Thursday, October 4, 2012
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Well, somehow I ended up speaking for the FAA Pilot Safety program. Now, you really wouldn't want to fly in a plane that I taught anyone to fly; I don't know nothing about it. But I think they invited me because of a book I wrote called "Peaceful Living In a Stressful World." Stress is a real issue to pilots, so they kind of sneaked me in for one of the programs.
The director for flight safety for the entire New York area took me to lunch one day to brief me on what to expect. In the process, he told me that over 80% of the crashes that involve private pilots are because of pilot error. Then he told me about a disease that has killed many pilots. He called it "get there-itis." "I've got to get there!" So, they don't adequately evaluate the weather, or the plane, or their own condition. They make a short-sighted choice that often leads to disastrous consequences. Of course you don't have to be a pilot to be in danger of that disease.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Get There-itis."
Now, there's a biblical case of "get there-itis" in Genesis 15:4. God made this awesome promise to Abraham, "There will be a son coming from your own body who will be your heir." Well, a lot of years passed; Abraham had a lot of birthdays, so did Sarah. The baby didn't come. Remember? They panicked. On to chapter 16. "Now, Sarai, Abram's wife had born him no children, but she had an Egyptian maidservant in Hagar. So she said to Abram, 'The Lord has kept me from having children. Go sleep with my maidservant...'" And if I might just insert here, "Duh! That wasn't very smart." "'...perhaps I can build a family through her.' Abram agreed with what Sarai said."
And as they say, "The rest is history." Here was a decision that did bring about a son, but it was the wrong son. It was Ishmael. Thirteen years later Isaac would come; the one that God had promised. But this decision to try to make it happen brought terrible conflict in Abraham's family and, honestly, even to our world 4,000 years later as the descendants of Ishmael, the Arabs, and the descendants of Isaac, the Jews, continue to fight it out.
Now, look, Abraham and Sarah had a worthy goal, the one God had promised, but God was taking longer than Abraham expected. So Abraham sinned the sin of "get there-itis." He made a disastrous choice because he had to get there. Well, maybe you could look back on some choices like that in your past. I know I can. You couldn't wait, you took off, and you caused a crash. Or maybe you're about to sin a sin of "get there-itis." Maybe it's a good goal. Maybe it's something you want to accomplish for ministry. Maybe you want to get married, or something to help your child, or to help other people. But God hasn't made it come to pass naturally. You're starting to push, to scheme, to arrange, to make it happen.
I like Warren Wiersbe's definition of faith. He said, "Faith is the absence of scheming." Are you about to make something happen where you should be waiting for it to happen? The time isn't right yet even though it seems late to you. You're about to pull a Hagar; a tragic hurry-up of God's plans.
Maybe God wanted me to say to you today, "Don't take off yet. Don't panic and die of terminal 'get there-itis.'" Would you leave this in God's hands? Would you let it be His time? You'll have a great flight if you do. If you force it, you'll probably crash.