It’s been another busy week with people consumed with talk about our world and the future. I try to stay away from watching the news during weeks like this because it is so easy for me to feel anxious just listening to the news reporters. My personality is one that wants to “do” something right away about the wrong things that I see on the news and in everyday life. When I hear about wrong situations or “evil plans” that are succeeding, I want to scream, “Hey, I’m not stupid! I can see what you are doing, and you won’t get away with it for long.”

I wish I wasn’t that way. I wish I was……..you know, carefree, easy-going, and slow to get upset. The Bible tells me that I should be quick to listen and slow to anger, but I believe that God knows it is harder for some people more than others to be calm and quiet. Ha! 🙂 Regardless of my many imperfections and my failure to be all that I know God wants me to be, I am trying to control myself when I feel my anxiousness rising, along with my temper. I try to remember that despite how I feel on the inside, God has things on the outside under control.

My feelings this week about uncertainty in the future got me thinking about a devotion that I once read about a little boy on an airplane. The little boy was a passenger on an airplane flight when he was observed by a lady sitting nearby. The lady noticed that the little boy was traveling with no parents near him on the plane. As he sat alone in the seat he was busy coloring a picture in a coloring book. The little fellow seemed unfazed by people boarding the plane as they squeezed by. As the plane lifted off and traveled through the air the little boy just continued to be absorbed in his work of coloring between the lines. He worked intently on his picture totally blocking out any distractions. During the middle of the flight, the plane began to encounter some major turbulence. The plane started moving to and fro and all the passengers began to feel a bit uneasy. As the turbulence worsened the little boy appeared to be even more absorbed in his work of trying to hold the crayon and color his picture neatly. The child showed no emotion, no concern, and certainly no fear despite the uncertain situation on the plane.

The lady who had been watching the little boy was feeling quite uneasy herself with all the shaking of the plane. When she could focus on the little boy she noticed that the child’s expression never changed during the long minutes of turbulent tossing.  Once things calmed down and the clear light was back on for passenegers to move freely about the plane, the lady couldn’t help herself any longer. She got up from her seat and moved toward the child.

“Little boy,” she said, “I couldn’t help but notice that you are sitting all alone on this plane. And, I have been watching you for quite a while. I know you have really been enjoying your coloring book, and you have been working so hard to color neatly. I’m sure you enjoy coloring a lot, but I couldn’t help but notice that when the plane was being tossed to and fro and things got a little scary, you just kept coloring without looking afraid. Little boy, weren’t you even a little scared when the plane was shaking? Weren’t you afraid that something bad might happen to the plane?”

The little boy looked up at the lady and with all seriousness said, “No mam, I wasn’t scared a bit because my daddy is the guy who is flying the plane.”

What confidence that little fellow had in his daddy! Of course he knew that his daddy, who he trusted with everything, would do everything possible to keep him safe and work for his good. What a lesson that was for me the first time I read it, but how fitting it is for my life today. When I am anxious, angry, scared, uncertain, or thinking God is unaware, I also have a daddy who is flying my plane. God wants me, like that little boy, to concentrate on the work He has given me while he takes care of EVERYTHING else.

He knows when the news is bad. He knows when the situation is unfair. He is certain about the uncertain. He is the one who allowed those evil plans to temporarily succeed in order to accomplish his own plans for good. He WILL shine a light on all wrong motives when his time is right, (and he doesn’t need me screaming.) Nothing on the news shocks him, scares him, or makes him worry. He knows a lot more than the news reporters because he made the news. He controls the whole airport whether we admit it or not, and he doesn’t need any help to get things done.

Now you know I  have to ask it………..Who’s your daddy?

And, who’s flying your plane?