Practically everyone has considered the question, "What would you do if you knew you were going to die?" Unfortunately, for passengers of a British Airways Flight from Miami to London, that question became very real. A flight assistant accidentally pressed the button that announced that the plane would be making an emergency landing at sea. Now that will make you put down your package of peanuts. As the passengers began to panic, a stewardess announced that the message was a mistake.
My first thought after reading this article was, "where is this button located?" If it's next to the pilot's "fasten seatbelt" button, it should probably be moved. Something that serious should have one of those button flip cases like you see in films about nuclear missiles. Because a whoops like that is going to stick with people for quite a while.
My next thought was, "what would go through my mind for the first few moments following an announcement like that?" It's hard to imagine and even more difficult to predict, but if I were to guess, I would think, "I don't want to die." I mean, who wouldn't? A close second would be my wife and kids. Whether they were with me or not, I would gravitate to thinking about them. I would hate the thought of my kids growing up without a father and also not being able to live out my days with my wife.
After these two sure things, I would venture to say that some serious prayer would be in order. I'd definitely be praying for a Captain Sully type landing. And with it, I would surely pray the "if I get out of this thing alive" prayer. We all have the list of things we want to accomplish and experience, and for whatever reason, we have put them off or have just been too lazy to see these things through. I know that I would come up with a small yet significant list for things that I would change or follow through with. I would love to hear from this group of passengers and whether or not it changed the way they lived.
The sad thing is, it shouldn't really take experiences like this to motivate us to maximize our opportunities. We all know that "life is short" and that tomorrow is not guaranteed for anyone. But do we live like it? I love what the Apostle Paul says in the book of Ephesians, chapter 5 - "Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days." If we follow this word from Paul and make the most of every minute, hour and day, then we don't need any accidental recordings to get us thinking. Sure it takes discipline, courage and strength from God to make the most of our days here on earth, but God never promised that it would be easy. So don't put it off. Spend some quality time with your family, go the extra mile for someone today and see what happens next!
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