There were many factors that lead to this puzzling decision. Both of the 747’s and other airline planes had to divert to the island of Tenerife Los Rodeos Airport because at their original destination, the Las Palmas Airport, a terrorist bomb had gone off in the airport. The situation at the Los Rodeos airport was crowded both inside with people and outside with planes. The crew of the one 747 was approaching their maximum flight time. In addition to this, fog started rolling in quickly. To cancel the flight and accommodate both crew and passengers would not be easy, and everyone was anxious to get to their original destination. Also, the captain had decided to load up his airplane with fuel so he would not have to do it again at Las Palmas. Because it was a single runaway airport, all the planes had to taxi and take off using this same runway. One of the 747s had reached the end of the runway and had turned around to take off. The captain was anxiously waiting clearance to take off, as he watched the fog quickly come in. He was not aware that the other 747 had not yet turned off the runway. The black box even testified to the fact that the F/O had tried to warn him that they had not been cleared. We don’t entirely know why he decided to take off anyway. His decision to do so, however, cost the lives of over 500 people in both 747s. Everyone perished in his airplane. Could it be that the captain’s expectations of reaching his destination and the surrounding pressures caused him to stop listening to the advice of his F/O and, by doing so, violated a very basic rule…you do not take off without clearance?

In a similar way, each of us have expectations in life that are like destination points we want to reach and sometimes desperately work to do so. It might be that we want to get married, or find greater fulfilment in our marriage. Or perhaps we are trying to reach a certain status in work or life.  In the process of trying to achieve these things, we encounter unexpected pressures that jeopardize our dreams. Then on the spur of the moment we attempt to rearrange our life. The combination of all this makes us vulnerable. It puts us in danger of making impulsive and irrational decisions, ones that violate God’s truth, and even cause us to ignore the warnings of friends or co-workers.  Though such rash decisions may not be as catastrophic as the two 747’s in March 1977, they can deeply damage relationships, cause confusion, and bring on depression. It is in these times we need to turn to our Lord and get his clearance for the next “leg” of our lives, even when it might look like we are facing a time delay or maybe we are being re-routed. God wants us to learn in such experiences what Isaiah said in 30:15,18:

“In repentence and rest you will be saved; in quietness and confidence will be your strength…Blessed are those who wait on the Lord.”

Look for His clearance,

Courtesy of FCAP.