The sky was gray one November day as an airplane with passengers approached the airport. The captain and copilot in the cockpit of the airplane could only see about 15 miles through layers of broken clouds.
“We would like permission to approach runway 21,” the captain radioed to the control tower.
An air traffic controller answered, “Fly southwest toward runway 21. You may descend, but fly no lower than 7000 feet.”
The captain repeated what he thought he heard: “Descend to 5000 feet.” But was that the altitude given to him by the controller?
Nobody caught the mistake. The captain thought he had heard “5000 feet,” and the copilot, who was at the controls, began to descend slowly through the broken clouds.
When the jet reached 5700 feet, a warning light suddenly blinked on, followed by a loud alarm and a voice that ordered, “PULL UP!” The copilot immediately climbed higher, and the warning stopped.
The alarm and voice had come from the Ground Proximity Warning System, special equipment which warns that a crash is about to happen. Although these pilots had probably never heard that voice before while they were actually flying, they knew from training to obey it at once.
As they continued on toward the airport, the captain said, “That warning may be false ... the radar might not be working right.” So, the copilot began to descend again.
At 5500 feet the warning sounded again with the loud alarm and the voice ordering, “PULL UP!” The copilot pulled up sharply, climbing as steeply as the aircraft could climb.
The captain, wanting to know how low they could safely fly, radioed the controller and asked, “What is the terrain clearance out here?”
“Climb to 7000 feet,” the controller immediately told him. They obeyed and were soon on a safe course again. The captain and copilot looked at their map and saw a mountain peak of 5200 feet right where they had been headed. They had come within 300 feet of the mountain! Later figuring showed that they were only about seven seconds away from hitting the mountain when they obeyed the warning and pulled up to safety.
Seven seconds away from eternity! What serious thoughts must have gone through those pilots’ minds as they realized how close they and their passengers had been to dying! They had thought they were doing the right thing and were following directions to have a safe landing, but they were wrong.
What about you? Are you following God’s directions about how to get to heaven? Many people think that if they don’t do anything very bad and do some good things, and maybe go to Sunday school, that will be enough to get them to heaven. But God has given us clear directions about how we can be saved from our sins and go to heaven. “By grace are [you] saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-98For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8‑9)). This means that salvation comes by simply believing what God tells us in the Bible about what Jesus has done, not by works we can do. God gives salvation freely, as a gift. His gift is so great, because God is so great. If you admit to God that you are a sinner and believe that the Lord Jesus died on the cross for your sins, you can be sure that you will go to heaven someday. The Lord Jesus said, “This is the work of God, that [you] believe on Him whom He [has] sent” (John 6:2929Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. (John 6:29)). This is the only work there is for you to do to be saved ... believe on the Lord Jesus.
Messages of God’s Love 7/7/2024