Destination Ahead...

I woke up this morning with a story on my mind...something my Dad told me several days ago that I had casually listened to but, when I woke up today, it was my first thought.  The "word" that popped in my mind when I awoke was illumination.

When you're a military kid, time and people and places can all blend together and make your memories a blur.  When I was about 11 years old or so, my Dad got a "call", if you will, to head out to Korea for some military-related work that didn't involve the family...just him going solo.  Due to the nature of the trip, we didn't know a specific date when he would be back and, though it makes me sound ancient to say this, it was before the days of emails and cell phones.  So as my Mom puts it, "...there were long stretches of silence."  

In an effort to preserve her sanity and to help my brother and I understand when he would be home, we had this map that we looked at when he called to check in. Mom would pinpoint where he was for us along his path and we could see how far along he was in his West-bound journey "home" to us.  Although we didn't know how long that journey would take exactly, it helped to know how much of it was left. 

Toward the end of his trip West over the frigid North Atlantic, my Dad received a message from the crew who had departed in a plane before him. They had barely made it to their destination - his soon-to-be destination - due to lack of fuel.  They landed with only 7 gallons of gas left...which would have lasted, oh, two more minutes.  "It didn't make any sense..." my Dad explained.  "We had done the "math" for the trip and their plane should have had plenty of fuel.  The worst part was that no one had any answers as to what had happened."  He finished, "I mean, math is math." 

To add to that confusion, not long before, another plane had completely disappeared on this very same route.  So, as you can imagine, this information created a huge amount of trepidation on the part of my Dad. One minor miscalculation and he could become nothing more than a ghost.  As they were waiting on their plane to be refueled, my Dad said he kept looking at his watch, telling the others that if the time rolled passed 4:00 p.m., he absolutely would not take off.  He didn't want to be over the North Atlantic at all really - but especially at night after the news he'd just received from the other crew.  

Well, he said, we ended up taking off at 3:59 p.m. - so that really didn't solve his problem.  Looks like this "leg" of the journey would be a dark, scary night of flying after all.  Would he make it? he couldn't help but wonder.

As darkness closed in and they flew into the night, all the unknowns started to eat at him.  What happened to the other plane that disappeared? Why did the guys before almost run out of fuel? If his plane crashed into the North Atlantic who could possibly reach him in less than 30 minutes? They couldn't survive in those waters longer than that.  His mind raced and the darkness all around him began crushing in.  

My Dad, who I would  consider a straight-truth to a fault (sometimes) kind of guy, had to pause a moment before he could continue to speak.  His brown eyes stared down at his hands and his voice wavered with controlled emotion when he said, "At that moment, in all of that overwhelming and complete darkness, I quietly cried out to God and said, "Lord, please give me something?  You've got to give me something..."  

All his control melted away and his voice cracked a bit as he said, "...and out of no where in the pitch black, I saw a light ahead, illuminating the airstrip where we were going to land."  Just as the darkness had become too much, he had made it...and, more than that, in one of the darkest moments of his life, he felt God had clearly answered him. 

I woke up this morning with more than a story on my mind.  I woke up with a prayer in my heart based on that story.  I asked God to show Himself tangibly to people in my life who feel displaced or unsure of the future right now...and I asked Him to meet them (and me) in our "low" moment. I'm asking Him to, like He did then, show us the "Light" that illuminates the destination ahead. 

While this struggle I'm (you're) facing may surely feel like a long trip in a 2 engine plane...

...over the frigid North Atlantic...

...in the dark...

...where there is nothing to be seen around or even up ahead...

...where all that is known are the "coordinates" I've been given for the journey...

I try to remind myself this morning that I know the destination is somewhere safe and good...

...juuuuuuuust hang on long enough to get there.  

I'm thanking God today for all that darkness right now in my life - and in the lives of those I care about - because I just know that the Light that will soon come will point and say, Now...

....look right HERE.  This is your destination. 

I (you) will not only feel relief and sweet release like my Dad did that day...I will see His great glory and know my Father more.  Gives me chills to think about.      

Seek His will in all you do and he will show you which path to take... Proverbs 3:6