Friday, September 30, 2005
Our plane was racing down the runway, preparing to take off from Nashville. I was so exhausted, I was already drifting off into la-la land. Then came those jolts as the front wheels left the ground. The team member who was with me said, "Have you ever felt anything like that before?" I said, "No." And I dozed off. I wouldn't sleep for long; the flight attendant suddenly was announcing that we had blown a rear tire on takeoff and we were heading back to Nashville. For the next 45 minutes or so, we were circling the area, burning up as much fuel as possible for what could be a crash landing. I called my wife from the plane. I asked her to get people praying. My team member joined me in committing this whole situation to the Lord. The flight attendants went into emergency mode to begin to prepare us for the landing. They demonstrated how to brace for the landing. They had us pull out our emergency instruction card from the pocket in front of us - something they had asked us to do before we took off - something hardly anyone did. But as the attendant began her briefing she prefaced it with a simple exhortation, "This time I want you to really listen." Believe me, we really did.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Crash Landing Attention."
I'm very thankful to God for the way He answered prayer and He brought our crippled aircraft in safely to a welcome from an armada of emergency vehicles and personnel. I was impressed with how the crew had prepared us. I was impressed with the way we all listened. And why did they have our total attention the second time when they reviewed those exits and evacuation? It's obvious, because we were in a critical situation now; because the information could be life-or-death.
Our word for today from the Word of God, Hebrews 2:3. "How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?" God's been trying to communicate life-or-death information to some of us for a long time. That word "salvation" is serious business. Salvation is how to get out of a plane that might be on fire; how to get out of a burning building. But like those passengers on that flight, we don't pay much attention to salvation information until we're suddenly in a critical situation - until we finally realize that what we do with this could mean the difference between life and death.
God is used to people, as it says here, "ignoring such a great salvation." He may have been trying to get your attention with the most critical information you will ever hear - that we're under an eternal death penalty for running our lives our way instead of God's way and that His one and only Son, Jesus, absorbed all your sin and all the hell that you deserve when He died on the cross, and that your only hope with God is putting your total trust in Jesus, like a person in a burning building would pin all their hopes on the rescuer who came to save them.
You've heard that news before, and maybe you've even accepted it with your head. That's what I did with the rescue information from that flight attendant the first time around. But I got it with my heart when I realized my life could depend on knowing and acting on it.
For you, ignoring what God has done to save you puts you in the danger zone. It may be that God has even shaken things up recently. He's asking you for your attention before it is eternally too late. He says, "This time I want you to really listen." This isn't just some religious belief you sign up for. This requires an action step of making Jesus your Savior. If you haven't done that - if you've been putting that off - consider this God's emergency call to make your peace with Him.
I believe there's someone listening who's saying, "I don't think I should risk one more day without the Savior." If you finally want to begin this life saving relationship, to open your heart to Him, would you tell Him that right now? And would you let me know so I could send you my booklet about beginning this relationship. It's just called Yours For Life. All you have to do is ask for it. I think it will help you get started with Jesus.
God simply says, "How will you escape if you ignore such a great salvation?" Especially after what it cost. It cost God's one and only Son His life! Please, don't ignore this any longer. Your life - your eternity depends on it.