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Cal's Pastoral Epistles
"You Can Trust This Pilot"
January 22, 2009
On January 9th I booked a flight to Louisville, Kentucky to visit my
parents. As I was heading to the airport on Tuesday morning, my friend
asked me if I was nervous about flying U. S. Airways in light of the
emergency landing one of their planes made last week. Until he said
something, (Thank you George!) I didn’t even realize that I was flying the
same airline. I had not even thought about it until that moment.
My internal antenna went up another notch after I arrived at the airport. I
was just passing through security when a sudden flurry of activity broke
out in front of me. Security guards assembled en masse blocking us from
entering the terminal. A few minutes later a man was carried away in
handcuffs by the state police and we were sent down to our gates. For the
next hour the whole airport was shut down. Planes were rerouted. The
doors to the building were secured. Many of us sitting there in the terminal
figured that there must have been a bomb scare. Great! I am glad my girls
were not with me. It was enough to freak you out.
When my plane finally took off I kept thinking about everything that could
go wrong. Images of the crash in the Hudson, the terrorist attacks on
September 11th and every airplane disaster movie I have ever seen kept
coming back to me. I can understand why some people don’t like to fly.
As we reached our cruising altitude another thought hit me. I always pray
during lift off and landing. I ask God to be with us. The truth is that God is
always with us. He gave us that promise in the book of Matthew.
Sometimes he is easy to see. Just ask those passengers on the plane that
went down in New York last week. They called it a miracle. Some said
angels were riding on the wings. The truth is that someone was watching
over them and I believe it was God.
It is very easy to become frightened and overcome by worry when we
think of all the things that can go wrong in life. When a friend is diagnosed
with cancer or a relative announces that they are getting a divorce, it is only
human to think about our own situations and wonder if we could be next.
When we hear of a child who is severely injured or get word that a neighbor
is laid off it can produce untold anxiety in us that we could suffer the same
fate.
The truth is that life is filled with possibilities, both good and bad. We
never know what tomorrow will bring. The good news is that we know
who holds tomorrow. God hasn’t promised us that life will always be
perfect and that we won’t ever suffer any pain. What He has promised is
that He will be with us. God will give us strength to face those difficulties.
Hey, this is the One who turned the tragedy of his only son’s death on the
cross into a door through which the whole world could be saved. So why
should we worry. As the Apostle Paul said, “If God is for us, who can be
against us.
I’m on my way home now. God is the pilot in my life and I’m going to
trust Him to see me through on this and every journey I take. I pray you
will do the same.
God Bless. See you in Church. Cal.
January 22, 2009
On January 9th I booked a flight to Louisville, Kentucky to visit my
parents. As I was heading to the airport on Tuesday morning, my friend
asked me if I was nervous about flying U. S. Airways in light of the
emergency landing one of their planes made last week. Until he said
something, (Thank you George!) I didn’t even realize that I was flying the
same airline. I had not even thought about it until that moment.
My internal antenna went up another notch after I arrived at the airport. I
was just passing through security when a sudden flurry of activity broke
out in front of me. Security guards assembled en masse blocking us from
entering the terminal. A few minutes later a man was carried away in
handcuffs by the state police and we were sent down to our gates. For the
next hour the whole airport was shut down. Planes were rerouted. The
doors to the building were secured. Many of us sitting there in the terminal
figured that there must have been a bomb scare. Great! I am glad my girls
were not with me. It was enough to freak you out.
When my plane finally took off I kept thinking about everything that could
go wrong. Images of the crash in the Hudson, the terrorist attacks on
September 11th and every airplane disaster movie I have ever seen kept
coming back to me. I can understand why some people don’t like to fly.
As we reached our cruising altitude another thought hit me. I always pray
during lift off and landing. I ask God to be with us. The truth is that God is
always with us. He gave us that promise in the book of Matthew.
Sometimes he is easy to see. Just ask those passengers on the plane that
went down in New York last week. They called it a miracle. Some said
angels were riding on the wings. The truth is that someone was watching
over them and I believe it was God.
It is very easy to become frightened and overcome by worry when we
think of all the things that can go wrong in life. When a friend is diagnosed
with cancer or a relative announces that they are getting a divorce, it is only
human to think about our own situations and wonder if we could be next.
When we hear of a child who is severely injured or get word that a neighbor
is laid off it can produce untold anxiety in us that we could suffer the same
fate.
The truth is that life is filled with possibilities, both good and bad. We
never know what tomorrow will bring. The good news is that we know
who holds tomorrow. God hasn’t promised us that life will always be
perfect and that we won’t ever suffer any pain. What He has promised is
that He will be with us. God will give us strength to face those difficulties.
Hey, this is the One who turned the tragedy of his only son’s death on the
cross into a door through which the whole world could be saved. So why
should we worry. As the Apostle Paul said, “If God is for us, who can be
against us.
I’m on my way home now. God is the pilot in my life and I’m going to
trust Him to see me through on this and every journey I take. I pray you
will do the same.
God Bless. See you in Church. Cal.
Pastor Cal Lord writes these weekly epistles to
help us see God in every day things.
help us see God in every day things.
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