I’ve never really been afraid of flying.
Now, I’m no “expert” flyer, but I would say that I’m pretty seasoned. I don’t get nervous during take-off or landing. In fact, I am blessed with the uncanny ability to sleep on planes. It’s not uncommon for me to fall asleep before we even leave the ground. The only major downside of this ability is that I often miss the complementary snacks. But I digress.
Moreover, the whole concept of flying through the air in a giant metal tube has never really gotten to me. I understand the physics of it all: the combination of Bernoulli’s principle and Newton’s third law of motion makes sense. Easy enough.
However, my blend of experience and knowledge regarding airplanes does not mean that there aren’t still moments when the beat of my heart intensifies and I grab for my armrest. I had one such experience flying from Ontario to Denver on my way home. But let me start a little earlier on…
A friend of mine dropped me off at the Ontario airport early Thursday afternoon, and within 20 minutes I had checked my bags, was through security, and had reached my gate. I did not encounter any lines whatsoever, and it was the most stress-free airport experience I’d ever had.
At my gate, I relaxed into a nice leather chair, and pulled out my computer and some food. I was one of maybe six people at my gate. In fact, the entire hall looked like this:
I spent some time listening to music, editing photos, and doing some writing. Before I knew it, it was time to board. I lined up, made my way onto the plane, and managed to snag a window seat—just what I had been hoping for.
I tried to read a little bit, but sleep was taking over. I was exhausted. My eyes were getting heavy, and my book kept slipping out of my hands. I finally gave in, put my book in the seat-back pocket. I fell asleep instantly.
Some time later—I’m really not sure how long—I woke up and rubbed my eyes. I was tempted to go back to sleep, but I decided I should try to be alert for at least part of the flight. Instead, I pulled out my ipod, wanting some time to think. I looked around and realized that I had missed the complementary snacks. Bummer, I should have seen that one coming.
Well, I’m sitting calmly absorbing the music, when something suddenly throws me off balance—literally and figuratively. Yes, as you may have guessed, we hit a patch of turbulence. I’ve experienced turbulence plenty of times before, but never really like this. The plane was shaking quite badly, and it wasn’t letting up. I looked out my window; I couldn’t see anything past the clouds blocking it.
I paused my music, assuming the captain would come over the speaker and tell us what was going on or reassure us that we would be through the turbulence soon enough. But he never did. The plane continued to shake, and for the first time while flying, there was a bit of fear in my heart. Now, let’s be honest, my fear was pretty irrational. But that didn’t stop me from feeling it.
The turbulence continued for a little bit longer—although, realistically, it was probably a way shorter amount of time than I thought. The flight eventually became smooth again, and I calmed down. It was then that the captain came over the speaker. He explained that we had being going over the Rockies, and that’s why we had experienced such turbulence.
I relaxed back into my seat and thought about what had just happened. An idea came to mind and I pondered it. Since that time, I have continued to think about said idea and have seen its prevalence in my life and the lives of others. It is simply this…
Our lives are often like those few minutes of turbulence that I experienced. Sometimes everything around us seems to quake, and we become fearful. We look out the window only to see no explanation of what’s going on. We listen for the Captain’s voice, but we do not hear anything. Everything feels uncertain. It feels like we have nothing to cling to and there is no way out.
Has the Captain abandoned us in our time of need? Certainly not! He is keeping us safe, but somehow we get caught up in the fact that He’s not telling us anything. Yes, circumstances often don’t make sense—welcome to a little thing called faith. Also, more often than not, it’s after the fact that we learn the source of our difficulty.
Granted, this illustration has its limitations, but God has been using it to remind me to cling to Him in my uncertainties. I had to trust the captain of my flight that he had the proper experience to deal with the turbulence. I felt confident that he did, but that’s something that I never have to question with the Lord.
So what about you—have you ever been frustrated that you haven’t heard the Captain’s voice during a time when you felt uncertain or afraid? What did you learn through that?
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| The clouds eventually parted, and I got to see the beauty as the sun reflected off of the water. |
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