This is it!

I was on a plane to Minnesota the other day and experienced the most dangerous situation that I have ever encountered while flying. I have been flying for more years than I care to remember. I am platinum medallion status having flown thousands of flights and hundreds of thousands of miles through all sorts of weather. During my lifetime, I have flown through blizzards, thunderstorms, air turbulence of practically every magnitude, fog, sleet, you name it. I have encountered on a few occasions a condition known as “jet wash”. Just as a boat leaves a wake in the water, so does a plane through the air. When another plane crosses this “air wake”, it is like hitting a large hole in the highway in a car with poor shock absorbers. I have flown through jet wash many times and can easily recognize what is happening with little concern.

Last week the jet wash we flew through was different. Ordinarily when you hit this pocket of turbulent air, it makes a loud noise and the plane jostles around rather vigorously for a few seconds and then it becomes smooth again. We had just taken off and were climbing up to our cruise altitude. When we hit the jet wash, we were not very high in the air. I would estimate four or five thousand feet. We heard a loud BOOM and the plane jerked violently to the right with the plane turning on its side and with the wings vertical to the ground. I almost always have an aisle seat, but this time had a window seat. As I looked out the window, the nose of the plane suddenly turned straight down towards the ground and seemed to pick up speed. The lady sitting next to me had a “death grip” on my arm and it sounded as if everyone on the plane was simultaneously screaming at the top of their lungs.

This is it I grimly thought. As I looked out the window and saw the plane heading for the ground, my feelings were mixed. I was strangely calm, although at the same time I definitely had a “sick” feeling knowing that I was going to die. I remember wondering if it was going to hurt. Suddenly the plane’s nose lifted up, the wings went back to their proper horizontal position and we began to climb again. There was no explanation from the flight deck as to what had occurred for several minutes. When the plane leveled off at 33,000 feet, finally the captain came on and said not to be concerned that everything in the cockpit was “now” normal, all of the gauges in the cockpit were OK, and that we had flown through jet wash from another plane.

Although he did not say as much, I believe that the right engine stalled when we encountered the jet wash. That would explain the plane suddenly lurching to the right. Of course had both engines stalled there would have been no recovery.

The bottom line is that if things had been a little different, I would not be writing this today. My family would be making funeral arrangements and our company would be buzzing with activity as a combination of mourning would be occurring while management would be maneuvering to replace me and keep the company on course.

Where would I be? I can answer that, I would be with the Lord. The reason that I was not screaming and was calm was because I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that if I die I will instantly be with the Lord.
Although I had a sick feeling knowing that my life was about to end and I wondered if it was going to be painful to die, I absolutely did not fear crossing over from life through death to everlasting life. The Bible teaches that everyone has an appointment with first death and then judgment.

When you are faced with your appointment with death, will you be ready for judgment?

If you are not sure that if you were to die today that you would instantly be with the Lord, or if you fear death because you are not sure, then you need to do something about it today.

Why?

Because as the old saying goes, two things are certain in life, death and taxes. You will not escape death, you have an appointment with it and then you will face judgment from a Holy God.

If Jesus Christ is your advocate, the judgment will go well. If not, then you will be eternally separated from a loving God forever.

You just never know when your number is going to be called, three people die every second – 180/minute – 260,000 day – 95,000,000 per year.


We’ll all be part of these statistics one day. I hope everyone who reads this will be ready.

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Hebrews 9:27…
And it is appointed for men
to die once, but after this the
judgment,
so Christ was offered once to
bear the sins of many.