Dreaded Turbulence

No one buys an airline ticket hoping to experience turbulence.  In fact, were there an "upgrade ticket" that was available which guaranteed zero turbulence in flight, it would likely be a 100% take.

We dread experiencing turbulence because we associate it with a doomed flight, therefore the less turbulence, the better.  Thank you very much.

It's no different than considering our inevitable death.  Everyone wishes to die in their sleep.  No one wants to experience the fear and panic that comes with a terminal illness.

But, what our minds don't default to whilst experiencing turbulence is that most every flight experiences it and survives it just fine.  In fact, airplanes are engineered to succeed despite turbulence.  Plus, pilots are trained to fly within turbulence.  It's not like they're inexperienced in this regard.  These men and women fly a lot of miles every year.  Hence, they experience a sizable amount of turbulent conditions, yet they manage to safely complete the flight path time and time again.

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My sweet wife, Angie, attended Baylor University in Waco, Texas back in the early '90s.  She tells me that she would usually fly home (to Jackson, MS) for Thanksgiving in order to take full advantage of a short holiday.  One year, her entire flight was violently turbulent.  So much so in fact that the pilot chose to land in Memphis, TN in lieu of Jackson.  She describes the flight as somber and anxious.  Few passengers spoke.  Many prayed.  As a college student, Angie was particularly terrified due to her youth / inexperience as a passenger.

All throughout the flight, she consistently regretted not choosing to drive home instead.

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I was 40 when I experienced the most violent emotional / spiritual turbulence of my life.  I had experienced some turbulence in the form of feelings of hopelessness / misdirection before, but never had I had people I respected / loved demonize me and my family as they were now doing.  Yes, I'd experienced the ramifications of being generally disliked by those around me, and that had been tough.  But it in no way compared to this.

Subsequently, I lost my bearings.  I compare it to being thrown off an emotional cliff whilst asking all the while "Why is this happening to me? and What did I do to deserve this?"

Can you imagine leaving your seat during a turbulent flight, stumbling to the front of the plane and berating the pilots stupidly with these two questions?

All during the emotional fallout related to how I was treated, I prayed fervently that my daughters would never live to experience such horrific pain.

And then over time, by God's grace, I was clear of the turbulence.  I certainly could remember it, but overall, I found myself intact and absolutely cognizant of what life was now like / had been like during smooth, uneventful seasons.  This proved to me that God is immensely good at healing trauma / seeing Christians through turbulent times.  I cannot even begin to count the number of times I've now left my seat, traipsed to the front of the plane and thanked my pilots (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) for a job well done.

I also now trust these three with my girls' individual flights, much moreso than I ever did prior.

Life is so hard.  There's so much that's not in our control.  Expect dreaded turbulence, but don't lose hope.  That's exactly what our mutual enemy, Satan, is banking on, therefore refuse to fall for it.

Lagniappe