anxiety

My preferred method of travel is flying.  I do it a lot for work, and I also do it for fun.  Flying is very routine and I am seldom concerned about my safety.  That is, until Monday evening.

 

I was on my way home from Philly and we were boarding a prop (propeller) plane.  I've flown these types of planes more times than I care to count.  The flight attendant does her safety spiel and takes her seat.  The captain fires up the right prop and it starts turning.  And then stops.  I know that's not right.  We're all sitting there waiting for something to happen.  They re-open the outside door and the captain and first officer exit the plane to examine the engine.  This is not something I've ever experienced and I immediately come to the conclusion that this is not a good thing.  They come back to the plane and try it again.  A few slow revolutions, and the prop stops again.  They call a mechanic.  He opens up an access door, walks back to his van and pulls out some towels.  Then he proceeds to wipe down the inside of the access door.  I'm trying to process all these things in my head and what I figure is that it's a problem with hydraulics.  The prop wasn't turning and there was some residue that needed to be wiped off in the engine compartment.  Generally, hydraulics are something that you like to have fully functional when you fly.  At this point, the captain informed us that we would be deplaning until they figured out the problem.  I am rather concerned about flying in this metal cylinder, but I try to console myself with the fact that they wouldn't fly a broken airplane.  Would they?

 

One of my best Christmas gifts was a subcription to Discipleship Journal.  Last week I was reading an article that asked the question "Is anxiety a sin?"  A very interesting question, when you consider that if we are anxious or worried, we distrust God.  It's sometimes easy to consider just anxiety by itself.  But when you look at the flip-side and what that entails, you begin to wonder "How did I get here?"  When I was sitting on that plane, at what point did I let my faith and trust in God slip, and allow the worry to creep in?  I'm not certain.  It may have had something to do with the fact that it was a very long day and I was not feeling well.  Regardless, I let the enemy get the best of me that night.  But I've learned a valuable lesson, that worry is an absence of trust.

 

Have you worried lately?