Peace,

Peace, Birds and "Puddle Jumpers."

By Vickie G. Paver

As Abigail sat on the patio reading her Bible, she listened while the birds sang a morning melody to her. She looked toward the trees and saw birds flying in and out of the various nests in the pines. She thought, "It is so peaceful sitting here, near the pine trees, breathing in the fresh country air and listening to the birds." Abruptly, another thought flooded her mind as she remembered just last week when things were not so peaceful and all did not "seem" well with her soul. She was grateful the experience was over. She started to re-live the experience and shivered.

Abigail had visited a friend in the Midwest. It was her first time flying. Everyone told her that flying was fun, but Abigail had her doubts about the experience. Anyway, she was soon on her way to her friend's house. She was nervous, but made it there safely! She even survived her ride on the small propeller plane that seated twenty people! The ride was fairly smooth and she had other ladies to chat with, which kept her mind off the flying. She certainly did not understand aerodynamics and how this affected airplanes, all she knew is that her airplane stayed up and landed safely. That was enough for her!

It was actually the ride back home that got Abigail's attention and caused her to pray for the angels to carry her safely home. You can tell she actually had more faith that God would send angels than she did that her airplane would stay up.

Well, I better start at the beginning; on the return trip from Springfield, Mo. to Kansas City, Mo. to catch the big jet, Abigail was forced to ride a "puddle jumper." This is a small aircraft that seats about twenty people. The only passengers on this plane were two gentlemen and Abigail! This made her more nervous because she thought surely the plane wasn't trustworthy with so few people choosing to ride it! To make things worse, the pilot asked all of them to sit in the back rows for weight distribution! She wondered if just three people could cause the plane to be off balance? If their weight wasn't distributed correctly, possibly they would have a higher chance of crashing! As the plane took off, Abigail thought it was too late to get off and run. She was now trapped!

The first half of the trip was uneventful. Just as she started to relax, the plane shook violently! She turned and looked at the other two passengers. One gentleman said, "Just pretend it is a roller coaster." Abigail yelled back over the engines loud roar, "I hate roller coasters!!" She felt like calling him a numbskull, but held herself in check. To say the least, he was not very comforting! Then the plane started to pitch, sway, drop, and Abigail swore that it also rolled, of course her imagination was getting the better of her.

The gentleman across the isle from her saw that Abigail was "white knuckling" it on the arms of her seat as the plane bounced around in the sky! She was praying, "Oh, God! Send those ten thousand angels that Barb prayed would be watching over me!" Just as she prayed, the gentleman reached over and gently laid his hand on her arm. Immediately Abigail was flooded with an indescribable peace. She had just been terrified a minute ago and now a deep abiding peace filled her. She felt as if God had placed that gentleman there to help her through this terrifying experience. She called him her angel and was praising God for His peace sent through someone else.

After they had winged it through the turbulence, she turned and thanked the man for encouraging her. She said, "You must think that I'm such a big baby for being so scared." He answered, "No, I was scared, too." She felt relieved to know that she was not the only one that was frightened by this experience. Soon they landed with the thump and bump that only a small prop plane can land with, but she wasn't scared about the landing, just grateful to have her feet on the ground!!!

When Abigail finally arrived back home safe and sound, after flying on two different jets to her destination, she talked to many of her friends about the experience. She soon learned that when they were talking about enjoying flying they definitely were not talking about a small prop plane, but instead a large comfortable jet! All in all, Abigail felt that the experience benefited her because she learned that you can go through some of life's most frightening experiences and be a better person for it. Although, when she chooses to fly again, she will most likely ask if she has to fly on a prop plane!!! Grin.

As a friend once said, "God doesn't promise to take us out of the storm, He only promises to take us through the storm."

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