The last major commercial plane crash with passengers in the U.S. was in 2009. This morning we awoke to news of a midair over D.C. involving a military helicopter and an American Eagle regional jet. There is much, and will be much more dramatic coverage through the weeks to come, for reasons mentioned shortly. But how do we as Christians respond to a tragedy such as this midair over D.C.?

About the Coming Coverage

The media is excited. They will produce the obligatory tears and faux-concern, but this is big ratings material. They will find aviation experts, produce dramatic “midair over d.c.” graphics within minutes of the crash–and people will be glued (they hope, though I recommend against it) to the news.

Don Henley dissected this well in his song Dirty Laundry from the 1980s, and he was surprisingly on-point about motives:

We got the bubble-headed bleached-blond, comes on at five

She can tell you ’bout the plane crash with a gleam in her eye

It’s interesting when people die

Give us dirty laundry

The media is about emotional manipulation for the purpose of control and profit. The sooner we know that the more easy it is to turn them off. If enough of us turn them off, the evil of legacy media will either cease their manipulation or simply die out.

Either would be good for our overall health.

Here’s the point of manipulation; to hook your attention and stoke your fear. A lot of the population rides on airliners. Many have a certain level of fear about flying. The media grabs our attention by feeding into that fear with intentionally agitating content to keep you asking the questions, “But am I safe?” or “Can we make flying safer?”

They do it for money, and for the satisfaction of the narcissistic “bubble-headed bleached-blondes” (male and female, regardless of their hair color, they all have expensive teeth). They stoke fear but one thing about it being interesting when people die in a midair over D.C. is notably missing.

The missing thing is wisdom.

The Wisdom of Certain Death

That heading sounds strange. You mean we can wake up and see a story about people who are strapped into an airplane experiencing a midair over D.C. and dying can have a positive impact?

Yes.

Here is a quote from my book Superhero: Being Who God Says You Are to help us develop wisdom about the absolute certainty about our death:

You should be afraid, very afraid.

This may sound strange in a chapter about conquering fear, but part of being courageous requires looking fear-producing situations straight on and choosing to embrace risk.

Risk is all around us, every moment of every day. It’s risky to get out of bed in the morning and also risky not to get out of bed. (p. 12, from the chapter, “Perfect Fear Casts Out Love.”)

America woke up today, saw the news of the midair over D.C., and were suddenly feeling fear over the possibility that their next airline trip (and believe me, check the pilot blogs, a lot of pilots are freaking out too) could result in their death–and that somehow is shocking to them?

Listen, I am speaking to you with love in my heart.

You do not have to get on an airliner and be involved in a midair over D.C. to die today.

You are one missed electrical impulse from dying. One car wreck. One stroke. One heart attack. One botched surgery or medication (roughly 600,000 people die per year due to medical errors; we don’t hear much on that because they kill one-at-a-time.)

So if news of a plane crash delivered by the bleached-blonde and the dapper-guy with perfect teeth causes anxiety in your life–you need to grow in wisdom. Wisdom comes from God.

If you desire to grow in courage and defeat the manipulation by fear the media excels in, see the blog series The Path to Peace.

To see the video series, go to the first episode here on my YouTube channel.

Teach Me To Number My Days

Do you recognize the header above? Do you know who said it?

It was Moses. It is from Psalm 90.

I was embarrassingly old when I noticed there was one psalm in the Bible written by Moses. He is a giant of the faith-and he was also just like any one of us.

So what would the Moses tell us,  what was the request he made of God in his poem?

So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. (Ps. 90:12)

How did I respond when my wife showed me the plane crash?

I instantly felt great sorrow for all involved. It wasn’t just dozens of people who died in the crash, there is much grief and sorrow for the hundreds and probably thousands who knew and loved them.

But as someone who flies professionally and owns an airplane that I use for transportation, there was in my heart a solemn “thank you” toward God for once again reminding me that my day are indeed numbered.

No Ordinary Days…

I’ve been blessed in my daily walk with Jesus, the Father, and the Spirit that he seems to give special attention to teaching me wisdom, probably because I needed it so badly. I do not perceive that I am a fast-learner; indeed, I am alive because God looked at me at said, in a southern tradition, “Bless his heart!”

I suspect he put a special angelic detail around me instructing them, “Watch that boy, he ain’t too bright.”

I’ve come close to dying a number of times while flying. I’ve also almost died driving a car more than once.

But because of what our Lord teaches us in the Word and through our walk with him, I am routinely thinking about something.

Often when I leave for a work trip, my wife will come to our local airport to help launch me in my personal airplane. That is usually when something very true hits me.

As I close the cockpit door, I may never open it and exit again. As my wife waives and blows me kisses, it may be the last time we see each other on this side of heaven.

And that is so, so good!

Because it means that there are no ordinary days!

With me in my airplane waiving to my wife, it isn’t just that I may be in a crash an not come back. It may be that I come back and she has died of a heart-attack, stroke, car accident, or who-knows-what?

Do you get it? Every moment of every day has intense and special meaning. You have been gifted with life by a loving Creator. And that life, properly and wisely understood, has meaning in every minute.

Don’t Try to Be Old

My grandfather on my mother’s side was named “Woodrow.” His friends called him “Woody” which as a teen I found to be hilarious.

