There have been so many plane crashes lately. Investigators are working overtime to pinpoint the cause of each: mechanical failure, pilot error, wind sheer, lightning, sabotage, metal fatigue. It is a long list, and in some cases it will take months and even years before they can announce their findings.
To the passengers who were on the wrecked planes, the cause of the crash is no longer important. What does matter is how well they were prepared to face the possibility of sudden death. At such a moment it is too late to "prepare to meet God."
One man, a Christian who survived a terrible crash, tells how horrified he was to see "people strapped into their seats, literally burning to death and cursing through it all."
Bert Hamilton, also a survivor of a plane crash (one of five who escaped alive from Air Florida Flight 90) concludes that, "however you live your life, when dying, that is how you're going to die. If you hadn't known Christ and hadn't made that commitment, you're not going to turn around (to God) in 30 seconds." That, he says, is the most important point.
"You never know when your plane crash is going to come, so you have to make that commitment now. You can't put it off,"
After every major crash there is a reaction of fear—a wholesome reaction, if it causes anyone to remember that "Now is the day of salvation," and that to postpone that decision for Christ can be fatal, forever fatal. It is as though God were saying to you, "Stop and think!"
On the other hand, the devil has a word to say too: "It can't happen to you!" In line with this reasoning, a state university's counseling center has released some advice: To get rid of a fear of flying, just stop thinking about it.
"If you're thinking about all those people going down on those planes, you need to stop and switch to thinking about images that are pleasant. Tell yourself it's very unlikely your plane will crash, and there are lots of safety features on the plane."
(And we thought the old theory of the ostrich hiding his head in the sand had been disproved!)
It is true that the plane will probably not crash; the chances are really small of any particular flight's meeting disaster; almost all plane passengers will safely arrive at their destination. But it is also true that "it is appointed unto men once to die... after this the judgment." Whether in a flaming crash of plane or car, or quietly in bed at home or in the hospital, it is an appointment that must be kept. "Thinking pleasant thoughts" will neither avert that end nor prepare for the judgment afterward. There will be no "escape, if we neglect so great salvation."