Flight Control

Every so often I encounter a phrase that resonates at a deep level. Some come from ordinary encounters and some from unexpected places. Today’s phrase comes from a podcast by shame researcher, Brene Brown: controlled flight into terrain. The phrase came from an encounter with a retired pilot and was related to an observation about living beyond human scale or capacity.

We only have so much capacity to successfully deal with all that we see and hear. In our always connected, information deluge society, it is difficult to process all of the information we receive let alone determine if it is true or not. But we often don’t set good boundaries around what we allow to permeate our senses and mind. We seem to believe we have infinite capacity AND that we can control things.

And this is where the phrase “controlled flight into terrain” comes in. It is an aviation term for when a pilot believes they are in control of a plane right up to the moment they crash into the earth and die.

How often do we believe we are in control of not only what is going on directly around us and our families, but that we also have a significant chance of controlling things around our country and/or world? We fuss and shout and post on social media in angry, mean ways to people we have never met and never will meet.

We are created by God to be in community, but in a community that glorifies Him and gives us peace and joy. Not some Pollyanna approach of everything is just fine, because we know it is not, but a perspective that God, not us, is in control. He’s never surprised. As His people we know that He is our stronghold, our light, and our salvation. We encounter hard and difficult things for a variety of reasons including lessons to strengthen us and just plain stupid choices either by us or by someone around us. But we also know He redeems all for our good.

When we insist that we are in control and we ignore or reject God’s sovereignty, we are in danger of controlled flight into terrain. Physical terrain, mental health terrain, relational terrain. They are all painful and devastating crashes.

Walking with God recognizing His sovereignty assures us that nothing is without meaning in His story. Even when we don’t know the end of the story, or even sometimes know what our lines are!