FLYING
LESSONS

Topics: Confusion; Devotional Life; Focus; Guidance; Holy Spirit; Prayer; Trials

Reference: Psalm 119:105

In the aftermath of the death of John Kennedy Jr. in 1999, amateur pilot Stephen Hedges wrote about the difficulty of flying a plane by instruments alone—a necessary skill if you want to fly at night or in fog. Without this skill, it is easy for a pilot to fall into an uncontrolled bank and crash.

During one instrument lesson, Hedges noted, “I flew the headings and turns as instructed, but even with ten hours of instrument flying in my logbook, I was amazed at how quickly the plane slid into a banking turn if I diverted my attention for just a few moments. The first time it happened, a pang of panic shot through me, a momentary fear that made it even more difficult to comprehend what the plane was doing.”

But when he heard his instructor next to him calmly say, “Watch your bank,” Hedges quickly leveled the plane.

There are a lot of times in the Christian life when we’re forced to fly in fog or at night, when it’s hard to get our bearings, when we can’t see the horizon and get the perspective necessary to stay level. At such times it’s doubly important to keep our eyes fixed on God’s guiding Word and to stay attentive to his calming guidance.

—Mark Galli, “Guidance: Lesson from JFK Jr. Crash,” PreachingToday.com