February-march 2025

As I write this article, my heart is heavy because of the plane/helicopter tragedy in Washington, D.C..  So far, there have been no survivors.  I am not blaming anyone, but I wanted to share my thoughts about this and other tragedies.
 
As never before, we can be anywhere we want in the fastest and shortest amount of time ever, if we can afford it.  On July 6th of 2023, there were a record 20,000 planes in the air at one time over North America and 50,000 planes in flight during that day.  A new Thanksgiving travel record was reached this past Thanksgiving, with an estimated 232,000 flights throughout that 4-day holiday.  It is estimated that, on average, 2.9 million people fly over America each day.  Wow!
 
One last statistic is that the chance of being in a plane crash is 0.0001%.  The average number of lives lost due to a plane crash averages less than 100 each year compared to 39,000 lives lost in car crashes.  More people travel in cars than in planes, but the point I want to make is that we put a lot of faith and trust in vehicles, aircraft, pilots, and people. I know that some will not fly and some will not drive, but for the most part, if you want to go, you have to accept the risk.
 
As Christians, we are to live in faith – faith in God.  Throughout God’s Word, story after story exemplifies how we should put our complete trust and faith in God.  Many of Jesus’ teachings were about faith amid storms, troubles, and persecution.  The Apostle Paul also encouraged the church to live by faith, “For we live by faith, not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7)
 
Paul is reassuring us that God is ever present and in control of whatever we face.  He calls us to look beyond what we see in front of us and see God beyond it.  This will not always be easy, but it will always be for our best.
 
Putting our faith in earthly things will lead to sorrow, despair, and loss.  Faith in God will always lead to peace now and assurance in our eternal life to come. “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1)
 
Please pray for all those families of the victims of this horrible tragedy in Washington, D.C..