TRUST

Trust  --  Firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.

“This is your pilot speaking.  We are experiencing some turbulance.  Please stay seated with your seat belts fastened.”

Not exactly what I want to hear when I’m only-God-knows how many thousands of feet in the air the airplane on which I am riding is flying.  As the plane seemed to lurch and thump, The Husband and I heard the pilot’s voice as he said those words on our first flight of the day on our recent trip to Montana.  As in the past when those words are spoken, my arm immediately goes into the arm of The Husband.  That connection somehow gives me a bit of comfort while my mind is also trying to remember the safety advice and demonstration that the flight attendant gave.  Oh course, I paid very little attention to that safety segment.  I was wishing I had listened a bit more so I took out the safety brochure from the seat pocket and tried to learn it quickly.  Just in case I had need of it.

It’s in those moments, the taking off moments, and the landing moments (are there many moments left?) that I especially think seriously about what is about to happen.  It was actually on this flight that I considered the fact that during the course of this trip, I was going to ride on four different planes “driven” by four different pilots.  I would have no idea if mine would be their first time to fly a plane with people on it or if they had piloted many times.   I rarely ever think of that concept.  I trust these men (usually) that I have not seen nor do I know.  They look like pilots, they dress like pilots and they smile like pilots so they must be pilots, right?  But...is that enough to give one confidence?  (Guess there's a sermon in THAT somewhere.)  I trust them because Delta trusts them.  (These days, is that a good reason?)  Nonetheless, I flew in planes piloted by these folks I don’t know.  Luckily, I arrived home safely.

We have trust in our cars like that most days.  I trust that when I get in my car that it is going to crank.  I had an appointment at Northside Atlanta a couple of weeks ago at 8:00 a.m. on a Monday morning for what I call my yearly “Marathon Mammogram”.  I say that because at the doctor’s where I go, you are asked to allow 2-3 hours as you get the results that day.  When I walked out of there 4.5 hours later (everything was fine) into the pouring rain, got in my car, cranked it, paid the maximum parking fee, and drove out into the road, I saw my “check engine” light on.  Aargh….a friend used to call that kind of day a “day with negative ions in the air”.   As soon as I saw that warning, I became afraid that my car was going to break down at a very inconvenient place and my trust became shaken. 

We put our trust in people who sometimes disappoint us.  We put our trust in ourselves and we sometimes disappoint us.  Amazing how we trust even wrong things at times.

I am reminded of a childhood book I used to read to The Girl when she was small.  We read a lot of books at our house.  The Bernstein Bears series were some of the favorites.  If you’re not familiar, they are a family of bears--Papa Bear, Mama Bear, Brother Bear, and Sister Bear.  Sort of reminds one of my family descriptions on this blog, doesn’t it?  These books taught lessons to children and in this particular one, it teaches about trust.  If I can vaguely remember, Brother Bear and Sister Bear are playing in the living room in a fashion that is not accepted in the Bear treehouse.  In their antics, they knock over a lamp and break it.  Of course, they don’t want to admit their mistake to Mama Bear—it was her favorite lamp.  One line that I remember from the book that eventually Mama Bear says to them is “It’s hard to put trust back together once it’s broken.”  I say to that, “Amen”.   By the end of that story, one learns that rebuilding trust is not an impossible task.

So with all of this writing, I am coming to what is most important and a trust that will never let me down.  That is trust I have in my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  He has never messed up yet.  He trusts me certainly more than I seem to do Him some days.  I often forget He is the one who sees the future and knows the best for me.  I can trust Him to always lead me in the right direction.  I can trust Him to never leave me, even when I seem to take Him for granted.  I can trust Him with my family, with my friends, with my problems, with my life.  And most of all I can always trust Him to love me more than I deserve.

Remember that when your plane of life experiences turbulance, put your arm in the arm of your Heavenly Father.  He can calm the turbulance in your life.

That’s real trust.

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths.”   Proverbs 3:4, 5