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DOES GOD REMEMBER? #4
YOU’LL NEVER WALK ALONE
A flight attendant on Delta Airlines Flight #15 from
Frankfurt to Atlanta, Georgia describes her very personal experience.
The date on the flight manifest was 9/11/01 — five computerized digits
with no particular significance at the time — and about five hours out
of Frankfurt, the plane did an abrupt right-hand turn and landed at Gander,
Newfoundland. All flights into the United States, passengers were told,
had been cancelled.
Soon there were 53 huge airplanes parked on the tarmac at this small airport.
And the passengers of this particular Delta jet ended up staying in that
plane from 12:30 in the afternoon until 10:30 the following morning. Passengers
included, by the way, a woman in her 33rd week of pregnancy.
Not surprisingly, a spirit of community developed on board, as passengers
cared for one another. After 22 long hours, they finally exited the aircraft
and were taken into this small town of Gander: Population 10,400. There
was ONE HOTEL in town. But all towns within a 75-kilometer radius closed
high schools, meeting halls, and lodges, and converted them into mini-hotels
for the “plane people.” (A family offered a private room in their home
to the pregnant lady.) All the passengers from this particular flight
ended up in the small town of Lewisporte. Everyone got free food; laundromats
gave all passengers tokens. Local townspeople took visitors on excursions
of lakes and harbors.
Finally, on Friday morning, three days after the New York tragedy, the
passengers were rounded up and sent on their way. And this flight attendant
confesses in amazement: “Our flight back to Atlanta looked like a party
flight. We simply stayed out of their way. The passengers had totally
bonded and they were calling each other by their first names, exchanging
phone numbers, addresses, and e-mail addresses.”
Then a business-class passenger approached this particular attendant and
asked if he could “borrow” the plane’s PA system to make an announcement.
That would be strictly against Delta policy, of course, but somehow she
felt compelled to grant him that privilege. The gentleman, a physician,
reminded everyone of the hospitality they had just experienced, the community,
the sharing of hurts and pain. “I’m going to start a trust fund,” he then
declared, “for the people of Lewisporte.” The Delta 15 Fund would go to
provide college scholarships for the teenagers of that town, and he offered
to personally match whatever amount the passengers chose to donate. Before
the plane touched down at Hartsfield International Airport, there was
fifteen thousand dollars in the hat.
There’s a beautiful verse in Galatians chapter six which Christians and
non-Christians alike demonstrated as the planet watched their television
sets in the aftermath of 9/11. Here it is:
“Carry each other’s burdens,” Paul writes, “and in this way you will fulfill
the law of Christ.”
We can be thankful for community, for the shared element
of suffering. True, we often suffer alone, even in the Body of Christ
but that’s not how it should be. We are commanded to bear one another’s
burdens and share each person’s pain.
Tim Stafford comments, in his book Knowing the Face of God:
“It is remarkable how many relationships can be traced back to shared
misery. We have, to name a few examples, married couples who cheerfully
remember their first poverty-stricken years together; we have war buddies
wounded by the same shell; we have cancer victims who shared the same
hospital room. Even friendships made in school often form around the shared
loneliness and frustration of growing up. . . . Here at last is someone
who knows what it was like.”
And the most comforting news of all for those who suffered
loss a year ago yesterday is that Jesus Himself knows our pain. I recall
a recent rendering of the ancient Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego tale
that’s delightfully unique. As this particular preacher was telling the
story, God up in heaven was very much concerned. “My three boys are down
there in that fire,” He cried, His voice echoing throughout Paradise.
“My boys are in danger; they’re in the flames.” And all the angels gathered
around, great distress on their faces.
God rose up from His throne, love and worry written on His face. “We cannot
let those three boys perish in the fires of that Nebuchadnezzar! Never!
I must do something to help My boys.” And He looked around. “Where’s such-and-such
angel?” And He named one of the kingdom’s most mighty angel warriors,
a being with a wonderful spirit, a rescuing heart. “Where’s that angel?”
And the summoned angel stepped forward.
“How long will it take you to travel down to that little planet, earth,
that tiny place, that plain of Dura?” God asked. And the angel responded
immediately. “Father, I can be there in five minutes.”
