Several years ago, I took my son on a caribou hunt in Alaska. We left Dillingham on a bush plane and flew to a small village where we met our guide. We then took a four-hour boat ride up the river to where we would stay in a tent for the next week. The camp was on an island in the middle of the river. There we learned we would share the island with an Alaska brown bear, which is actually a large grizzle bear.

I shot my caribou about mid-week and my son didn’t get his until the end of the week. The next day after I got mine, it started to rain. In Alaska, one never knows how long a rain storm will last and this one just didn’t let up.

On the day we were to meet the bush plane, it was still raining. We didn’t know if the plane would make it into the small village to pick us up or not. Together, we all loaded our gear along with the meat, antlers, and hides of the caribou we had harvested and headed back down the river. It was only a three-hour ride with the rain pelting us as we were going downstream.

When we finally reached the village, we found the plane was there, and we loaded our gear and caribou into the plane. A few minutes later, a couple of natives approached the pilot. They asked him if they could get a ride into Dillingham with us. The pilot assured them they could, and he set up two more seats in the back of his plane.

A river barge had come into the village and soon the owner of the barge also showed up asking for a ride in to Dillingham. Now we had five passengers instead of just me and my son, plus our gear and animals. The pilot asked me to set in the front with him because I was the big guy. I thought to myself; he wants me to counterbalance those smaller guys in the back. Little did I know the experience I was about to experience.

We took off with the rain beating down on us. I reach up and took ahold of a brace tube by the windshield of the plane. As we flew along, we hit a pocket of air and the plane dropped several feet. My bottom came off of the seat until the plane stopped dropping and then I slammed into the seat with a large thud. This happened several times, and I got a little nervous. When we got close to Dillingham, the pilot put the plane into a sharp turn, which banked the plane quite a bit.

Suddenly, an orange light started flashing on the dash of the plane, along with a beeping sound. I learned later the light and beeping was the stall warning. If the pilot banked the plane more, we could fall out of the sky. The pilot finally brought the plane out of the turn and lined up with his private runway.

Then I heard him say something I never want to hear another pilot say again. “Oh, no!” The words bounced around and around in my head. I looked down the runway and there was a pickup parked with half of it sticking out into the runway. We headed in to land, barely missing the pickup, and set down on the runway. We were moving quite fast, and I realized the ocean was straight ahead, just fifty yards past the end of the runway. Are we going to make it or are we going to get wet?

The pilot made a hard turn to the right. It felt like the left wheel came off of the ground. A few seconds later, we stopped in front of his hangar. He turned to me and asked, “How was that, Lee?” All the guys in the back shouted great job, but they had not seen or heard what I had. My reply was not too bad as I peeled my fingers one at a time from the brace tube I was holding on to.

So, let me ask you a few questions relating to my story.

 

1. What’s happening in your life or the life of someone you know?

1. Is your world falling out from under you? Trust Jesus to see you through that time of trouble.

1. Do you or your acquaintance feel like the stall warning is going off in your life? Jesus is the one who is ready and able to help you through that. But He might want to use you to help your acquaintance through his time of trouble.

1. Has someone or something shortened the runway in your life? By now you know what to do.

1. Is a wheel coming off of the ground and you don’t know what to do? Jesus does, turn it over to Him.

1. Have you shared what is happening in your life with someone else? They may not have a clear view of what is happening. Share with others and be someone others can share with you.

1. What is holding you back from accomplishing all the Lord want you to do?

These are questions I have asked myself many times and I thought I would share this with you. Please comment with your answers so I can pray for you.