The June 2016 issue of Aviation Safety Magazine had an article revisiting the plane crash of John F. Kennedy Jr. It was July 16, 1999 as the small plane that Kennedy piloted off the coast of Massachusetts crashed killing him, his wife, and his sister. The crash was deemed Kennedy’s fault because he was not trained for what he flew into.
He was a licensed pilot but he only had VFR (visual flight regulations) certification, which meant he could only fly as long as he could see the horizon and what was ahead. There is another certification called IFR (instrument flight regulations), which means a pilot can fly into fog and clouds by using his instruments only for guidance. As Kennedy flew up the coastline it gradually became more and more foggy. Only an IFR pilot would be prepared to navigate through the haze.
In reading the article I was introduced to the idea of “spatial disorientation.” This is a phenomenon where a pilot that loses visual reference points quickly becomes disoriented, unable to discern up or down, east or west. The eyes and brain begin sending messages that are inaccurate.
A person with IFR certification has been trained to fly using only the instruments when necessary. The instruments display an artificial horizon, the height, air speed of the plane, and whether it is ascending or descending. The hardest part of IFR certification evidently is learning to have absolute faith in your instruments. When your eyes and brain are sending you one message and the instruments say something else, you have to have trust in the instruments.
Even though I have never piloted a plane, there have been many days when the fog of sorrow, grief, anger, doubt, disappointment, etc. sets in and I have found myself in a tailspin. Life is easy when we can pilot by VFR (walking by sight). When we can see clearly what is out ahead of us piloting life is no problem. But when our world is spinning and we don’t know up from down we have to trust our instruments. What are the “instruments” available to the believer? We have the bible, God’s Word which, guides us. We have the Holy Spirit living inside of us. There are many ways that God guides us when we walk by faith.
We have a choice of whether we pilot life by VFR or IFR. We can insist that what we “see” is enough as walking by sight works most of the time. It worked for Kennedy until that fateful day in July 1999 when he flew into the fog. Or we can choose to pilot life by IFR having complete and absolute faith in God, His Word, and His Spirit, which lives inside of us. Are you in a fog today? Does all that is going on around you disorient you? If so trust the Word of God and the God who authored it. He doesn’t want to see your life crash. His goal is to get you safely home!
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