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FIRST-PERSON: ‘It’s time to fly!’


SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (BP) — Boarding a small airplane, I immediately noticed the cheerful demeanor of the lone flight attendant. It was early in the morning, and amidst the crowd of bleary-eyed passengers shuffling onto the plane, she beamed like a ray of sunshine.

After welcoming us on board and making sure we were all buckled in and our carry-on luggage stowed, she proceeded to give us the prescribed safety instructions that anyone who has flown often could probably recite from memory. But instead of monotonously reading from a script about emergency exits and unlikely water landings, she delivered the entire speech from memory, yet with great personal warmth and conviction.

I was impressed, even inspired. But what I have not yet forgotten about this exceptional young lady are her spontaneous words after delivering that mandatory safety speech. She paused, and then with the most childlike wonder and enthusiasm you can imagine, she said, her eyes twinkling, “And now — it’s time to fly!”

How I wish I could better convey the way she bade us to the heavens with that one phrase. As many times as she had undoubtedly endured the routines of stowing luggage, delivering safety speeches and serving soft drinks and peanuts, she had not yet lost the wonder of getting to fly.

A few days later, I heard a comedian on a talk show describing his own recent experience on an airplane. As he awaited takeoff, he said he was contemplating the miracle that he would soon be sitting in a cylindrical tube 30,000 feet in the air, hurling through the atmosphere at 500 mph to arrive cross country in less than four hours, a trip that once took early pioneers a lifetime. Just then the flight attendant announced that wireless internet would not be available on that flight, and the man sitting next to the comedian flew into a fit of profanity. How quickly, he observed, we turn miracles into entitlements, and entitlements into opportunities for criticism.

The word “miracles,” of course, turned my thoughts to the many spiritual blessings that I too often take for granted or consider entitlements. Every week, I gather freely with other believers and have fresh opportunity to celebrate the resurrected Lord Jesus and the transformational difference He has made and is still making in my life.

Every week I sing, along with people I call brothers and sisters, the songs of our deliverance from sin, our new life purpose, and eternity in heaven. Every week, I hear from God’s Word a new, relevant message that applies to me personally.

With all that being true, it seems that every week, worship leaders in every local church should stand and tell us, “And now — it’s time to fly!” Yet it may be more common for us to settle into familiar weekly routines and even rituals, taking for granted the gathering for corporate worship and considering it an entitlement.

That cheerful flight attendant reminded me that it only takes one sincerely excited and grateful worshiper to call other sleepy souls out of their routines and criticisms. One person who recaptures the wonder and miracle of the church assembling together in God’s presence can rekindle that wonder in others. This Sunday, I will not be a presumptuous passenger who feels entitled to the miracle of access to God that cost Jesus so much. This Sunday, my worship will say to any on board with me, “And now — it’s time to fly!”

    About the Author

  • Nate Adams