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.