Fanning The Flames Of Faith
Worshipping in the Clouds
Posted on Sunday, December 28, 2014 6:31 PM
I recently took a trip to Korea to visit my daughter, who is studying abroad this semester. (You should expect a *very* long blog post when she graduates college in May!!)
Every time I fly I make a point of praying for my safe flight, and for the pilots and flight attendants.. I pray for the maintenance workers, the baggage handlers, the people who load the food and the folks who stand outside and guide the plane. I lay hands on the actual plane itself and I ask God to carry the plane in His hands safely to its destination and to camp His angels around it. I pray for the passengers. I ask God to meet each person wherever they need Him. I ask Him to calm nerves and soothe fears. I ask that if anyone has any bad plans that He would stand in between them and protect us. I thank Him for the peace I feel in my heart as the plan takes off and I recite the 23rd Psalm. That's my go-to prayer when I'm scared. But I'm not scared when I pray during takeoff. I just do it out of habit in scary situations. I praise God for who He is and what He has done. I remind Him that I am His child and that He promised to give whatever I ask for in Jesus' name. But mostly it's a time of great worship. I don't normally consider myself a worshiper like that but there's something about soaring into the clouds and feeling that close to heaven that can bring out the worshiper in anyone. Or at least it should. Flying is the time that you give up all sense of control in life. There is nothing you can do once you strap yourself in that seat belt. Nothing. And giving up that control is the most terrifying and also the most liberating time of your life. Terrifying because there is nothing you can do. Liberating because there is nothing you can do. I wish I could live like I fly. I wish I could just pray and give up the control and let God pilot my life. Everything would be so much easier. But that's not the case for me and so many people that I know. Control is so.... controlling! And confusing! I'm supposed to give up control of life and future to God, but at the same time I must maintain total control of my body, my flesh, my mind and my sin. Give up control but keep total control. WHAAAAT? That's the awesome craziness of this walk. Awesome. Craziness. So I am going to try and put my life in the hands of the Pilot God but I recognize I will have a role to play. I will need to:
Read the safety instructions (my bible)
Find my emergency exits (prayer and prayer partners)
Keep my seat belt fastened in times of turbulence (attend church)
Know how to operate my oxygen mask (praise)
Figure out how to turn my seat cushion into a flotation device (?? I got nothing!
Okay okay enough of the airplane analogy. I have to "Let Go and Let God" because He knows what He's doing "For My thoughts are not your thoughts,nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.Isaiah 55:8-9 In love,
Mona