SPIRITUAL MATTERS: It’s a matter of trust

'We were at three-and-a-half-thousand feet when my flight instructor asked me to demonstrate a stall recovery.'

It's about control.

We were at three-and-a-half-thousand feet when my flight instructor asked me to demonstrate a stall recovery. (An aircraft stalls when the airflow over its wing surfaces is insufficient to provide the lift required to keep the aircraft flying.)

So, I pull back the power; raise the nose; higher, higher; controls get heavier and heavier; speed bleeds off; the stall warning horn screeches: We're in an aerodynamic stall!

Now the nose drops, but the aircraft is still in balance so she doesn't drop a wing and enter an incipient spin. Phew! And even though the stall is quite benign, it's not a feeling I like much. I push the control column forward to lower the nose still further and apply full power. The speed increases. We're flying again under full control - after losing several hundred feet in height in the process. Ah. That's better. I really don't like practicing stalls much. It's unsettling! Inevitably I think about what would happen if the aircraft stalled close to the ground - on take-off or on final for  landing!

Back in the office, with my BFR (compulsory Biennial Flight Review) completed and I'm signed off as competent to fly, my phone rings. It wasn't a nice call. It left me feeling very bad! As part of our fund-raising for "Beyond Blue", I'd asked a local business to donate a couple of large stickers of the BB logo for the rear windows of our Range Rover rally car in preparation for the fundraiser rally in a couple of weeks. But my BFR had delayed me and the allocated window of opportunity had closed for my 'sticker-man' to apply the stickers. He was upset. I felt frustrated. There was absolutely nothing I could do about it!

I was mortified that my generous donor had worked back late the previous day to prepare and print the stickers, but had now run out of time to affix them because I couldn't get the vehicle to him at the appointed time. His work would now be wasted! And I had no control over the situation for all options had closed.
Losing control is not a nice feeling. Yet in life, it can be an everyday occurrence. How many times have we been in similar situations? When we're in control, we feel secure; at ease; confident; at peace with the world. Take that control away, and it's a totally different scenario.

While faith in God involves a real sense of peace knowing that God never loses control, Christians do find themselves in challenging situations managing the everyday affairs of life. Like everyone else, we can find ourselves powerless to effect any change for the better when thing go wrong.

However, God has thrown us a lifeline called trust.

When our own resources prove inadequate, he expects us to trust him to guide us through. And this will always make a huge difference to our ability to face difficulties and overcome them. When we're confident to 'let go and let God', we regain the equilibrium of peace that Jesus promised to all who put their trust in him for, as the apostle Paul said in one of his letters to the early church, "we know that for those who love God, that is, for those who are called according to his purpose, all things are working together for good".
 

Originally published as SPIRITUAL MATTERS: It’s a matter of trust