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Avoiding the 'Graveyard Spirals' of
Life
Word pictures work. They get a point across
effectively. Pardon me for making pulpit material out of the July 1999 tragedy
that killed John F. Kennedy, Jr., along with his wife and sister-in-law.
It's
really the attention given the tragedy up on which I'm capitalizing.
A key spiritual point is powerfully illustrated
by the emerging buzz phrase this horrible episode launched. The Kennedy accident has
introduced us non-aviators to "graveyard spiral" or "dead man’s
spiral," dual terms for the suspected – though not verified – cause of the
accident.
Flying by the instruments as opposed to vision,
reminds me that Christians are called to walk by faith and not by sight. Spiritually, I
know I’ve been headed for a graveyard spiral several times, haven’t you?
My friend Larry, a seasoned and accomplished
pilot, explained graveyard spiral better than the reports I’ve seen on TV. For those
who haven’t been glued to MSNBC, pilots flying by sight and not by instruments are
susceptible to graveyard spiral whenever they enter visually challenging meteorological
conditions.
Hmm, lots of life’s circumstances
are visually challenging, aren’t they? We can’t see the solution on the horizon.
We don’t know which way to turn. We’re not sure how to rise above our
circumstances.
I was in a situation not long ago, where I
wanted to relieve my pain by doing something immoral. This would have been the adult
version of a kid throwing a fit, I suppose.
It was a good thing I had
"instruments." My instruments consisted of knowledge of the word/mandates of
God, and friends who supported me with prayer, encouragement, and advice consistent with
the Lord’s way of doing things.
I had to take my eyes off my hurt, look away
from pride, and trust that the indications of what God wanted me to do would bring me to
safety.
Another thing they say about graveyard spiral:
if you’re in it, you’re not likely to get out of it – alive. I translate
that to mean that if your dumb enough to get into the mess in the first place, you’re
probably not smart enough to overcome it, although recovery is possible.
That means don’t flirt with danger. Take
precautions to not allow yourself to enter a perilous situation. Be aware that you could
easily find yourself in over your head.
When my friend Kevin hired a secretary he made
sure – pardon the "discrimination" – that the woman was not someone to
whom he felt physical attraction. "Why be tempted!" he explained. A married man,
Kevin was performing the aviator’s equivalent of checking weather conditions at every
point en route.
Joyce
Meyer sells a tape series titled something like "The Upside Down Kingdom that is
Rightside Up." Her point is that God’s ways of doing things often conflict with
the world’s system. Example: tithing; sowing your finances to reap a harvest. The
world says to save and conserve, but God says to give and it shall be given unto
you….
Larry says that instrument flying goes against
your natural senses and sensations. You have to do what your senses are insisting you not
do.
I can’t claim to be an accomplished
instrument pilot spiritually, flying through life with the greatest of ease. I know,
however, that’s a lesson I can learn and apply from this horrible tragedy.
– Terry Duschinski
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