I shared with my wife how the snowstorm, fog, and ice had left my hunting pal and I stranded on a lake thirty miles from the highway in Alaska’s interior;
how when we left, we took off from the lake going in a circle on one pontoon breaking a thin layer of ice. Her immediate question was, “Weren’t you afraid?” I replied: “I was in capable hands.”
That type of experience had been my lot on numerous occasions while pastoring and doing missionary work in Alaska. It had caused me to say often, “I would rather be in the hands of the “bush pilots” under crash-conditions than in the hands of a normal pilot under routine conditions.” I honestly felt that way.
Another time, we were flying a 185 Cessna over the Wrangell Mountains and preparing for a descent into the crater of the volcano when observation of our altimeter suggested that we might reconsider. The arrow indicated swift ascent and then descent; the blowing snow on nearby Mount Drum clearly indicated questionable weather conditions for such a descent into the mouth of the crater. A quick calculation indicated we were virtually acting like an elevator at that point… no forward progress, just straight up and straight down. I could honestly say that knowing the “bush pilots” experience, I never felt uncomfortable or concerned for “I was in capable hands.”
Many has been the varied experiences of life that has placed me in sometimes “capable” and sometimes “in-capable” hands. Yet, I have always felt as a Christian, “I am incapable Hands.” That assurance comes out of verses like: “My times are in thy hand…” (Psalm 31:15) or John 14:16, “And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another comforter, that He may abide with you forever “.
ETCetera 