Am I In Control?
I left my little farm to take a trip by airplane the other day and of course the thought of “why are people afraid to fly?” crossed my mind. I tell you the truth, it doesn’t bother me to fly, except for the ear popping as you go up and down on landings and takeoffs, but the fact that if the engines stalled at 10, 000 feet just doesn’t bother me.
There is not much you can do, I mean, you can’t pull the plane over and pop the hood and wait for a tow truck can you? So if it goes down, it goes down. In reality, take off and landing are the times for things that go bump to happen. So once your are up, you’re half way there! (sorry, no pun intended).
Just think about it, we get in a 2-ton, 65 mph accident waiting to happen, with no thought and then breakout into a cold sweat as soon as the feet hit the plane’s floor. What gives?
Here is something to think about----when you get in your car, you are in control, when you are in a plane you are not---someone else is in control. They make all the decisions, they will determine
everything about your safe arrival. Then just add about 10,000 feet of altitude.
Again, I think the issue could be control, we like to run our lives, to control every facet of our daily lives, waking or asleep. We do not want to lose control of anything. Hence the fear. Maybe some people have a real fear of heights, flying etc. but I think (in an unscientific opinion poll of 1) that this could be it.
You know, people have had trouble with control issues all along the historical path. Beginning with the Hebrews in the desert to the rejection of the Messiah by the Pharisees, and continuing to today.
We read in Romans 8:9 “You, however, are not of the flesh but under the control of the Spirit, since God's Spirit lives in you. “
Here is the answer to the control issue. God has given us the Spirit to control us, to “run
the show” so to speak. Now this is not to say that we are off scott free to do what we wish for
Paul tell us to show self-control: “Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is helpful.
Everything is permissible for me, but I will not allow anything to control me. “ (I Cor. 6:12) and
again he writes:” But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”( Gal. 5:22-23)
Life is hard enough without us trying to run it. God gives this day, so use it to its fullest, and
don’t fret about the day or the morrow. There are so many stories of people trying to run their
lives from the control room only to have it disappear in a moment. Let the world worry about
tomorrow, let God take the stick and fly you around.
Until next time on My Front Porch.

THE GREAT CHASM
These people belong to the world. That is why they speak from the world's perspective, and the world listens to them. I John 4:5

I have never been to the Grand Canyon out west, but I have been the “grand canyon” of the east, the New River Gorge. It is an impressive sight, standing on the edge of the gorge and looking out across to the other side. Any season of the year, the view is one of a kind.
To get to the other side of the gorge there is a modern bridge spanning the gorge at a narrow point. It only takes a few minutes to drive from one side of the gorge to the other.
Looking way, way down at the New River running through the gorge you will see the old bridge that once was the only way across the gorge. You had to drive all the way down to the bottom of the gorge, cross this old narrow bridge and then drive all the way back up. It took at least on hour (I was told) to cross from one side to the other. And before any bridge was built, people on one side were separated from those on the other.
Look at today’s verse and the analogy holds for people and God. When people belong to the world, see the world with the world’s eye then they are on one side the “great gorge” and God is on the other side.
Again in first John (4:6) we read “We belong to God. The person who knows God listens to us. Whoever does not belong to God does not listen to us. “
As a member of Christ’s body, our outlook on life is quite different than one who denies Christ or does not know Him. Just look at the decisions many people make in their life, ones they do not think anything about, but to a Christian the same decision would not be made.
As I have said to others before, what happens doesn’t surprise me, it just disappoints me. These two verses teach us that there is a grand canyon between God’s people and the people of the world. Two different view points.
No wonder Christ said :” You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill can't be hidden. “(Matthew 5:14)
Until next time On My Front Porch