In missionary pilot Bob Griffin's book Cleared for Take-off, one idea appeared often: A pilot must have a good flight plan. Airports require pilots to file a flight plan that includes their travel route and destination. A missionary pilot, often flying to and from small landing strips across uncharted territory, must know how to get where he's going and where to put the plane down when he arrives.
He has to know the course to stay on if he has to "fly blind" through dense fog. Or he may have to know and rely on visual checkpoints such as mountain peaks and rivers. Every aspect of his flight must be known—especially the landing.
As believers in Jesus Christ, we too have a "flight plan." We know that our destination is heaven, and we know that each day we are to follow the course of obedience that has been carefully mapped out for us in the Bible.
The final leg of our flight plan is found in these Bible verses: "The Lord Himself will descend from heaven . . . . And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air" (1 Th. 4:16-17).
What a flight plan! — David C. Egner
God leads us in the path of righteousness
For His name's sake, and as we walk that way
We know it leads at last to heaven above,
To which our souls will rise one glorious day. —Hess
The more you love Jesus, the more you'll long for heaven.