Bumper stickers proclaiming “God is my co-pilot” were all the rage about twenty years ago. They were so popular that one can still see such statements on bumper stickers and front car plates. To some of us Christians, "co-pilot" simply was not good enough. After all, we are not going to be outdone – we are not going to be “out holied” – by our brethren. So we came up with what we thought was the even better bumper sticker: “God is my pilot.” After all, we were not going to confer subservient co-pilot status on the Almighty, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  It is well that we don’t stick the Lord in the right hand seat taking orders from us, but might I suggest that the God as pilot analogy is also incorrect.

If our lives be compared to an airship, then it is clear that God has left the flying to us. We have a free will and we can seek to guide the plane of our lives to places we might want it to go. Flying is an activity in which there are many hazards. Failure to discern and respond to the hazards of flying can result in catastrophe. Many of these hazards are out of the line of sight for the pilot. The plane is flying so fast that by the time a pilot sees a hazard, it may be too late to avoid it. Fortunately, the pilot is not alone. On the ground there is a network of professionals who assist the pilot in safely guiding his/her plane to its destination. These professionals have all of the latest information in regards to the hazards of flying. They know about the weather, they know the height and location of any mountains or tall buildings, they know the location, altitude and direction of the other planes in proximity to the pilot. An airline pilot once told me that he can put his plane down “on the numbers” in a dense fog simply by listening to and obeying the voice in his headset.