Freedom of the Sky

We boarded the plane on the third call, the stewardesses closed the doors, did their act, and the captain announced, "We have been cleared for departure".

Thirty seconds after leaving the ground we were solid in the clouds. I was looking forward to breaking out into the sunshine at 25,000 and stretching my eyes by staring out at the white forever. We had been in New York for four days and I was ready for a change of scenery.


The captain informed us we were climbing through 17,000 on our way to 31,000 feet for our three and one half hour ride into Dallas. I would soon have my desired view.

In a few minutes the engines throttled back, we were at 31,000 feet and all I could see was the end of the wing tip! For the next three hours the view never changed.

I sat staring out the windows reflecting on our situation. Here we were in a 727 traveling through the clouds at 400+ mph and the pilot could not see where we were going!

There were only two instruments in the cockpit to tell the pilot what direction we were headed. His freedom to be in the sky depended on him being a slave to those two instruments! As long as he obeyed those instruments he was free to travel the skies safely even though he could not see where he was going. If he took things into his own hands, and ignored those two instruments, doing whatever felt good at the time, we would not reach Dallas, EVER!

In our dash through life we often ‘can’t -see-beyond-our-wingtips’ and we need a set of instruments to follow; we don’t have the time or energy to test everything in life. Without the help of ‘instruments’ we must rely solely on our own experience.

Jesus said, "If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give it up for me, you will save it".

Following Jesus is the ‘instrument’ I use to have freedom and to enjoy life, safely.

P.S. We burst into clear sky 30 minutes before
landing, Dallas is beautiful at night.