5 minutes

By now, you've heard the story (probably many times) about US Airways flight 1549 landing in the Hudson River of New York City. Stunning in that no one was hurt or killed, much of the credit has been given you Captain "Sully" Sullenberger. A career pilot and veteran of the Air Force, I watched "60 Minutes" interview him last night and was amazed at his demeanor. It should be no surprise he's from Texas. Nor that his training is what made a world of difference. What struck me is his statement "My whole life was a preparation for this moment." Wow. Talk about poignancy (Click it below to see the interview. If Katie Couric weren't doing the interview, it would be even better!). The recognition that a lifetime of preparation came down to less than 5 minutes of work.

5 minutes.

I spend that long brushing my teeth.

I've spent that long assembling this little note.

I guess the trick is you never know when those 5 minutes are coming.

By all accounts, the early stages of the flight were completely normal - nothing exceptional, nothing unusual. And yet less than 3 minutes into the flight, things had gone from normal to catastrophic. Amazing how fast that happens, isn't it? Less than 3 minutes later, they were in the Hudson River - soggy but largely unharmed. Shocking, isn't it? A lifetime of passion for 5 minutes of sheer terror. Hmmmmmmmm. . . perhaps there's a sermon series in this somewhere.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

SBC Meeting #2 - June 14 2023

 Beloved friends, yesterday's optimism evaporated in the New Orleans heat today.  I had hoped for a few things today and, sadly for me, most of them broke the wrong way in my view.  The lone bright spot was Dr Bart Barber who did a masterful job handling the tough duties and managing the clock.  In spite of that,  it was a deeply saddening day for me.  Consider with me why. An amendment - known loosely as the "Mike Law Amendment" - had been given to the SBC Ex Committee months ago declaring the role of pastor to be limited to men.  That's already in the Baptist Faith and Message so I didn't think much of it.  Surely we won't take it as a litmus test for fidelity to the SBC - that's a creed and last I checked we Baptists are non-creedal people.  Or were.  I had hoped cooler heads would prevail and the "Mike Law" amendment would fail.  After all, the Exec Committee put it forward but did NOT recommend it for approval.  This motion declares there sh
Read more

SBC meeting - June 13 2023

 Friends, today was not the day I expected and I mean that in the best possible way.  I came into this meeting believing much of what I had read online to be an accurate portrayal of where Baptist life really was.  I was wrong.  We aren't nearly as angry or narrow as I feared.   Our friend Dr Bart Barber was re-elected in a resounding vote - 67.5% to 31.5%.  I didn't see that coming. The spirit of the meeting was pleasant, even jovial at times.  I didn't see that coming. The people who came seemed genuinely happy to be here.  I didn't see that coming.   There's still work left to do and there are questions left to be answered tomorrow, but this was a really good start.  And I'm glad it came, even if I didn't see it coming.  
Read more

Home

I'm home and it's Saturday morning.  I woke up - no surprises here - at 4 AM.  Jet lag takes a couple of days to dissipate.   So this is where I'll end my travelogue.  Already I'm back to regular pastor life.  I'd been in the house about 20 minutes when I got a call that one of our deacons had lost his father-in-law.  I left for the hospital immediately.  I knew my associate pastor could handle it, but that's not a job I wanted to give away.  Later today (I hope), I'll post some pictures from our adventure.  Thanks for reading this nonsense and for walking with me along this path.  The good news is our adventures don't end just because we're home.  My prayer for this moment in time is that I'll recognize the power of THIS moment as I did while I was traveling. 
Read more