Carol and I just returned from a flight after taking part in a joyful and snowy Colorado mountain wedding. Max Lucado once wrote that people on a plane and people on a church pew have a lot in common. All are on a journey. Most are well-behaved and presentable. Some doze, and others gaze out the window. For many, a good flight and a good worship service are about the same. "Nice," we like to say. "It was a nice flight - It was a nice worship service."
A few, however, are not content with nice. They long for something more. Like the little boy who asks as he comes in the door, "Will they really let me meet the pilot?" His question reaches the cockpit, causing the pilot to say, "Well, come on in!"
With a nod from his mom, the youngster enters the cockpit and its world of controls and gauges and emerges minutes later with eyes wide open. "Wow! I'm so glad to be on this plane!" he exclaims. No one else's face shows that kind of wonder, that kind of enthusiasm. Travelers are mostly content to be on the plane, content to be off to their destination, content to be out of the airport, content to sit and stare and read or say little.
Yes, it’s true - people on a plane and people on a pew have a lot in common. The next time you enter a church service, take a look at the faces. They’re content to be there, content to sit and look straight ahead, to talk a little and then to leave when the service is over. "Seek and you will find," Jesus promised (Matthew 7:7).
And since a nice worship service is what we seek, a nice service is usually what we find. A few, however, seek more. A few come with the childlike enthusiasm of the boy. And those few leave as he did, wide-eyed with the wonder of having stood in the presence of the Pilot Himself.
Are you glad to be on the plane?
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