Saved by Saving Money

On Thursday I was at the church, doing some work, when I received a call from my Dad asking when my wife, Heather, was coming back from New York City. She had gone up there as part of her job, a trip she takes every month. My Dad had called home and, having stirred my daughter from her afternoon nap, asked when her mother was coming home. "Sometime later this afternoon." "Thanks hon," and he hung up and called me. He told me that a US Air plane had crashed in the Hudson River on takeoff. Our conversation went something like this:

"Was Heather on that flight?"

"No Dad, she came home last night but this flight is the usual flight she takes when she comes home on Thursday's. However, in an attempt to save money, the company had some of their people (buyers) come home a day earlier. She's at work here in town today."

"Praise the Lord! When I talked to your daughter and she said Heather was coming home later this afternoon, my heart sank."

I called my wife to check on her - sort of making sure that she did in fact come home the night before - and to see what she was hearing at work about the crash. There were several fellow co-workers on that flight but what she was hearing was that everyone was OK but really shaken. She said one lady was going to retire next year but had called and said that this was it, she was retiring now. I can't blame her, I guess. Heather and I chatted a bit, thanking God that a money saving maneuver had spared her the trauma of the crash, if not her life. We joked that she would have probably been the only fatality because she would have died from just thinking about getting into the cold water and freezing air.

I received several other calls, from family and church people, even got a couple of emails from friends, asking about Heather's safety. She said that her phone was ringing off the hook from her vendors in NYC, seeing if she had in fact come home early. It all seemed a little surreal to us, getting the phone calls and then watching the news and video of the crash, seeing people that she knew being pulled off the plane and onto the boats. But it must be even more surreal for those who, in 5 minutes, went from take off to crashing in the water and then being surrounded by boats, pulling them to safety. As one guy said, "I still can't believe that I'm alive. It was a miracle, simply a miracle." And it was, with no one seriously injured; it just amazes me that they all walked away.

It makes me wonder though, how many of those people, in those few horrifying minutes, turned their minds to heaven and prayed to God, asking for help and safety? How many of them, up to that moment, had put God pretty much outside of their day to day lives, not giving Him much of a thought? And now that they are on land, some already at home with their families and friends, does God still hold the same significance He held for them in those few moments of uncertainty when they were praying to Him?

We'll never know but it does make me think about my own life, and how, for a day or so, we were reminded that we have no clue what will happen tomorrow but we do know that God holds it firmly in His hands. Even more importantly, He holds us in His hands and that, no matter what may happen, I hope this will constantly serve as a reminder to my family that God is not just a God you turn to when things go crashing around you but He is, must be, our God whom we give ourselves to on a daily, moment by moment, basis.

There's also another lesson to take away from this: Saving money could possibly save your life!