I buckled the seat belt and glanced around the cabin of the plane. Full flight—not an empty seat. And I shifted closer to my husband for take-off. While my son is a fighter pilot who loves his airplane and delights in zooming through the skies at mach speed, no way does that strand of flight genes flow in these veins. Now I just had endure this three plus hours to get home.
Vacation in Seattle had been wonderful, and I kinda looked forward to the interrupted time to edit my WIP (work in progress) Twisted. Kinda.
About fifteen minutes into the flight the captain instructed the flight attendants to immediately take their seats and buckle up. The voice instructed passengers not to move about the cabin for the next little bit, and those seat-command-lights flashed on.
Dick patted my arm and smiled. Every muscle in my body tensed. I didn’t return his smile.
The bumping began—then worsened. I closed my notebook, stuffed it back inside the bag and grabbed his hand in a death-lock. We dipped and the plane jarred from side to side.
I pushed his hand away and clutched the gray, drop-down tray in front of me, and hung on. But the bumps and rolls continued. Seconds? Minutes? Hours? My hands hurt from holding that plastic so tight. And all that raced through my mind, over and over, “Lord, help us! Please help us.”
“You’re holding onto the wrong thing.” The clear, concise words, sounded in my head and heart.
“What?” I quipped.
“You are holding onto the wrong thing.” The calm voice of the Spirit of God repeated as loud and real as if He were sitting in Dick’s seat.
I stared at my fists clinging to a gray plastic and the stupid absurdity of my actions crystallized. If the plane went down so would I—clinging to that insignificant tray.
The bumping continued, but I loosened my grip and tore my hands away from that false hope of stability and confessed what God already knew. I was wrong. And anxious. And was indeed holding onto the wrong thing.
Though the bumping didn’t stop, I felt God’s presence and peace wrap me, body, soul and spirit, in His sovereign arms—after I put away foolish substitutes and trusted Him to care for me.
During this Christmas Season, that question has played through my mind many times since that high-flite-testing.
Amid the hustle and bustle, what insignificant, useless things are you holding onto?
Are you clenching your fists at God because He took your loved one home this year? Are you determined to keep all things as they were before their death—accusing God of taking someone you can’t live without? Are you holding onto anger, anxiousness, and agitation?
Or are you so spun up over the world events crumbling around us you can’t enter into the truth of the Christmas celebration? Are you holding onto the hope of salvation through the right candidate, right political party, or right Congress to set this nation back on it’s godly foundation?
What shape and color plastic are you holding onto?
What deception have you allowed to creep in and cloud your ability to see the Light of Christ?
What turbulent situation is robbing you of faith, peace, and confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ to give you help, hope, and healing?
Dick leaned over and whispered, “It’ll be over soon. We’re just flying over the Cascades.”
I had no idea flying over mountains in the atmosphere of the afternoon would cause turbulence. Did you? We had flown over them in the early morning and it had been smooth. I was ignorant of the facts.
And many of us, even those who believe in Christ Jesus, and have been washed in His blood, don’t know the facts of the truth of His Word. And, like my ignorance of the cause of the bumps and rolls, they are ignorant of what God tells us about who He is, who we are in Him, and what is to come.
And how we are to behave in the process.
But He has preserved His love letters. His instructions on how to make it through these harsh and barren times. And it’s not too late to educate yourself.
Will you search His Truth?
Will you choose to release your grip on your understanding in order to embrace the truths and peace of His Word?
Will you make a daily practice of focusing on the only One who can deliver you through the storms and tragedies of life? Jesus—born to die so you might live in the joy of His presence—right now and forever.
“For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this” (Isaiah 9:5-7 NAS).
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; and this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world” (1 John 4:1-3 NAS).
after the last few days, I had, this spoke to me. I choose to hold on to Jesus…no, make that white-knuckle cling!
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And I find we are faced with those choices rapid and often. Bombarded. And if we’re not grounded in the Word and abiding in His presence, we have a problem detecting the sham from the Truth. So many wolves bleating, “Baaa, Baaa.”
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Good reminder of WHO to hold on to through everything! 🙂
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I admit it. I chuckled a little. I’ve been on many flights, some of which were a little turbulent. Grasping the tray never occurred to me. However, when I go to the dentist I try to go relaxed. It’s not that I enjoy them all that much, but with a little poke here and there with the Novocaine, I get along okay. Sometime during the process I realize that my hands are clasped together and my knuckles are white. I’m not sure if the dentist is aware of it. I then have a talk with myself about how silly I’m being and I let go of my hands and slump into relaxation mode for the rest of the journey. That’s why I chuckled reading your story. However, I am thoroughly convinced that God’s presence in my life as a leading agent for me gives me an advantage over many out there. Thanks for that reminder. Lead on, God!
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Warren if you’d ever flown with me you’d really be laughing out loud. My first flight, when I was in my late 30’s was by myself and I was horrified. We were being transferred to Texas and my husband was already here. I had to fly out to help find a home. This large lady got up during the flight to go to the restroom and just as she walked past me the plane did one of those hokey-pokey-thingys and I shouted “Make her sit down. She’s rockin’ the plane.” Do I need to tell you what a happy flight that was for everyone except me. I was the butt of every airplane joke there ever was from Florida to Texas. My husband while trying to be sympathetic was so relieved he wasn’t with me. See what a sense of humor God has by giving me a son who zips through the skies with the greatest of ease…keeps me on my knees! 😀
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The holding onto the useless plastic created a strong visual, DiAne. Amazing how sometimes, even recognizing the futility of what we cling to, we have to forcibly peel our fingers away from it so we can extend them in praise for what we have.
Wishing you a Merry Christmas, my friend, and a very blessed New Year!
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Thank you for being my friend, Shel. And I ask God’s blessings and love be showered over you and your family in the coming year and always. ❤
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Thank you DiAne, for a lovely and well-said reminder of our Father’s love, presence and provision. I look back at times I have had a near accident and somehow the collision is avoided. Those times always bring a grateful “thank you Father” from my heart. Your musings today caused me to quickly realize that all things, not just the immediate crisis, need to be released to His care and it was incumbent on me to release my grip on a myriad of plastic shards and rest in His faithfulness.
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Our footsteps crunch plastic shards every day, Dianne. How far removed we have become from the faith of our forefathers. My prayer this Christmas season is everyone who names the name of Jesus will get honest with themselves about our propensity to live and act like the world. Oh, we don’t do what we label “the really bad stuff.” But I sometimes wonder about our ability to label what the really bad stuff is. Just this morning, I had a confrontation with people who misrepresented something…make no mistake, I didn’t misrepresent my reaction…wish I had, ’cause I sure didn’t act with love and understanding. Hope none of them sit down next to me in church Sunday, I didn’t represent my Lord well…and that’s really bad.
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