Month: January 2024

“Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.”

James 1:17 ( NASB)

There was an interesting story on the news about a year ago. A young female rookie pilot was taking off in a small plane in Pontiac, Michigan. It was only her third solo flight. After she took off, a veteran pilot who was also about to take off, noticed that her front landing gear just fell off. He quickly contacted her by radio, introducing himself and telling the young pilot what just happened. Knowing it takes an experienced pilot to land a plane without its landing gear, with a calm and confident voice, he guided her step by step, helping her to make a safe landing. 

He later learned that the young pilot’s name was Taylor, which was also his own daughter’s name. Her voice was shaken but she followed his instructions as he calmly guided her, step by step. Afterward, Taylor said that it was his calm voice that helped her to follow his instructions and safely land her plane. If she had landed the plane on her own, it could have flipped upside down, resulting in a crash with injuries, and possibly bursting into flames. 

God intervenes and protects us in exceptional ways, sometimes by sending His invisible helpers, like angels, and sometimes by sending a qualified person, in the right moment, to guide us to safety.

When I heard this story on the news, I thought about how valuable that  calming voice of a veteran pilot was, who just happened to be in the right place at the right time. The whole event was miraculous. The experienced pilot being there at the right time, was the first miracle, and the second miracle was his ability to guide her to a safe landing. He had nerves of steel to calmly talk her through a dangerous situation and she had nerves of steel to follow his instructions, without freezing in panic.

All the right things had to line up with a successful ending like this. It’s the right person at the right time, and it all lined up too perfectly for it to be a coincidence. It was a gift from above. 

Scripture says that every good thing and every perfect gift is from above. Not some, but every good and perfect thing. If it’s good and perfect,  it came from God. We may think we are flying solo sometimes, but God is always watching, and if our landing gear falls off, a calming voice will redirect us back to a safe landing.

Jesus is our veteran pilot, having experienced every kind of adversity before we ever did. We may not have nerves of steel, but Jesus does. He sends us His good and perfect gifts, which may look like coincidences, but He has always been watching. 

In every stage or journey in our life, we have been on His radar, and He is calmly and softly speaking to the radio of our souls. When we commit our life into God’s hands, we start to see God’s hand in every part of our life.

Thank you Jesus, for looking out for us in the many ways that have been miracles, and not coincidences. Keep our hearts tuned in to your soft, calm voice, and lead us safely to our heavenly landing, so we may express our gratefulness for all eternity. Amen

“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.”

Philippians 3:12 (RSV)

Every sport has a goalpost or a home base, that signifies a point of accomplishment. Just as in a game or a sport, our lives are filled with various goals. We may have physical fitness goals, educational goals, career goals, romantic goals or financial goals, throughout the different phases of our lives. 

There is a temporary sense of satisfaction in reaching any of these goals, but when something unexpected happens and a goal seem no longer attainable, due to a tragedy, an illness, or any type of loss, I know from experience, that it’s difficult to overcome feelings of  disillusionment. It’s a struggle to find hope and we may even start thinking that our best days are behind us, instead of ahead of us. 

That’s exactly what Satan wants us to believe. The enemy of our souls, wants to steal our joy, kill our faith and destroy our hope, but we trust in God, who loves us, and has good plans for us. He wants to lead us forward to fulfill the best, lasting and eternal goals He has for us.

We forget that the trials in our lives are just snapshots, not the whole story. God sees the whole picture, and He has His own goals for us too. His goals outlast the temporary problems we face. In spite of all the setbacks we see, God prepares us by grace, for our best unseen and more lasting goals. 

Paul tells us not to fix our eyes on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 

(2 Corinthians 4:18)

As we rely on God, He brings eternal beauty out of those temporary ashes in our lives. There is a rich and deep peace in knowing God loves us and calls us His own, and because He believes in us, He allows certain trials in our lives. He then uses those trials  to transform and shape us according to His wisdom, for our best eternal benefit.

Everyone is in a preparation process for eternity, whether we know it or not. We are eternal beings and were made for a greater purpose than to acquire things, reach our goals, leave a prestigious legacy, and then die. Of all the marks to leave in this world, the ones that mean the most, are the eternal ones. It’s the mark of our inner transformation by God, as we run to that finish line through faith in Jesus.

We are eternal beings, surrounded by a great cloud of eternal witnesses who are looking down from heaven and cheering us on, while we run this marathon race of faith throughout our lives. (Hebrews 12:1)

We occasionally need reminding that we are running a race, and are being observed by those witnesses above, who besides Jesus, includes all the heroes of faith who went before us, myriads of angels, and many deceased loved ones and friends. 

Since we are running a race, we fix our eyes on the finish line above. We strive for excellence with an eternal perspective, knowing we are in the process of meeting the goals God has for us. We make His goals our own, since He loved us first and called us His own.

Lord, seal our hearts as we run the race of faith, keeping our eyes on the things above, and we trust that your perfect plan is unfolding in each of our lives. Amen