Astral Airlines flight 2400 winged its way eastward toward the first tentative rays of sunlight that signaled the emerging dawn of another beautiful day.  Onboard the aircraft, economy class passenger Richard Sterling awakened with a start, his senses suddenly on high alert.  He had not the foggiest idea why he’d snapped to attention.  Could it have been a troubling dream, he wondered?  If not, what had happened to rouse him and, why did he feel a strong and persistent sense that something, somewhere had gone terribly wrong?

He sat up straighter in seat 66C and stole a glance at the fellow travelers nearest him.  Their heads were nestled on contoured pillows or bobbed uncomfortably on craned necks.  None but he was stirring.  He tried to recall anything that may have interrupted his slumber.  Could it have been an unusual sound, a jolt or awkward aerial maneuver of some kind?  He had no idea.

Carefully, so as not to awaken anyone, he raised the window shade and peered out, looking for any external clue.   It was a long shot, but—what was this?  To Sterling’s surprise and consternation, he DID see something.  Some sort of liquid was streaming off the wing.  It was not intermittent, and it was not raining.  He reached above him and pushed the flight attendant call button.  When moments later, a crew member appeared at his elbow, Sterling whispered urgently, “Is the captain dumping fuel?”

“Why do you ask, Mister … Sterling?” [She had found his name on the manifest.] 

“Because, I can see we’re trailing a steady stream of what must be jet fuel from the wing.  Here, see for yourself” Sterling said, gesturing toward the little plexiglass porthole to his left.

“So we are,” came the strangely incurious reply.  “Would you lower the shade, please?”

Sterling complied at once and was asked not to mention his observation to other passengers, as some might find it upsetting.  Again he obeyed, though he continued to feel uneasy.  He had not, after all, received an explanation for the unsettling sight he had seen.

Minutes later, when he could stand the suspense no longer, Sterling silently raised the window shade high enough to glimpse the wing, then quickly lowered it again.  The flow he had noted earlier was still streaming and if anything, was more copious than before.  Indecision made him hesitate, but only for a moment.  He shook it off and reached up for the call button once again.  The same crew member came to his row, turned off the call lamp and arched her eyebrows inquiringly.

“I was just wondering if there’s any update to the fuel situation?” passenger 66C wanted to know.  “I took a quick peek out the window, and the stream seems to have doubled.  Is that intentional or…” He let his voice trail off as his eyes searched the attendant’s impassive face.

“I’m sure it is,” she assured him.  ‘The pilot knows what he’s doing.”

“Did you inform him after the first time we talked?” Sterling persisted.

“No,” she admitted.

“Why not?” he demanded, baffled by her matter of fact response.

“Sir, please keep your voice down.  Most of our passengers are trying to sleep.  Cockpit computers track all kinds of flight data.  We have a qualified pilot, and no doubt he’s got everything under control.”

“I’m sorry to bother you again…April” Sterling said, reading her name tag.  “But if there is a leak that can’t be stopped, the plane may run out of fuel or have to put down somewhere else.  If the leak is intentional, that could mean there’s an even more serious problem with the aircraft.  The captain may be bleeding the tanks in case of an emergency landing attempt.  You see why I’m concerned.”

“Sir, do you have expertise in avionics?” April asked, with elaborate patience.

“No,” Sterling sighed, already seeing where this was going.

“Flight operations?”

“No.”

“Do you have a commercial pilot’s license, and are you rated to fly this type of aircraft?”

“No,” breathed Sterling, feeling sheepish.

“Do you see any instruments or controls available to you from your seat as a ticketed passenger?”

“Okay, okay.  I GET it’” said Sterling.  The flight crew is in charge and I’m not a member.”

She nodded sympathetically.  “I’m sorry, sir, but that’s about the size of it.  I can’t have you annoying or alarming other passengers.  If you create a disturbance, I’ll have no choice but to signal the marshals assigned to this flight.”  She maintained eye contact as she let that image sink in.

Sterling touched her hand as she excused herself to tend to other duties.  He beckoned her closer and asked just above a whisper, “April, are you going to speak to the captain, ask a few questions, maybe suggest that he make some sort of announcement?”  Nothing in her demeanor encouraged him to expect that she would or that she had heard him, for that matter.

