I fly a lot, a whole lot. As in, millions of frequent flier miles, a lot!
I’ve flown in ratty little Russian owned airplanes over Iraq. I’ve flown out of the Baghdad International Airport within minutes of it being rocketed. Combat landed there many, many times. I’ve flown in and out of the Jungles of Papua New Guinea on dirt runways. From Mexican airports that seemed better suited to jaguars than airplanes. I have flown across the Pacific and the Atlantic and right up to the shore of the Indian Ocean.
On airlines well known and not so known. For example, Phoenix Airline always troubled me. Its name, referring to the mythical bird reborn from its own ashes. The overall condition of the plane let you understand how it might have ended up there to start with.
Two things about commercial flight that has always struck me as strange. One is the oxygen masks that are supposed to drop down if cabin pressure is lost. I realize there’s not much Oxygen at 40,000 feet, but I also know from my EMT days that Oxygen will help calm you down, help you relax.
The strangest of the two is the instruction to “Assume the Emergency Position.” If you are in a regular cheap seat, which I always am, you are advised to lean forward, place your arm on the back of the seat in front of you, and rest your head against your arms. I’m not sure what the logic is with this, but it seems, at best futile.
If you are on a giant flying bus with 300 – 400 of your closest friends and it falls out of the sky, would not every position be an emergency position?
Do they want your eyes looking downward so you can’t see them donning parachutes? In all my flying, I haven’t been able to figure that one out.
Is anyone actually going to follow the panicking flight attendant’s instructions? If they are on the plane with you, odds are you have as much crash experience as they do. Most people don’t get a second chance to learn anything from being on a crashing airliner.
So what’s the point in assuming the emergency position?
The reality of assuming the emergency position is preparing before going to the airport. Before going anywhere, really. The real emergency position is in going to Jesus, in being sheltered by His Love.
The Apostle Paul said to live is Christ and to die is gain. To live, to survive is the anointed will of God, but to die is the reward. To die as a Christian is to be forever in His presence, and is ultimately what we are working toward, correct?
The three Hebrew boys in the Book of Daniel said we’re not careful to answer thee O’ King. Our God is ABLE to deliver us out of the furnace, but either way, this goes, He WILL deliver us out of your hands. They had Assumed the Emergency Position before the fire was even lit.
So, to assume the ultimate emergency position is something that happens at an altar, or beside your bed, or in front of your recliner or even on the front porch. It has nothing and everything to do with getting on an airplane or in a car or going to work or staying home.
Every day that you draw a breath is an opportunity to assume the emergency position.
Think about it. If you’re on a plane and it goes down, there is virtually nothing you can do to change the outcome, at that point it’s too late.
Likewise, how can you wait to last minute of your life to Call on the Name of Jesus and become one of His when you don’t know when that last minute will be.
In industry, there’s a saying or quote that says,
“Failing to plan is planning to fail.”
In a spiritual sense, it can be said that “your indecision becomes your decision.”
If you don’t know Jesus in the Power and Glory of His Spirit, what are you waiting for? You’ve got Heaven to gain, joy unspeakable, and peace flowing from Gods Throne to gain and misery to lose.
Assume the Real Emergency Position! And find out what living really is.
God Bless You Richly
Greg
The Swimming Axehead 
Amen
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