WINDow Seat

I love flying.

Walking down the jetway, transitioning between the surety of the ground and the mystery of the air.  Taking the final step from the jetway into the aircraft.  Exchanging smiles with the flight attendants who welcome me aboard.  Arriving at my row and stowing my carry-on.

I have the window seat. 

Putting my phone in airplane mode and slipping it back into my purse.  Watching the ground crew prep for our flight until, finally, they guide the pilot away from the gate.

The taxi… the anticipation.

I don’t know the pilot personally, of course, but I trust that he passed flight school with, excuse the pun, flying colors.  I sit comfortably back in my seat, certain that he’s qualified to do his job.  Surely flight school required that he meet a certain standard of character and that he master course curriculum.  I expect him to be calm under pressure, to possess strong navigational skills and to confidently carry the lives of all of his passengers.  No, I don’t know the pilot personally, but I trust him, literally, with my life.

The takeoff… the acceleration.

Crossing the asphalt and climbing into the air, I marvel, as always, at God.  His clouds, some wisping above and below us, others parting as we fly through.  His heaven an ombréd canopy of blues.  “What manner of God created all of this,” I wonder.  “Who is He?”

Recently, on a flight from Santa Ana, California to Denver, Colorado, I noted the different types of terrain.  We crossed hills and canyons before reaching the Rocky Mountain range.  The juxtaposition between their white snowcaps and the white pillowy clouds took my breath away.  “What manner of God created all of this?!” I wondered again.  “Who is He really?”

Yeah…I love flying.  It’s the window seat perspective for me.

Calling me from my reverie, I heard the captain over the PA system, “Attention passengers…”  We were about to encounter turbulence, he warned.  It’s going to be very windy, he cautioned.  Sit down and fasten your seat belts, he advised. 

The turbulence… the agitation.

Buckled but unconcerned, I continued to appreciate the view.  “I’ve flown plenty of times,” I thought.  “Turbulence is no big deal.”  But then we seemed to drop.  “Oh, OK.” 

And then we seemed to drop some more.  My stomach, along with the plane, seemed to dip and rock.  “Oh, no.” 

And just when I thought that it couldn’t get any worse, we seemed to drop some more.  “Oh, my.” 

The little girl in front of me, maybe around four or five years old, “wheeed” as though the plane ride was a carnival amusement.  I, however, wasn’t laughing.     

 Clenching the armrests and my teeth, I closed my eyes and braced myself.

And then I prayed.

If the pilot offered any reassuring words, I didn’t hear them over the pound of my heart and the race of my mind.  Not that I actually expected him to say anything more anyway; he’d done this before.  He was trained.  He knew what to expect and how to handle it.  The strong winds and their gusts didn’t intimidate him.  He just kept going.  No, I didn’t know the pilot, but I had no choice but to, literally, trust him with my life. 

Trained pilots, I’ve learned, do not fly directly into turbulence; they choose, instead, to go another route or to go around.  Normally, they are able to avoid extreme turbulence by monitoring weather patterns.  But because turbulence can be over 100 miles wide and long, sometimes avoiding it is impossible.  For those times, planes are crafted to withstand that pressure.      

National Geographic defines turbulence as “chaotic and capricious eddies of air, disturbed from a calmer state by various forces.”  It is caused when airplanes fly through waves of air that are irregular or violent, causing the aircraft to bounce around, pitch or roll.    

In his article, 10 Things Travelers Need to Know about Turbulence, Peter Greenberg writes, “Storms and cloudy weather can create different air pressure, which creates winds moving in different directions, leading to turbulence.  However, turbulence still hits during warm sunny days, so some turbulence is unpredictable.  If you fly over a mountain, you should expect some turbulence because there is mountain wind that blows right over the ridges.  The wind generally creates up and downdrafts, which causes different wind currents going against each other, making it a bumpy ride for aircraft and passengers.”

Sometimes, along with the winds of change that come naturally with elevation, also come currents of turbulence that threaten forward progression.

I believe that natural turbulence is analogous to spiritual turbulence.

Have you had seasons in your life (maybe you’re in one now) when your thoughts, energies, monies, efforts, and time were undeniably under attack, when onward and upward movements were constantly hindered or interrupted?  I’m not talking about days when life was just lifein’ or when you were dealing with the consequences of a poor decision; I’m talking about times of mounting pressure and chaos, when your life was violently tossed and all hell had broken loose. 

Have situations tested your belief in God’s ability to carry you through tumultuous times?

This opposition, that turbulence, may come in the form of workplace conflict, health challenges and/or homelife disruptions.

Often, these disturbances come when we’re on the cusp of something great, when we’re nearing a mountaintop experience.  That doesn’t just mean that trouble comes when we’re about to respond to a new call or embark on a new venture or discover a new relationship; that means that it also comes when we’re about to go higher in it.  As they say, “New levels, new devils.”

Just like physical air is not nothingness, there are invisible spiritual forces that can, and will, affect our daily lives — both positively and negatively.  For example, in Psalms 91:11, the Bible tells us that God will “command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.”  Positive.  And in Ephesians, the Apostle Paul teaches us that satan is “the ruler of the kingdom of the air (2:2)” and that “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (6:12).”  Negative. 

OK, Sis.  Here’s something to consider…  Maybe our movements into something higher, something greater, are disruptive to the kingdom of darkness.  Maybe it just feels like we’re losing ground, or in this case, air.  Maybe we’re not really dropping after all, maybe we’re just being buffeted by the enemy (Reference 2 Corinthians 12:7 NKJV).  Maybe — just maybe — the enemy is creating distractions in our lives that are designed to toss us around a bit, get us off course and keep us from reaching God’s purposes for our lives.  Maybe the enemy thinks that if he can agitate or scare us enough, then he can either keep us constricted during flight or deter us from flying altogether.   

As I’ve thought through and prayed about this lesson, here is where I have landed: along with the higher perspective, and in spite of the turbulence, God has given us a WINDow seat.  In Ephesians 2:6 we learn that God has seated us in heavenly places with Jesus.  That’s some vantage point!  Surely, God must want us to enjoy the view.  A lot of times, however, I am guilty of waking up, seeing a new day, and then walking blindly through it.  Sometimes I am so preoccupied with managing the day’s struggles that I don’t see the beauty and marvelousness of the life that God’s creating around me.  Do you do that sometimes too?  So instead of focusing on the turbulence, maybe we should be focusing on the terrain.     

Don’t get me wrong — I don’t think that God expects us to enjoy the bumps and challenges and scary parts of life’s journey, but I do think that He expects us to trust Him to get us, safely, to our destination.  Heaven?  Most certainly.  But also to every earthly stop in-between (Reference John 16:33).  Our lives are by design and only God knows the flight patterns of them — where we’re going and how He’s going to get us there. 

Sis, trust your flight crew.  After all, Jesus is Rabbi and Master.  Don’t let the surety of the ground, of what you know, keep you from experiencing the mystery of the air, of what God has for you.  There are mountaintops waiting for you.  And there’s wind beneath your wings.  Fly, girl, fly. 

You have the WINDow seat. 

PRINCIPLE:   And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him.  And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.  And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.  And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.  But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!  – Mark 8:23-27 KJV