Seize the Day
Somewhere over Colorado, our airplane went completely dark.
Yeah, that’s right. And I tell you what, it was scary. Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada, and, listen, at the same moment the lights gave out in the main cabin, the audio channels died; the movie screen went black inside our plane. I gave a serious look to my friend, Judy, who was sitting next to me. And it did not help that we were encountering turbulence over the Rocky Mountains.
Well, the captain of our flight came on with the usual bland assurance, “Ah, ladies and gentleman, this is your captain, and as you can tell, we have encountered a little glitch in our mechanical system; uh, a little problem with cabin power; uh, nothing we can’t address here; when we’ve got more info, I’ll get back to you.” Right. Sure. That was gonna be assuring, right? But I don’t think any of us felt assured. After a few more minutes I heard a passenger nearby say, “Did you smell something burning?” I mean, I’m telling you, you could feel the tension in the cabin. And just then we began to descend. What do we do? I mean, is this it? I mean, Judy and I, we kinda looked at each other wide-eyed, huddled and began softly saying the Lord’s Prayer. The captain came on and explained that due to the power failure, we’d be making an emergency landing in St. Louis. Other passengers began to question out loud what was going on, and a few sounded panicky. And as our plane slowly lost altitude, Judy and I began praying for the other passengers. I mean, if we were going to die, we wanted to cover as many people as possible with our intercessions.
Needless to say, we made it to St. Louis, and when we finally touched down, applause – I mean this wild applause – erupted from all us passengers. We were escorted off the plane and told to wait at a certain gate to be reassigned another flight. As we sat there, a woman who was on our flight came up to me – I recognized her from the aisle across from me. And I said, “Well, I guess that was some scare, wasn’t it?” To which she replied to me, “Oh, I saw you; I recognized you, Joni; I knew you were on the plane, and I knew God would not take us down. I know if He’s not through with you yet, He’s not through with me.” I laughed, oh my. And I tell you what, this lady had it all wrong. I am not above being taken to glory in a plane crash, let me tell you.
Later that night, we found this little Scripture in the book of Job. The 14th chapter, the 5th verse says, “Man’s days are determined; You have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.” Judy and I looked knowingly at one another. Because God can take us home any old way and any old time He wants. God has set limits, and that “limit” for me might have been that very afternoon over the Rockies. It was yet another reminder that today is the most important day of my life.
And so, Ephesians 5:15-17 are my guide where it says, “Be very careful, then, how you live, not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity…Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” What is the will of the Lord? Well, I can tell you one thing, it’s not to look at today as “just another day.” No, don’t live lacking wisdom. The will of the Lord is not just to be careful with the gift of your days, but as Ephesians 5 says, “Be very careful.” God has given you this 24-hour slice of time and He tells – no, He commands you to make the most of every opportunity. So don’t waste the day; seize it! Think of it as one more priceless chance to love people to Jesus. We really don’t know if there will be another opportunity.
