Flying the Plane

Imagine yourself in a small airplane, one prop and fragile to the forces of nature.

You are in control. You are the pilot. You make all the decisions. Your job is to pickup packages at point A and rush them to point B. The more trips you make, the more money you make. Your focus is to get from A to B as fast as you can.

On the both sides of your plane is the name of the plane written in script; similar to how WWII planes had names painted on them. The name painted on the side of your plane is Life.

One day you stop off at a small airport to eat lunch. A friendly guy recommends a café. He claims the cafe is very good. It's called the Born Again Café. As you enter, you notice the place is empty except for you, the COOK, and one other guy. As you are preparing to order, the COOK explains the other guy is his son, Jesus. He says Jesus needs a ride to point B. The COOK adds that Jesus is a great pilot. You reason, sometimes it's lonely in the plane. Some company may be good, so you agree to give Jesus a lift to point B. You finish lunch, meet Jesus and in no time you and Jesus are in the plane. You are flying the plane and in control.

After a bit you decide you are tired of flying Life, so you ask Jesus if HE would fly the plane. Jesus says "sure". Before you turn over the controls you make sure there are some ground rules. First, Jesus is not to fly too low, lest HE may crash the plane into the trees. Next, Jesus is not too fly to high, lest the engine stalls.

Everything is going along fine and then all of a sudden there is a terrific pain in your head. You immediately reason, I need to get back control of this plane because there is no telling where this guy Jesus may fly. But your head hurts too much. Jesus says, "Relax, I can fly the plane. I love you. Have faith in ME." Jesus flies the plane low over the trees, you are scared, but there is great beauty and a new perspective in flying this low. You are comforted and your head feels better.

Now Jesus flies the plane higher. You are scared, but there is great beauty and a new perspective flying high. You are comforted again and you head feels better. You say "Thanks Jesus, for loving me and flying the plane, but I want control back now that I feel better".

You fly along and all of a sudden a thunderhead appears. The small plane is being tossed around by the forces of nature. You are terrified and convinced the plane will crash. Then Jesus says "Relax , I can fly this plane through this storm. I love you. Have faith in ME". Very reluctantly you turn over the controls to Jesus again. The ride is no fun. There are many points where you think the plane will crash for sure. You are terrified. However, to your amazement, Jesus pilots the plane through the storm. You are so grateful; you sob and spout out praises to Jesus for saving you and to his father, the COOK, for introducing Jesus to you. You want to tell the world about this guy Jesus and how great a pilot HE is. Even so, you take back the control of the plane. But getting to point B is no longer as important as it used to be. You fly high for the beauty and perspective. You fly low for the beauty and perspective. The plane ride is much more fun that it used to be. You consider letting Jesus fly all the time, but even now after all this, you still like having control. Jesus is always there, ready to fly when you need him. But it is hard to give up control and let Jesus fly the plane all the time. Jesus is patient, HE is there when you need him.

As time goes by, Jesus shows you more lessons and your faith in Jesus grows until one day you say " Jesus, you fly this plane of mine because I know you love me and I have faith in you". How great it is to have Jesus always at the controls. When you get scared and a storm is coming, how magnificent it is to look up and see Jesus at the controls.