your lives”. We can’t do anything about it anyway, so just let him handle it.
Just like the feelings I had after our plane landed, when this life is over, I believe we will look back and think; “I wish I had enjoyed these moments more”. We will see that we were comfortably placed in Gods loving hand every step of the way. And under those circumstances we most certainly would have done it again and enjoyed every moment of it!

Let’s try and trust Him that way today!

He knows exactly who you are and what you are going through. Remember that He has the very hairs of your head counted, (Matthew 10:30) and not a single sparrow falls to the earth without His notice, (Luke 12:6-7) . So do not be afraid, we are worth much more than a sparrow. And just like the song says...

“He’s got the whole world in His hands”!