Fear of Flying

I’ve never had a fear of flying. However, I did experience some anxiety my first, and only, time on an airplane. As the plane lifted off the ground I spontaneously reacted with tears. Up until that moment I’d never given it too much thought because my eyes were on the prize: the destination and who we’d be with when we arrived. 

Andrew took my hand and said something to me. I can’t remember what it was, but it was something reassuring no doubt. Perhaps it was this: “We’re in God’s hands.”  

As I looked out the window and down at the runway I saw the number 7.  Because I understood this to be a number that God uses quite often in Scripture, It was an amazingly comforting confirmation to me that I could relax and put my trust in Him.

If I didn’t believe that He was with me and for me, however, that anxiety may have never subsided.  I could have spent the whole flight a nervous wreck, or worse: I’d have never boarded that plane. Instead, I was excited because this was a brand new experience for me. I spent most of that flight taking pictures out my window.

I know someone who once said that he would never fly. He’s the same someone that we were traveling to spend some time with. 

The reason he’d give for not wanting to fly was that there were too many people you have to trust for your safety. For me, this was never true. The only one I ultimately depend on is God. Either I’d reach my destination that day, or this would be the day that I went home to be with my Lord. It’s kind of a win-win situation.

One of the things that really spoke to me during this trip was a line from a movie that we all watched together called  “Faith Like Potatoes.” I can’t remember the exact wording of that line, but It’s much like the first Scripture I’ve quoted at the end of this piece. I believe it was something like this: “If you wait for rain, you’ll never plant your field.”  

When you plant potatoes you don’t know what’s going on beneath the soil until you turn it up, revealing what’s underneath. The farmer can’t know when rain will come. He can’t know if what he plants will produce a good crop. In the movie “Faith Like Potatoes” the threat of no rain forced Angus to take a leap of faith and trust God with the outcome.

If you don’t sow your seeds there is zero chance of a crop. If you depend on the right weather you may never plant. Faith is a lot like that; it takes trusting God (faith) and then acting upon that trust.

Every time I’ve chosen to “fly” I’ve learned something new, becoming even more confident in the doing. It’s one of the rewards of doing; you become stronger.

There comes a time when you have to accept that if you don’t just do it, you’ll never do it. These words came to me many years after putting off my baptism. I knew that if I didn’t take that plunge I’d keep letting fear hold me back. If I had, I wouldn’t have reaped the rewards. 

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God’s Perfect Love Casts out Fear

“Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap” –Ecclesiastes 11:4

“We should not rely on our feelings; we have to walk by faith and not by sight. If we preserve in the Lord, we always succeed.”  –Angus Buchan/ A farmer who trusted God against all odds/ Faith Like Potatoes 🥔

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”

1 John 4:18