Make God Your Control Tower

On April 3, 1977 two 747 jets collided on the runway at Tenerife in the Canary Islands. 575 people died. Why?

It was a busy and foggy morning. The main airport was closed and this smaller one had to be used. Instead of moving into position on a taxiway, planes had to use the main runway. The Dutch pilot, for some unknown reason, started his take off without clearance from the control tower. The other plane was on the runway and the collision resulted in hundreds of deaths.

One basic lesson taught pilots is that in an air traffic control zone, you do not do what seems right to you, you do what the control tower tells you. The reason is obvious. The tower knows things you don’t. They have better information and everyone’s welfare in mind. To act independently causes disaster.

That is not only true in aviation, but in life. A thick moral fog has moved over our society. Old reliable landmarks are no longer visible. Spiritual visibility is nil. Everyone seems to want to fly by the seat of their pants. Such moral and ethical relativism is degrading and dehumanizing. As a society we are terribly confused morally and spiritually. The basis for judging right and wrong has been obscured.

The true joy of life is found in living a Colossians 3:23 life: There is a little book on my desk entitled “God’s Trombones.” It contains this quote, “Young man yo arms are too short to box with God.”

This God within, the source of our enthusiasm, is a mighty God. Various people find that out in different ways.

Arrogantly the egotistical general Napoleon, perhaps the greatest military leader of all times, flaunted his power. He was known for his unconquerable will. It was known that he willed to have the world at his feet. His strategy for achieving this staggering goal neared fulfillment.

History records that as the little general and his vast army marched on Moscow he boasted, “Russia next, then Britain and Napoleon shall rule the world.”

The great Napoleon spoke and our mighty God acted. A tiny snowflake fell on the braided cuff of the emperor’s sleeve. He brushed it off as nothing. Then another, and another, and they kept on falling until Napoleon’s proud army broke and in despair retreated, a sick shadow of its former self.

Napoleon boasted and our awesome God acted. The gentle snows of Russia and the torrents of rain at Waterloo left the emperor, according to historians, muttering, “God Almighty was too much for me.”

God Almighty is the God Who is just the right size to fill the empty place in your heart and give you spiritual victory.