Philippians 4:6 “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with let your requests be made known unto God.”
I took flying lessons in high school, and I loved it. I had amassed almost all the hours I was required to have with an instructor, and I had begun working on piling up my solo flight hours. But then came high school graduation day and that meant I was moving on to college. If you have any idea how expensive flying is, then you know the impossibility of someone working on a college students’ salary paying for college and flying lessons. So, I made the tough choice to put my flying career on hold and focus on getting my pastoral degree instead. As my flight training grew smaller in the rearview mirror, my hopes of obtaining my pilot’s license faded; but my love of flying did not. My church knows that, so one of our men recently gifted me with an hour-long flight in a single-engine plane. Once the pilot learned I had previous training, he offered to let me fly the plane. I was nervous at first, but once we took off, instinct took over and most of the things I had learned years before came back to me. I enjoyed my time immensely, and I was even able to land the airplane without incident. Once I was back on solid ground, I had time to reflect. It didn’t take me long to realize that I was not nervous in the air because of the simple fact that I knew that it was ultimately the real pilot who was in control of the airplane. Yes, I was in the pilot seat and I was flying the plane, but the pilot was there and ready to take over in the event I did anything wrong that could have jeopardized our safety. And that made the flight exhilarating!
What a parallel to the Christian life! There is nothing for us to fear in life because, though we may think we are in charge and that it is up to us to handle everything that comes at us, it is ultimately our Pilot that has everything under control. I can enjoy life as a Christian because I know that when I lose control and forget what I should do under stressful circumstances, all I must do is cry out for help. We don’t have to be anxious or worried. We don’t have to be stressed or scared. We simply must, as Philippians says, “let [our] requests be made known unto God.” At any point in my recent flight, I could have looked over at the pilot and said, “I don’t remember what to do. I need you to take over.” And I know he would have seamlessly taken over the plane. Here’s our little secret: he let me take the pilot’s seat and the controls, but he was actually in control of the plane the whole time. And so is God in our lives. Enjoy the journey. He’s got everything under control! “Anything under God’s control is never out of control.”
Steve Boots | Pastor
Mount Victory Baptist Church | Henrico, VA
