Morning Devotionals
by Don Emmitte
 
January 19th, 2010

 

"Help From Above"
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Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today." So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount." Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." (Luke 19:1-10 NIV).

 

I was reading through some old files and came across a great story. In his early days as a pilot, Australia's Outback Patrol pilot and bush “padre,” Les Nixon, was flying an old 1933 De Havilland Dragon bi-plane from Bourke to Longreach in the outback of far western Queensland. The twin engines were purring happily when suddenly a frantic call came over the radio from a lost pilot! "Mayday ... Mayday ... Any Station ... Any Station ... Request urgent assistance," came his first call. After half an hour of fruitless calling, he began to panic. The young pilot had become disoriented on his first cross-country solo exercise. Lost and low on fuel, he needed urgent help. He was a hundred miles from Les so there was little he could do but pray for him, and hope someone was close enough to help.

Miraculously, through the static of the radio—out of the blue, came a quiet, stoic voice of a helper from above. A mysterious presence from nowhere assessed the situation, found an answer, and directed the frantic pilot what to do. "Yes, son, I have you in sight," droned the pilot of an old commercial airline who happened to be flying overhead, and had heard his call for help. "Now, listen ... simply do what I say. Turn to your right-north-yes, that's it. You're doing just fine. Line up on that paddock over the fence and you'll find you can easily land on the open field, stay with your plane, and I'll get someone there to get you." The older, experienced pilot had been watching from above, even as the frantic young pilot had been unable to work it out for himself, followed him for a few minutes, and found the answer to his problem. Then he quietly directed the inexperienced pilot through each maneuver until he placed him safely on an outback paddock.

One can only imagine the terror this young pilot must have experienced and then the incredible relief when the miraculous rescue "from above" guided him to safety. One of life's greatest tragedies is that so many people are lost and they don't even know it.  The answer is “from above.” All we need to do is to admit that because of our sin we are lost, and come to Christ for his forgiveness. He's waiting and watching for you to call!