The family was flying home from a vacation in California. Everyone was relaxed in their seats, enjoying the plane trip and unaware of what was happening on the outside of the plane. Suddenly, the captain announced that one of the plane’s wings was disintegrating - it was breaking apart! The captain ordered everyone to buckle their seat belts and remain in their seats.
Ten-year-old Joanna was sitting in a window seat that overlooked the wing. Looking out, she saw bigger and bigger pieces of metal ripping away from the wing. What a scary sight!
The captain announced that the plane was going to turn around and land in about fifteen minutes. But fifteen minutes passed, and they were still in the air and quite a distance away from the airport where they intended to land. Joanna’s dad, sitting beside her, said that it didn’t even look like the plane had fully turned around as yet.
The captain once again announced that they would land in fifteen minutes. But when another fifteen minutes had passed, though they were closer, they were still a distance away from the airport. Joanna was worried.
An old lady on the plane came to sit by Joanna and her dad, and the lady and Joanna’s dad began talking. She thought, for some reason, that it might be safer to sit closer to the front where Joanna’s family was sitting. She had seen Joanna’s dad reading his Bible earlier on the trip and was interested. He gave her a few gospel tracts that told her how her soul could be safe, whether the plane landed safely or crashed.
Do you know the only way to be truly safe if you are in an airplane that crashes? Joanna does. It’s simple! Jesus died for our sins on Calvary’s cross, and all that’s left for us to do is to believe in Him. “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Romans 10:99That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (Romans 10:9)). Then, no matter what happens to you, even if your life here on earth should end, your soul will be safe in heaven with the Lord Jesus for all eternity.
Joanna and her family were in great danger on that crippled plane, but they were trusting the Lord Jesus to watch over them no matter how it turned out. “He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:3232He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? (Romans 8:32)). How thankful they were that the plane did land safely. They hope that the old lady who talked to them is now trusting in the Lord Jesus for her soul’s salvation too.
Are you?
ML-01/11/2004