“Five minutes!” And God was in despair. “In five minutes, they’ll be gone.
Nothing but ashes. Five minutes is far too long!” And He turned in the
other direction. “Give me Gabriel then! Gabriel, My greatest archangel.
Gabriel, the speediest of all My forces.” Well, Gabriel was instantly
standing front and center. And God leaned forward, more anxious than ever
because time was running out. “Gabriel, My best angel, My commanding angel,
how long to wing your way down to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego?” And
Gabriel, eager to charge the gates of Babylon, his wings already fluttering,
warming up, told the Father: “Two minutes.”
“Two minutes!” And God paced in frustration. “We can’t wait another two
minutes! And the flames are so hot! My boys are in grave danger.”
So God went to the final option. “I’ll send My own Son! That’s what I’ll
do! Jesus, My only Son, will make the journey. Who can travel to earth
more quickly than My only begotten Son?” So He cried out: “Jesus! Son!
Quickly! Our children are in the flames! Hurry! Jesus, Son, where are
You?” And the angels looked around the courtroom of heaven; they gazed
high and low. They looked in every corner. But they didn’t see Jesus anywhere.
Where could He be? And the Father cried out again: “Jesus, we have no
time to spare! My Son, where are You?”
And from far, far below, from clear down on that distant planet, that
faraway speck in the universe where a little king named Nebuchadnezzar
had lit his little fire, came the shout of reply: “Don’t worry, Dad, I’m
already down here!”
Well, friend, I don’t know you today; the wall of radio privacy stands
between us. But Jesus knows. There are trials and tribulations – maybe
in YOUR life – that are red-hot in nature; they’re life-threatening. In
fact, sometimes they don’t just threaten a believer’s life, they take
it. But the Son of God, that swiftest of ambassadors, is the fourth Person
in the flames.
When trials hit, the believer in Christ can know that Jesus is with them.
Just as literally as this fourth Man was standing there in the fire, protecting
His three friends, the resurrected Jesus — through the presence of the
Holy Spirit — is actually there with you. “In This Very Room,” as the
Christian song suggests.
Those are beautiful words, but a courtroom objection may be welling up
in your throat. “Wait a minute!” we cry out. “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
didn’t get burned . . . but John Hus did! My nephew did. A little girl
down at the grade school drowned just last week; despite what the Bible
said, the waters DID pass over her.” A modern-day reading of this verse
might say this: “When you climb on board a 767 plane, it will never crash.
Hijackers will be stopped at the gate, apprehended in the parking lot.”
And yet in one fiery morning, four planes went down with Christians on
board. So it’s true that in a sin-sick world, Isaiah 43 is not an iron-clad,
100% sure guarantee. Water drowns and flames burn and cancer kills. But
two facts are incontrovertible.
First of all, there are five words which ARE ironclad. “I will be with
you.” A Bible hero named Peter was in prison and God was with him. God
gave him a Monopoly card which said: “Get out of jail free.” John the
Baptist was in prison, and God was with him too. Even though he died —
temporarily. The great apostle Paul was stoned, but God was with him and
spared him. The great deacon Stephen was stoned, and God was with him
too. But he died — temporarily.
All through these 66 books, the Old and the New Testament, we’re always
promised two things. God is present in our trials. And our trials, even
if they lead to death, are temporary. The trials will be temporary, and
the death will be very temporary. The Old Testament reminds us, in the
book of Hosea: “Death, where is your sting? Grave, where is your victory?
Or destruction?” And the New Testament echoes the same in I Corinthians
15. Paul himself says that death is not to be feared. Dying or not dying
is not a great issue for the Christian because Jesus conquered death.
Because Jesus is with us in our trials. Because Jesus made death so temporary.
He’s with us; that’s the main thing. Some people die in the flames; others
don’t . . . but He’s with them all.
And today God is as concerned about the flames surrounding you, the problems,
the mounting bills, the looming divorce. “That’s My child. Come on, heaven,
let’s swing into action! Come on, brigades, let’s fire up the engines!”
Does heaven always rescue? No. But it always travels to the spot. Holy
angels, and even Jesus Himself — through the presence of the Holy Spirit
— join you in your darkest moment.
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