Death rattle

I flew from Miami into Atlanta and then Jackson Mississippi last night in the middle of a nasty storm. The planes were rocking and rolling and falling and bumping and creaking and jerking with reckless abandon. The guy in the seat next to me was white as a sheet washed in Ivory Snow and stated to me through clenched teeth that he wished he would have stayed in Miami. He was obviously frightened out of his wits from the plane’s noisy bumpy ride and the rattling plane seemed to him to be his death rattle. I had been on many similar flights and although I did not like it and was uncomfortable, I was not overly concerned.

The weather was bad enough, but as we were beginning our descent into Jackson a plane roared by us and I would estimate it could not have been more than 500 feet below us and appeared to have just taken off. (They are supposed to maintain a mile in all directions and someone dropped the ball big time on this one. I have flown for many, many years and years and have never experienced one pass that close.) My son who is a pilot himself saw it and was shaking his head in relief that we did not collide and/or get caught in the jet wash.

When we deplaned the captain came out of his cockpit and looked rattled himself. He told me, “Good luck on standing up out there”. He had tremendous difficulty landing the plane in such strong winds and with the near-miss it was a harrowing experience. I told my wife this morning about our adventure and told her that my son and I were lucky to have survived the night; she yawned.

I am leaving for Australia on Thanksgiving Day and will fly 20 hours non-stop from LA. That is a long time to be in an airplane. When we arrive we fly another 260 miles out into the Coral Sea far beyond the Great Barrier Reef and land in the water in a sea plane where we will board our new home, a mother ship. We will stay on the mother ship and fish out of smaller boats for Black Marlin during the height of the Black Marlin migration and rising moon for a solid week of fishing. When done, we fly back to mainland Australia and tour for a few days and then make the long journey back home.

I will be in God’s hands the entire time and no I am not apprehensive about it in any way. This may seem odd in light of the hair-raising flights I had last night, but God is good all of the time and I have complete trust in Him. Faith in God is a wonderful thing. It gives us freedom to enjoy life to its fullest. God has appointed a time for each of us to die. He made these appointments billions of years ago and we will not miss our appointment, nor will we prolong it one nano-second by worrying about all of the what-if’s’ out there that could snag our lives. Death will eventually come, perhaps today and then again maybe thirty or fifty years from now. When it does, if you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, you will immediately see paradise, (and as an old wise man once said, “that ain’t’ bad”). Until that time trust in the lord, sit back and relax, and enjoy!

Psalm 23:6
Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all of the days of my life; and
I will dwell in the house of the Lord
for ever.