Plane Crash!

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All of a sudden there was a bump. It was a hard bump! (Pastor Grant, as quoted on ABC Nightly News.)

Before every mission trip, I ask others to pray for myself and my team members for safety and Spirit-filled ministry.

As we left on our recent trip to the Philippines, I was looking forward to Spirit-filled teaching at a conference and a retreat with local church leaders. I didn’t know that by the end of the day, I would be on ABC News describing a plane crash.  

I know now that if you are going to be in a plane crash, it’s best to be on the ground!  

During the taxi for takeoff from Atlanta to Japan, the wing of our fully loaded and lumbering 280-ton Airbus A-350 hit the tail section of a rather puny 42-ton CRJ 900, with the inevitable result of the CRJ’s tail being twisted off the plane.

Like I said, “All of a sudden, there was a bump. It was a hard bump!”

Sort of surreal. After the hard bump, I looked at my wife and said, “It felt like we just hit a large pothole.” But I didn’t believe there would be potholes on a runway at the Atlanta airport. Fortunately, the pilot of our plane quickly spoke on the intercom, informing us that we had just hit another plane.

The plane was quiet, with everyone processing, but no one was hurt! 

Later, I talked to an aeronautical engineer, and he told me that if our plane’s wing had hit the other plane a few feet closer to the fuselage, where the fuel bladder in the wing began, the result would have been catastrophic.

Before God answered the “Spirit-filled ministry” request for our trip, He answered the “safe travel” request. And I say, “Amen!”

We arrived back in the USA last Thursday, October 3. 

Our trip also had great times of Spirit-filled ministry.  Below is an email that I received after a retreat our team held at a mountaintop retreat center …

I wanted to take a moment to thank you for the time and effort you invested during the DA2LJ retreat last week. It was truly a breath of fresh air for my soul, and it has profoundly impacted my spiritual perspective and understanding of the ministry God has entrusted to me.

Thank you for praying. The requests for safety and Spirit-filled ministry were both answered. 

And let’s remember Psalm 91:11:

For He will give His angels orders concerning you, to protect you in all your ways. On their hands they will lift you up!