TRUSTING IN GOD

        2014 was a bad year for airline safety. Despite its having the lowest number of air crashes since 2005, there still were 111 plane crashes resulting in major loss of life last year. In March, Malaysia Airlines 370 disappeared off the radar in the Far East with 239 people on board and no trace  of the plane has ever been found. In July, Malaysia Airlines 17 was shot down near Ukraine, killing all 299 passengers and crew. Three days after Christmas, AirAsia 8501 went down with 155 onboard, and there were no survivors. This plane has been found, so families of those who died have some closure.
        While all this loss of life is tragic, flight 8501 had a unique feature. Forty-one members from one congregation, died that day. Over one-fourth of flight 8501  passengers were from the same church, Mawar Sharon Christian Church of Indonesia.
        Having conducted several hundred funerals during my ministry, I cannot imagine what it must have been like for Rev. Philip Mantofa and the other pastors of this large congregation. Ministering to loved ones of more than one death at the same time is difficult. Ministering to the hundreds of people connected with those forty-one deaths at the same time would be unimaginably difficult.
        Fellow Pastor Tejo Bunarto told CNN, “Some things happen in our lives, and sometimes we just don’t understand what God really intends. We just put our trust, and everything, completely, in His will, because He's going to bring about everything that is the best in our life.”
        It is estimated that 6.5 million people in the world fly each day, so we give thanks there aren’t more fatalities. God has given us the wonderful gift of rapid transportation, and each time we step on a plane or get into a car, we trust His grace that we will be kept safe.
        God keeps track of us earthly travelers because He loves and cares for us. We thank and trust our Lord Jesus Christ and take heart in His promise, “Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.” (Matthew 6:34)

May we all travel safely today in the arms of our loving Lord!