Today's Scripture verse reminds us to seek God's guidance. It's an important reminder, because sometimes we don't think about His guidance until we desperately need it.
My friends Kevin and Greg and I once flew from Lincoln, Nebraska, to Billings, Montana, in a small plane. Kevin was our pilot, and although he as very good, he only had a visual flight rating -- he hadn't been trained to fly using only the cockpit instruments. That meant that he could only fly in good weather -- when he could clearly see landmarks and other planes in the area. And flying though clouds was a definite no-no. So when we ran into a snow-storm over Casper, Wyoming, we were forced to land and stay overnight.
The next morning was cold, bright and clear. Kevin got a good report from the National Weather Services -- Clear skies all the way from Casper to Billings. Kevin filed his flight plans and we took off. Everything was going great.
But somewhere in the Rocky Mountains, the weather changed unexpectedly. We found ourselves in dense cloud cover. Visibility: Zero. Kevin didn't have the training to climb out of clouds, using instruments only, and we couldn't fly any lower because of the mountains. I looked down my backseat window and could barely see the tops of the pine trees dotting the peaks and valleys below. I glanced up at Kevin who was feverishly checking his flight maps to make sure no especially high mountain peaks were in our way. Up to that point in time, I have lead a pretty uneventful life. But now it crossed my mind that we could crash and die. I started to pray. Hard.
Kevin radioed a "Mayday" call to the Billings control tower. An air traffic controller would have to talk us down to the airport. Kevin steered, tensely watching his instruments as the small radio on the instrument panel squawked flight instructions: "Maintain altitude ... turn ... descend." On we flew into the unending whiteness, trusting the controller to help us avoid smacking into a mountainside.
Finally we got the go-ahead for our approach. Dropping out of the clouds, we found the runway directly beneath us. The tower guided us to a perfect landing.
We have been in a real fix but the air traffic controller didn't hassle us for getting into trouble. He just gave us the help we needed. That's how God is. It's why the psalmist wrote Psalm 107. When we dont know where we are, we can cry out to the Lord, and he will deliver us from our distress (v7).
Remember: God wants you to reach your destination in one piece. Ask Him to show you the way.
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