Year: 2016

Kathy Geary Anderson > Journal > 2016

Fear of Flying

Posted on by Kathy Geary Anderson

I used to be a white-knuckle flyer. Today, after many years of flight experience, I’ve graduated to what I’d call a reluctant flyer. The fear is still there. I’ve just learned to cope. Recently, my husband and I were returning home on a flight that originated out of a very small airport. Seriously, y’all, when I say small, I mean the same two people who checked us in and took our luggage were the same two who collected our boarding passes at the gate. They were also the same ones (we noticed) who loaded our luggage on the plane and guided us out onto the runway. Yeah. Two-man operation small.

Needless to say, our plane was no 747. If you’ve flown much, you’ve probably been on one like it–two miniscule seats on one side, one on the other with an aisle so narrow it’s best navigated sideways. But as I mentioned before, I’ve learned to cope. After an intimate conversation with Jesus on take-off, I immersed myself in a book by one of my favorite authors.

All was good . . . until we hit turbulence.

Really, there’s nothing like a good bit of turbulence to bring you smack dab into your present circumstances. After one particularly violent dip that left my heart hovering somewhere near the ceiling of the plane, I looked up from my book and took stock of my surroundings. Panic squeezed the air from my lungs. I was in a stinkin’ aluminum can, bobbing around like a manic ping-pong ball, 30,000 feet in the air. What in the name of sanity had convinced me this was a good idea?

Thankfully before I decided to run screaming for an exit, the plane leveled out, and I was able to escape into my book again. Because deep-down inside, despite how I might have felt at that moment, I knew this truth. If I didn’t really believe the plane would get me to my destination, I would never have left the airport.

Isn’t that a lot like this faith-walk we’re on? I love this quote:

“Faith is when you act like God is telling you the truth.”

Faith is not static. It requires that we step out into seemingly impossible situations believing God is going to make good on His promises. Some days the path seems easy, but on others, when turbulence hits, suddenly this grand faith-adventure we’re on is not so grand anymore, and like Peter walking on the water, all we can focus on are the waves around us. Satan has us exactly where he wants us–paralyzed by fear.

If this is where you find yourself, consider this. If I had let my fear of flying keep me in the airport, think of all the adventures I would have missed, the wonderful places I’d never have experienced.

Ephesians 2:10 tells us:

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Are you allowing fear to keep you from what God has created you to do? Maybe it’s time to get out of the airport and onto that plane.

The Promise of Spring

Posted on by Kathy Geary Anderson

It’s always a toss-up here in Nebraska when Spring Break falls in early March as to whether our kids will be playing in the snow or enjoying true spring weather. Luckily for us, the latter was the case this year. Whether you traveled for Spring Break or stayed home, I hope you had an opportunity to get outside and enjoy the promise of spring.

Don’t you just love the way God speaks to us through his creation? Psalm 19:1-4 tells us:

“The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.”

And again in Romans 1:20, we read:

“For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.”

Nothing in creation speaks more clearly of God’s power in redemption than the coming of spring. Everything that one day looks dead and cold and hopeless suddenly bursts with new life as the weather warms and spring returns.

My mother died in January of 2007 in the midst of a bitter, snow-filled winter. I can still remember the first spring after her passing. Here’s an excerpt from my journal during that time:

“What a cold, long winter it has been. But today I feel just like the world around me, as if something cold and bleak inside of me is beginning to melt because I keep leaking. I cried when I saw the first crocuses bloom by my gate a few weeks ago. And I’ve been crying ever since. . . . Thank you again, Jesus, for giving us the victory over death. Without that hope, there would be no spring.”

Whatever season your soul is in right now, take time this week to get out and read God’s message to you. The crocuses are blooming again. I’ve seen them. The maple trees are heavy with buds. No matter how bleak or dead or hopeless life seems right now, God is whispering His promises: new life . . . new beginnings . . . and HOPE.