AIRBORNE BIBLE STUDY

And so starts another Kauai vacation.  They all start the same, as is necessary, with a plane trip.  It's the part I really, really don't like.  Fear of turbulence, a little claustrophobia, a bunch of strangers in close proximity, and just general impatience with the whole process.  And that's after I'm actually on the plane.  The whole logistical nightmare of packing, making arrangements for our vacant house, getting to the airport, lugging stuff around, getting through TSA screening, waiting around at the gate...Ugh.  But yes, I am beyond fortunate to be able to take this annual tropical holiday, so grousing about it is a bit disingenuous.  I know.

I wonder, did you hear about the Boeing 737 Max 8 Lion Air crash in Indonesia last fall?  The thing started into a dive just after take off  and boom...into the ocean.  They concluded there was some pilot error issue and everyone is sorry.  Then last week the exact same thing happened with a flight in Ethiopia.  Same result.  Same sorry.  But crack investigative reporters scratched their heads and said, "Hmmm...is this a pattern?"  And an open source log of similar reports was discovered from pilots from even within the United States (lest you think you can excuse the problem by pointing fingers at  those 'foreign pilots').  Their planes also took a dive and they had to switch off the auto pilot software and pull the nose up manually.  Scary stuff; still could be pilot error due to inadequate training, but what about that software???    I leave that to the experts but it was especially unsettling to hear nonstop reporting on this story on the radio during the one hour drive to the airport while trying to get morning rush hour traffic updates around the edges of the news.

Hub and I both like aisle seats so we generally sit across the aisle from each other.  I am not a chatty flyer, since all my concentration goes into keeping my anxiety disorder under control, so the few words we say to each other can be said across the narrow aisle.  But that also means I sit next a stranger in the middle seat next to me.  This time it was the woman of a couple who were on their way to meet their adult children for a family vacation.

They were very friendly.  I saw photos of their home in Alaska and of their new grand baby and of kids on the snow-covered playground of the school where she taught.  They both had books on their laps and we talked a bit about real books vs Kindle.  The woman shared that these days even in church, people pull out their phones to read the Bible!  She was fairly scandalized about this breach in church etiquette, allowing that really those people could be looking at anything, and who would know?  But she said the preacher's wife also did this, so she seemed to feel that was some kind of exoneration.  I thought maybe the preacher's wife was onto a way to get by with a little Pinterest study during the sermon.

We bonded a bit because we both admitted to hating to fly and I noticed her husband reached over and held her hand during takeoff which I thought was very sweet.  They looked "older" in that way some people can look just like my great aunt looked from about 40-80 years old.  Ageless in a weird way.  They wore sensible shoes and vaguely outdoorsy clothing, as if they were ready to be dropped into the bush on a missionary assignment at a moment's notice.  Her short, styleless hair would not be a bother should she need to bathe in a muddy river for a year or so.  After initial pleasantries,  I put my headphones on and that pretty much shuts people up who are inclined to chat away during the trip.

About half way through the flight the pilot announced, clear as a bell, (with none of the usual static -garbled early announcement I actually want to hear, like how long is this gonna take and is it going to be a smooth flight?) that we were in for some turbulence and we should all buckle our seatbelts right away.  I never like these warnings.   My anxiety goes berserk thinking it must be really bad if they have to warn us!   Every little bump makes me wonder if this is the beginnings of the hellish ordeal sure to befall our airborne community in a can.

I glanced over at my seat mates.  She had gotten her Bible out.  Good sign or bad?  It had a well worn blue cloth dustcover.  Daily usage; well-traveled.  She also had a workbook open, the cover of which I spied:  Psalms.  There appeared to be short essay questions on each page.  She would read for a bit, ponder, and flip open the Bible.  It was the red word edition where Jesus' uttering are helpfully highlighted for ease of cutting to the Christ parts I guess.   "Verily I say unto you...."  But isn't Psalms in the Old Testament?  Hmmm... Must have been a compare and contrast open book test.

I am impressed she wrote her answers in ballpoint pen.  She was just that confident of her mad Bible verse skills.  I started to wonder if she's show-offy like that at church too....her with the old school paper page (or papyrus!) Bible.

All of this was a nice distraction while waiting for the turbulence we'd been warned about, but about 40 minutes later, with no explanation whatsoever, the seatbelt sign dinged off and we had had not one iota of turbulence.  This sort of made me worry even more...they really don't have a clue, do they?

Or maybe Jesus intervened thanks to my seat partner's studious attention to his red words.  Just glad we didn't wander into 23rd Psalm territory.  I do not like the "Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death" part...especially when I'm on an airplane.

At least, that's the view from here...©

Photo Credit:  www.pixabay.com