God is my Copilot

Friday I went flying.

It was my first experience flying (as a passenger) in a small plane. The opportunity arose at almost the last minute. I certainly hadn't expected when I got up Friday morning that by noon I'd be in the air.

Friday was a chilly day, relatively strong winds (20 mph) with gusts to 35 mph. I don't like turbulence when I'm in a jet... so, I was a bit concerned prior to takeoff. Sure enough, as our little plane plunged into the sky, things got rough. I grabbed hold of the bottom of my chair, and the back of the pilot's seat, holding on for dear life... but after a few minutes, I was able to calm down enough to enjoy the experience.

At one point in our flight, we approached a sizeable airport runway at a 90 degree angle, then banked left and nosed down to align with the runway. For a brief moment, it felt as though we hung, motionless in the sky.

The key to this is trust. As my stomach churned through that first rough few minutes, I had to rely on the laws of aerodynamics, trusting that those wouldn't change! I also had to trust in my pilot's skills. Surely he wouldn't have taken me up if he wasn't confident in his ability to manage the plane!

I think life is like that. I've seen a few bumper-stickers that read "God is my co-pilot". I've always silently nodded to that thought. After this flight, I was inclined to write that God shouldn't be our copilot, but rather our pilot.

But more reflection has shown me a lot about that. In a way, God IS our pilot... but God is also our copilot. Perhaps, the best comparison is between that of a rookie pilot, learning how to fly, still striving to earn his pilot's license, who is partnered with a far more experienced copilot/instructor.

A copilot can only fly the plane if the pilot relinquishes the controls. In the case of a rookie or student pilot, when conditions become far too extreme for the limited experience of the pilot, the wise thing to do is to relinquish control to the far more experienced pilot. And yet, the rookie always has the right by virtue of the law and tradition, to resume command of the plane at any time.

From my perspective, our daily journey is a lot like that situation. When life is easy, it's fun to fly solo. But at times, life's experiences can get out of hand. Turbulence becomes unbearable, and it seems like our life is going to come crashing down about us... it's normal to seek out the smallest things that we can control. By doing so we hope to gain control of the larger picture. But in times like that, it's good to surrender control to our COPILOT. God is ready to help through those times, but is always ready to give us control back when we want.

To paraphrase scripture, "But for me and my plane, we're turning it over to the copilot!"

!snort!

So. There!