“Don’t you have a duty to alert him and doesn’t he have a duty to warn or inform, once he’s been advised?”  He gave her a pleading look to match his tone of voice.  She stiffened anyway and turned to go.

“What good would that do?” she challenged.  “If you’re concerned over nothing, an announcement will needlessly frighten people.  Even if there is something seriously wrong, there’s nothing the passengers can do about it, anyway.  Nothing that is, except panic.”

“They can embrace their loved ones, seek or grant forgiveness, pray if they know God, get right with Him if they don’t.  I don’t call that ‘nothing’” Sterling countered.  At that instant, airspeed dropped noticeably, as if the cockpit crew were throttling back to conserve fuel.  “Promise me you’ll talk to the pilot,” Sterling implored her.  “If you were one of the passengers, rather than a member of the flight crew, wouldn’t you want to be warned?”

“Honestly? No,” she blurted.  “I would want to be left alone—free to believe to the last possible second that everything’s going to be okay.”  Just then, the pitch of the massive turbojet engines changed and the airframe began a sluggish climb, perhaps in search of higher altitude and lower wind resistance in the thinner air above.

“But suppose you knew better.  Would you deny reality—just shut your eyes—even if you have to pretend?” Sterling probed.  “That’s cold comfort, April,” he said softly.  “In my experience, most people would prefer to know the truth.”

“That’s not my experience,” she protested.  “Who’s pretending now?”  Sterling watched her go, smiling and nodding as she exchanged a word or two with those making requests of her as she passed.

She was right, of course, passenger 66C admitted to himself.  Few people really want to know the truth, because they’re afraid it will expose the need for changes they don’t want to make.  Acknowledging the truth could very well obligate them to act, a loss of control that they fear above all.

Yet, there is a God in heaven who stands ready to forgive those who confess their sins and sincerely repent of them, trusting entirely in His mercy, by faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross.  It’s no good denying that you have a problem and pretending everything’s okay.  Somebody’s lying and isn’t your Creator:

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (I John 1:8)

“If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” (I John 1:10)

  On the contrary, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (I John 1:9)

“For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.  He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.  And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.  For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.  But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.” (John 3:17-21)

Most people no longer need to be told that this world is headed for a crash. The signs are everywhere, and they are truly frightening to anyone paying attention.  Dear reader, if you don’t already know and believe the truth, hiding from it now is the worst possible choice you could make.  Safety lies in the opposite direction, with Jesus Christ, the Light of the World (John 8:12)—Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6).  This is the day and this the hour to embrace, believe and follow the truth.  Come into the light.  Come out from under the condemnation of unbelief in God’s testimony concerning His Son.  Come to Jesus.  Here’s how.

HOW TO BE SAVED:

• Admit to God that you are a sinner (that you have not kept His moral law to perfection; in your thoughts, words, and actions you have done what His law forbids and have failed to do what His love demands).  This is seeing yourself from God’s point of view and agreeing that He is right about you.  Be as specific as you can.
• Believe in your heart that Jesus died for your sins and that God raised Him from the dead.
• Sincerely repent (turn away) from your sins, asking God to forgive you and to use His power to help you resist temptation, no matter how strong the pull of sin may be, at first.
• Acknowledge Jesus as the Lord of your life.  Invite Him to move into your heart and take up residence there, so that He can change you from the inside out.
• Trust His promise to save you and give you a new spiritual birth and a new nature (thoughts, desires, priorities, hopes, dreams, and character).

SOME KEY TRUTHS:

• “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”  (Romans 3:23)
• “As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one.”  (Romans 3:10)
• “For the wages of sin is death: but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  (Romans 6:23)
• “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  (John 3:16)
• “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”  (Romans 5:8)
• “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”  (I Corinthians 15:3,4)
• “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” (John 1:12)
• “Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him…”  (Revelation 3:20)
• “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  (Romans 10:13)
• “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”  (Romans 10:9-10)
• “Verily, verily, I say unto you; He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life; and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”  (John 5:24)
• “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing, ye might have life through his name.”  (John 20:31) 
• “These things I have written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”  (I John 5:13)