“If an aircraft goes down, who knows it is missing? Who searches for it?” I explain that pilots file a flight plan before taking off. They are expected to fly their intended route. If they divert to another destination, or make an unplanned stop for lunch, they are to let someone know. After landing pilots close their flight plan by radio or telephone. If the aircraft does not arrive, a search will be initiated.
Canada has a network of volunteer pilots, navigators and spotters called Civil Air Search and Rescue, who work with military search and rescue. Our local organization flies a training exercise once a month if the weather is suitable. At the end of each session our zone commander assigns tasks for the following month: “Rod, we are counting on you for good weather.” Low cloud and limited visibility means a Saturday in a classroom, second choice for our members. When asked for good weather I respond, “I am in sales, not in management.”
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Clergy are often teased about having “a direct line upstairs.” In the 1980s I was a pilot with a commuter airline in Alberta. The other pilots knew I was clergy. They joked, “If you have Rod as your co-pilot, you will not be struck by lightning.” One summer two out of three airplanes in the fleet were struck by lightning. I was a crew member on the exception. There was no damage to people, but the airline’s repair bills soared. I resisted the temptation to claim protective powers.
Some years ago the Anglican Church in Baljennie in central Saskatchewan was destroyed by lightning. The parishioners then moved an unused Anglican Church from nearby Denholm to Baljennie. It burned down in a prairie fire. No other church was built in the community. I wonder if the fire and lightning were regarded as portents of what might happen.
I believe in the power of God, knowing that it is beyond human explanation. I have come close to accidental death and my life has been spared. I have sensed a power guiding me to move out of the way, or take action to avoid serious harm. A hunch or a feeling of impending danger speaks to me. I do not know how or why this happens. I accept that some things cannot be explained, and there is mystery in life.
I also know that I have no protection that other folks lack. I cannot count on some special form of divine protection. Like everyone else, I need to be careful and stay alert.
In his book GOPHER HILLS, Tom Cummings tells stories from his childhood on a Prairie farm. Tom learned much about life from a hired man named Ben, a realist who was suspicious of big city politicians, travelling salesmen and itinerant preachers. A preacher came to town with hell-fire-and-damnation sermons. Ben reluctantly joined Tom’s family in the church. The preacher expounded on the sins of the flesh. Then he prayed fervently. Outside the church storm clouds gathered. As the preacher was finishing, thunder and lightning surrounded the building.
“The Reverend prayed on and on,” Tom recalls. When the service finally ended, they discovered Ben’s mare had been struck by lightning and lay dead where she had been tied under the trees. “Ben stood over his horse, stunned, shaking his head again and again. The preacher came out of the church and stood in the circle. Ben looked at him, “That was too damned much, Reverend.”
SuggestedScripture:Psalm18:1-15,Amos5:14-15