But a few months before he died, he was in a managed care facility and had some dementia and could barely walk.

I would visit him, and nearly every time, in a lucid moment, he would look at me and say, “Steve, don’t try to be old.”

He would then explain that he was old (96 years-old) and that it wasn’t “all that”. He explained that all of his friends were dead, he couldn’t do what he wanted to do, and he was no longer at home.

His big message: Live today boldly and well. Walk in love, boldly.

Wise Goals for Life with Death

Do not have a goal of not dying. Do not have a goal of avoiding risk. Do not have a goal of living to be 100.

Instead, be like God. When you die, have people describe you in terms of seeing the love and mercy of God pouring out of you. Have them speak of your love, compassion, mercy, kindness, gentleness, laughter, and generosity.

Those are just indications of a life lived outward in love, which gives the greatest inward abundance (Jn. 10:10)

Live in step with the Spirit of God, which by the way, is life in which fear has no stronghold. What comes out of you as you mature in Christ and the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Those are the fruit of the spirit found in Galatians 5:22.

Notice that fear is not in that list. As John the Apostle states, “There is no fear in love, for perfect love casts out fear.” (1 Jn. 4:18)

The Christian Response to a Midair Over D.C.?

Jesus, when he saw the grief of Mary and Martha at the occasion of the death of Lazarus, wept. Even though he knew he was going to bring him back, God wept. 

We can speculate as to why, and I perceive that part of his sorrow was for the grief of his close friends and sisters Mary and Martha.

We, as fellow travelers in the journey of life, weep with those who have to deal with life without their loved ones in the crash. There are hard days ahead. Some dreams for the future are now gone. Some children are now without a parent. Some parents are now without their children. It is crushingly sad. We feel with them, we hurt for them.

But then when we start listening to the media and all the supposed “experts,” remember this. Listen for the unwisdom and emotional exploitation in all that they say.

Our air traffic and airline industry is magnificently safe. That’s a fact.

Living in Fear is a Living Death

As was motioned earlier, living is not ever perfectly safe. To have life means that death (physical) is always near. We should not take part in what some now call “fear-porn”, which encourages people to think unwisely and to miss the point and value of every day, even when death looms large. That is what the midair over D.C. and the ongoing media coverage has done.

Instead, when we see something like the midair over D.C., let us somberly show gratitude to God of reminding us all to live a certain way today.

To not live to be old, as my grandpa Woody shared.

But to instead walk in love.

Walk with courage.

Everyone of us will die, few really live.

Few live because of fear.

We can see the midair over D.C. and respond with fear, or we can redeem the tragedy by walking in love.

Every minute of every day, walk in love–or walk in fear?

Our choice.

If you need a practical path from fear to really living, get my book Freefall: God’s Path to Courage and Boldness. 

Going Forward?

If death really bothers you, if not existing in this very physical realm disturbs your peace, I want to leave you with a blessing. Consider the following excerpt from my book First-Person Messiah: Transforming Your Life through Amazing Encounters with Jesus:

[Told from the perspective of Lazarus, as he is leaving the tomb, and is walking toward Jesus(Yeshus)]

I walked over to Yeshua; as I approached, he arched his eyebrows and flashed a wry smile.

We embraced; it was good to be back with him again. As we hugged, he laughed quietly and said, “So sorry, bro. I am so sorry for bringing you back.” 

We both then pulled away and laughed; we laughed for at least a minute. Suddenly, a minute made sense again. I looked around; everyone was sort of laughing, but they seemed to realize that Yeshua and I had an inside joke they were missing.

I leaned in close to his face and said, “You tried to tell me before; oh , how you tried to tell me. It was so…so…”

“I know, I know, right?” His face was full of joy. We could share the knowledge of the gift he was here to offer everyone. “Hey, my Father told me how you  and he are big buddies now. It’s a family thing, right?”

“Well, you see,” I started, looking around, “I don’t want to be here. This is for you, you know?’

His face looked serious, then a bit mischievous.

“Okay,” he said quietly, leaning toward me closely, “just so you know, the Pharisees and priests are going to want you dead, so there’s that.”

“Don’t try to cheer me up,” I said to my Savior and friend, and once again the laughter came on between us.

Going forward, what can we take from the midair in D.C. and tragic deaths to come.

Redeeming Tragedies with Wisdom

First, if we lose someone dear to us and they are in Christ, we will be very sad and have to grieve them. But we should not want them to be wrenched back from absolute paradise!

I am like many, I think one of the reasons Jesus wept is because he loved Lazarus, and he hated to bring him back to an inferior place.

When we lose someone we love who is in Christ, we will find joy in their arriving in the presence, beauty, and indescribable magnificence of God himself. We will grieve and miss them, we may emotionally want them back, but we just look forward to the day when we join them.

Second, in facing the risk of not only flying on an airliner but also of just getting out of bed and driving to work-the midair in D.C. and every other death that occurs is a gift–a reminder that no day is ordinary, and tomorrow is not guaranteed.

Therefore, walk in love. Let those you love know they are loved Try to leave every conversation with grace and kindness. Solve your disputes quickly–leave a few regrets as possible.

Let’s do this, Stevo out…

(Image by Tatiana Rico/IStockphoto)