I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me. He freed me from all my fears. (Psalm 34:4, NLT)
This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. (Joshua 1:9, NLT)
Fearing people is a dangerous trap, but trusting the Lord means safety. (Proverbs 29:25, NLT)
I understand the emotional impact of cultural turbulence. It can be unnerving and disconcerting and challenging to anyone’s faith. Yet it reminds me of an article I once read that was written by a commercial airline pilot about the nature of turbulence. He wrote how turbulence is normal and generally harmless. That it feels way worse than it actually is. In truth, it’s almost impossible for a plane to get flipped upside-down, thrown into a tailspin, or otherwise flung from the sky by even the mightiest gust or air pocket.
In other words, no matter how bad it might feel, the plane is not going to crash. Not from turbulence. In fact, it’s normal. So much so that when the pilot changes altitude in search of smoother conditions, it’s by and large in the interest of passenger’s comfort and calm. It’s not because the pilots are worried the wings are going to fall off or they’re going to be air-punched to the ground. They just want to minimize coffee stains and vomit bags.
Each year, worldwide, only about a hundred people are injured through turbulence and half of them are flight attendants. Among regular passengers? Only around 50 people a year. Fifty out of the two billion who fly every year. And you wouldn’t even have those 50 if they would have had their seatbelts on.
Christians have met cultural turbulence head-on for millennia. The worst that could happen? We die and go to heaven. You see, we shouldn’t be troubled by the turbulence. And even if our plane does crash as a result, it doesn’t matter.
The Kingdom of God is not of this world,
… and we have nothing to fear.
This article originally appeared here and is used by permission.
