D.L.

Knowing I needed to get up early for a flight to Amsterdam at 6:30 a.m. from Belfast City Airport, I could hardly sleep. Belfast was so quiet and calm, the night sky was full of stars, and a journey that would have taken me about forty minutes, I did it in thirty-nine minutes—a record! No, I am joking! It felt very fast; it was too early for the morning traffic.
I got to the airport in no time, and in no time, I was drinking coffee while waiting for departures. The flight to Amsterdam is only one hour and ten minutes, but the airline says it is one hour and thirty minutes. It felt like one hour. I slept a little bit, waking up to the smell of coffee. The flight improved, as the snack was a piece of banana bread.
Then, with coffee in my system, I reached my Kindle and opened the devotional book I am using this year: “A Year with Timothy Keller: Selected Daily Readings”. I read what I heard Tim say on many occasions as one of the most accurate descriptions of the Gospel; he said:

“The Christian Gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me.“

This got to me as I was flying over England; it earthed me at almost 30.000 feet above the ground. It echoes Paul’s words in Galatians 2:20. It reveals the sin in me and my need for redemption; it reveals that I am not the centre of the universe, but He is the one who had to die for me. Because of my flaws, which are many, Christ died, and now his death and resurrection have given me a new life, a life that he was glad to die for.

I looked through the aeroplane window, and we were already descending; the plane was shaking because of the strong crosswind, yet it kept its course. The captain warned us that it would be a bit of crosswind, “but nothing to worry about!! I know that when the captain says this, I tend to worry! But then, I trust the experience, the hours of flying and the preparation of the captain and his crew, and you relax slightly.

We landed like feather lands and rested upon the grass. I had already forgotten those minutes earlier when we were at war with the wind.

The Gospel is all about Trusting in the one who was able to tell the wind to stop, who can calm the storm, and who said, “Rise up and walk.” Because to him, we are worth, of great value, and worth saving.  

Welcome to Amsterdam, where the temperature is eleven degrees and the local time is nine o’clock! Eleven degrees!! I packed to go to Antarctica, but the weather app let me down.