I love the view of Manhattan when you fly into LaGuardia Airport. The view around the runways? Not so much. Water on three sides. The thought has crossed my mind, "A plane could end up in the water some day."
On March 6, 2015, one almost did with 127 passengers on board. A jetliner that slid off the runway, crashing through a fence - its nose virtually in the water.
A passenger said he knew the wheels weren't getting traction on that icy runway that day. Next thing - the jet was sliding uncontrollably to the left, off the runway and to the edge of the East River with some passengers crying, some praying, and some frantic. This young man named Jared was praying. He told the reporter, "Something like this makes you reflect on your relationship with God. God must not be done writing the story of my life."
If God hasn't mattered much before, He really matters when you may have been seconds away from seeing Him. I've had a couple of pretty close calls in my life; some on an airplane, some in a car. And you really do - or you really should - start asking the bottom line questions we're usually too busy to consider.
Somewhere along the way, we all get our wake-up call. So we'll stop and examine our life, our priorities, our relationship with God, and our eternal destination. Moments that bring us to the brink of eternity point us to life's big questions. What really matters and what really doesn't? Why am I here? Why did God spare me? If this had been the end, what then?
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Plane on the Edge and Life's Bottom Line."
The meaning of our life? The only One who can tell us is the One who gave us our life. And He has in His Book. We are, He says in the Bible, "created by Him and for Him" (Colossians 1:16). Problem: I've lived pretty much for me. So I'm missing my purpose until I know my Creator.
What really matters? Well, Ecclesiastes 3:11 says "God has set eternity in the hearts of men." What matters - and all that satisfies - is what will last forever. What about eternity? God says in our word for today from the Word of God in Hebrews 9:27, that man is "destined to die once and after that comes judgment." That can be disturbing because we're not ready. Because, as the Bible says, "your sins have cut you off from God" (Isaiah 59:2), and that's a terrible way to meet God.
Thank God for Jesus! On that bloody Good Friday, I'll read you these five life-changing words right out of the Bible, "Christ died for our sins" (1 Corinthians 15:3). So we don't have to. He loved us. He didn't want to lose you. And the Bible gives us this best of good news in John 3:36, "anyone who believes in God's Son has eternal life."
What does it mean to believe in Jesus? It doesn't just mean to agree with His teachings, or like Him, or know a lot about Him. No, it's what happened the day I was drowning when I was ten years old and a man jumped in to save me. I grabbed him like he was my only hope, because he was. I'd have died without him.
You know, that's what it means to believe in Jesus. You grab Him like He's your only hope. He is your only hope, because no one else died for your sins. If you don't take His death for you, you pay for your sins. No one else can give you eternal life because no one else has got it except the man who walked out of His grave.
This day He is ready to make you ready for eternity by changing a death penalty for your sin to eternal life you could never earn and never deserved. I'd love to show you how to begin that relationship with Him if you'd just go to our website ANewStory.com. In a very short time there I think you'll understand how to begin that relationship with Jesus Christ.
I gave myself to this Jesus. And because of Him, I - and millions like me - have this anchored peace, even in the face of death. I'm ready for eternity whenever or however it comes. And you can be too.