Courtesy American Airlines
November, 1935
M editations in an AIRPLANE
B y PAUL W. ROOD
T he L ost A rt of M editation was the title of a book I once saw in a book store. The message o f the title some how burned its way into my consciousness and has never been forgotten. Yet in this day o f activity and speed, meditation does seem to be a lost art. Our forbears took time to read and digest what they read, but, as a general rule, we are not like them. “ While I was musing the fire burned,” said the psalmist. W e need to take time to muse, if the fire of God is to burn in the soul. “ He seemed busier than he was,” is the statement made by a writer concerning a character he was depicting. Many people are rushing about, but are they really accomplishing any more because of their speed? Would not life be richer in results if we took time to meditate? Certainly meditation has an im portant place in life and is neglected only at our peril. Can one meditate in an airplane ? What does a preacher think about when he is riding in an airplane? The writer can, o f course, answer for only one preacher. The occasion o f the trip was an urgent call to be present at a mass meet ing in Portland, Oregon, on a Monday evening. Sunday being the closing day of a campaign in Oakland, Califor nia, it was impossible, by means o f the more ordinary modes o f travel, to reach Portland in time for the meeting that had been scheduled there. The leaders in Portland w ired: “ Come by plane at our expense.” Accordingly, the trip was taken through midheaven in a tri-motored monoplane that had three 425-horsepower engines and a cruising speed o f 120 miles an hour. The plane carried twelve passengers and two pilots. Each passenger was allowed thirty pounds o f luggage. We left the airport in Alameda, California, at 9 :10 in the morning and landed in Portland at 2 :40 in the afternoon. To cover the same distance, by train, requires a night and a day o f travel. - “ What a marvelous age we are living in !” was the first impression o f mine while I sailed through the air from 2,000 to 8,000 feet above the earth. This is indeed “ man’s day,” and the genius o f man is revealed as never before. Is the world getting better? The question is frequently asked in our day. Certainly the world is improving as far as me chanical invention and the comforts o f life are concerned. But, morally and spiritually, the world is on the toboggan slide, and every careful student and accurate thinker sees deterioration in the moral realm. Inventions do not improve human character. They only offer more opportunities to reveal what is in man. The automobile offers immunity to many a criminal by providing a way o f escape. The air plane is used in times o f war to destroy life. Men can and do propagate error by means o f the radio. Dan Crawford once described modern civilization to a native in Africa, referring to its assets and its liabilities in the form o f or
ganized crime. “ To be better off is not to be better,” was the thoughtful comment o f his listener. “ Man’s day” will eventually produce the superman who will be the agent of Satan in ruling the world during the time of tribulation. “ What a wonderful world we inhabit!” was the second impression I received while speeding through the atmos phere. I received a bird’s-eye view of the San Francisco Bay, the Sacramento Valley, as well as the mountains and the rivers and the green pastures o f Oregon. W e were entranced by what we saw. God has created a beautiful world for the children o f men. Isn’t it too bad that, through sin, we have destroyed so much o f its beauty ? Yet in spite o f sin, there are marks of the original beauty and glory o f the world, and when Christ comes and sets up His kingdom here on earth, creation shall be delivered from the bondage o f corruption. “ What a supernatural revelation!’’ was the third im pression as I thought o f the airplane as a fulfillment o f prophecy. “ Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?” . (Isa. 60 :8 ). Is not this a prophecy that Israel will return to her land in airplanes? “ As birds flying, so will the Lord o f hosts defend Jeru salem” (Isa. 3 1 :5 ). Is this not a prophecy concerning the defense of Jerusalem by means o f airplanes? Revelation 9:9, 10 and Revelation 12:14 seem to refer to airplanes that will be used in the time o f tribulation. The next world war will feature the airplane. “ There is nothing to prevent twenty to thirty airplanes’ flying tomorrow over London’s millions with a gas which can suffocate those millions in three hours,” said Edisom God has forewarned in a supernatural Book that is authenticated by prophecy^ already fulfilled. “ What powerful fo e s !” was the fourth impression as I thought o f the demons that inhabit the atmosphere, ac cording to Ephesians 6 :12. Our battle is not primarily with human beings who propagate heresy, but with the demons who control and inspire them. Certainly we need the whole armor o f God, and we must be men and women o f prayer if we are to conquer these unseen hosts. Believers in the present hour need to study the sixth chapter o f Ephesians on their knees. May God help us to resist the wiles of the devil. “ What a glorious prospect!” was the fifth impression, at the memory of 1 Thessalonians 4 :17 : “ Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.” That day is coming and may be very near, when Christ shall descend to raise the dead who died in Christ, and to translate the living saints. W e are to meet the Lord in the air. Surely the children o f God should be air-minded!
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