Things Invisible

   

Before we left the ground from Minneapolis there was an announcement that they would need to de-ice the plane. As they showered us with a coating of a liquid I am guessing to be like windshield washer fluid, I said my usual prayer for God to place angels around the plane. 

I know that it is less risky to fly than to drive, I've heard that several times and it helps to keep it in mind. If ever a wave of fear wants to wash over me right before take-off I consider the flight attendants and the pilots that are there day after day, night after night and it gives me assurance.

Most of my dozen or so flights have been smooth sailing, or rather "flying". I have developed an extreme love/fascination with being above the clouds. I am giddy every time and snap photo after photo! 

The one time I experienced turbulence was after being detained in Atlanta on the runway for fifteen minutes to the need to wait for a "storm to pass". As we went up through the rain clouds, I expected I would experience a bit of shaking. I actually looked forward to it, wanting to find out what it was like...and on the other side of the clouds was the most spectacular display of God's glory I have ever seen! 

Like mountains of clouds!

During the flight yesterday there was no view. For the first time, my flight was engulfed in a cloud and my window seat did not warrant my camera coming out of my bag. I thought, "It's not like I imagined it to be...being in a cloud. I always thought it would be more fun than fog. But that's all it is. Fog." I guess I knew that, but somehow in residues of child-memories, I thought the white of the cloud would be something more tangible. Perhaps edible...like cotton candy... 

I taught a workshop four times last weekend. The verse I used was in the forefront of my mind:

For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things and in Him all things hold together. Colossians 1:15-16

I pictured 'the things invisible' surrounding the plane and Him holding it together... I didn't know why this time felt a greater need or sense that I needed to ask for those angels to go with us. But I did.

Just before arrival, the Pilot announced the weather in Jacksonville to be in the 40's and calm. So when just a few minutes later as we began to feel the plane descend and there was a DROP, shake....shimmy, DROP, shake, shake, shake, DROP, DROP, when I reached for the seat-back in front of me and looked out the window to watch the wing shake, that I remembered the angels. The gal next to me said, "In all the times I have flown, I have only experienced turbulence this bad once, on my way to Japan last year."

gulp, I asked her if it was upon descent and she said no. Ahhhoooh!...fear was creeping in.

So as thoughts of "what if" and all that go with that flashed through my mind, I began to sing quietly to the Lord thanking Him for His goodness, for the angels, and that it is He who holds things together. And then we landed. (after several more DROPS and shakes). 

When I passed the Pilot on the way out, he was calmly smiling...

Obviously not shaken as I had been. And I wondered. How often he has experienced that kind of turbulence...and does he know that angels surround his plane and that Jesus holds it together? How often are there people on his plane praying through turbulence? How many times does Jesus hear a passenger praising Him for His hand upon the huge metal vessel flying through the air? 

I am convinced that God plants His people in places to pray and one day we will know how often we were saved from danger because of a prayer.