Cleared for Takeoff

Tuesday, May 15, I was sitting on a plane; as we were about to take off, as usual, the flight attendant said that we were cleared for take-off. In my mind, for years, I always thought that meant 'one plane at a time.' But today, I discovered something. As we were ascending, so was another plane; same speed. Different carrier.

I was absolutely fascinated; and then it dawned on me, that we were able to take off at the same exact time because we were going in two totally different directions. So, I stared out the window, until I lost sight of the plane.

Then, we kept ascending, and just when I thought we had leveled out, I pulled out my laptop to get some work done. But the WiFi wasn't working this time. I couldn't access the work I needed to get done on the plane, because we hadn't leveled out at all…we were still climbing. I happened to look out the window and saw another plane flying way higher than we were; I wondered to myself…"why is that plane higher than we are? Maybe its destination is a little further than mine." After losing site of that plane, I attempted to go back to my computer and get some work done, but to no avail. The WiFi was still not working and I couldn't get anything done.

So, I closed my laptop a bit, and continued to stare out the window. I saw nothing but sun and clouds. It seemed as if the weather was fine, so I really didn't understand why the WiFi was still not connecting. With my mind wandering, I started to think of all of the possibilities of why the connection wasn't working. Mid-thought, I saw a flash of lightening in the clouds below us.

Initially, it frightened me, but I noticed that we ere still climbing higher. Another flash. I took out my camera to try and capture the next flash of lightening, but the storm seemed to have calmed down. Suddenly, we approached a he mass of clouds, that seemed relatively dark, but there was a gleam of light lining the top of the cloud. I decided to turn my camera on video mode to see if I could catch another flash of lightening…

REVELATION

Once we got out of the clouds, I sat back in my seat and simply started crying. Why? I had sat down on a plane, not knowing that I wouldn't get anything done as I would have supposed. I was fascinated that two planes could take off at the same time, when all of my life I thought there was only room for one. I started to question why there were other planes flying higher than mine. I silently complained that we kept climbing and that the WiFi connection never kicked in. And then, I saw the storm below me and still hadn't realized that we were climbing for a reason.

Encouragement

There's always room for other to take off and succeed at the same pace that I'm going; it's okay to start out from the same place, at the same speed, and go in different directions.

It's ok for someone to be ahead of me, flying faster than me. Flying higher than me. Because, even in my silent complaint about WiFi, of all things, God was positioning me to be in the same place that those people who went before me were; taking me over a storm, rather than through it. Protecting me from dangers seen and unseen. Elevating me into a position of safety and stability. What I thought to be the height of my ascension (to access the WiFi) was actually the start of His plan of protection.

I said all of that to say… quiet your mind. You can't believe everything you think. You are exactly where you're supposed to be right now, and if things aren't working out the way you want them…in the time you want them to, just take a second and think: "What is He protecting me from?"

With only 14% left on my computer and 25 minutes of flight time left… we've been cleared for landing.