“Is Anyone Driving This Thing?”

On the plane in the seat directly in front of me sat a little boy of around five years old. He had been chatting incessantly with his mother while the passengers finished boarding. He grew momentarily silent at the sound of the door being shut and the feeling of movement at the plane’s being pushed away from the gate. As the plane then headed out across the tarmac towards the runway, he spoke again with a concerned and questioning voice, “Mom, is anybody driving this thing?” I looked up from my Kindle when he spoke this. Glancing towards the front of the plane, I tried seeing it as he was. With the cockpit door shut, one could not peer inside and see the pilots. At the front of the plane, the cabin just appeared to end at a wall. Not seeing a pilot, the boy thought that perhaps there simply wasn’t one. Thus, concerned that our plane was moving and about to take off and travel through the air thousands of feet high, he reacted, “Is anyone driving this thing?” So often the motions of life take us in one direction and then another. Forces are at work that move us along this road and then that road. It is a question that begs to be asked: Is any one driving this thing? Is any one driving my life? Is any one driving the events of human affairs? Is any one driving where this world is headed? Is anyone driving the earth in its orbit, the solar system on its journey through the Milky Way, the stars on their wanderings, the universe in its expansions and contractions? Is there a pilot? For the atheist, the naturalist, the nihilist, and a huge chunk of the populace infected by an anti-God culture, the plane has no pilot. Life, history, humanity travels this way and that by chance and fate. There is no right direction, safe path, or set destination. We are all along for a ride with no reason for believing that there is an experienced, intelligent, being navigating and piloting at the yoke. What an awful thought to live with--My plane has no pilot! We don’t have to live that way. I am glad to believe in a sovereign and providential God. Reality is not driverless. God pilots the universe, human existence, and me. Oh, to be sure. I believe in free will. I chose to make the trip. I chose when to make it. I had a choice of which airline’s plane I boarded. I even chose where I sat (The airline I flew allows that.). I chose to obey the instructions of buckling up. I chose to accept an offered soft drink—and not a hard one. I chose to read and what I read. But, I didn’t pilot the plane. Someone did. I’m glad of that. I’m glad also that my life is not pilotless. I have a pilot that knows the route and how to get me there. A pilot to keep me safe. A pilot to fly me through the storms. On that flight, as we neared the destination, I looked out the window and saw a huge, dark bank of storm clouds we were headed directly into. Fierce winds began to blow. The plane descended into turbulence. Yet, we landed safely. We landed at the destination. Often, when traveling by plane, once I’m at the destination, I see the pilot. He has opened the door to the cockpit and stands and greets passengers as they disembark. The little boy was concerned about the plane being pilotless because he could not see the pilot. Often, in life we have the same concern. But, the pilot is there. Always. All a long the way. We may not see Him empirically until we get to our destination, but see Him we will. He will be there to greet us. I did not answer that little boy. But, I would like to shout it out, “Yes, Someone is driving this thing.”

“Is Anyone Driving This Thing?”

Contact

Follow Us