A very dear friend of mine from the Philippines posted this on his Facebook page a while back. I hope that young man doesn’t mind me saving it and using it.

That simple, humorous, and profound Facebook post reminded me of how helpless and hopeless I am by myself, separated and apart from God.

I don’t know how to operate a helicopter, so I need to find someone who does if I want to travel in one. I need a pilot, and I need to trust that pilot and give him control. If I try on my own, I’m gonna fail. I’m gonna crash. I’m gonna die. I’ll never get where I’m going, and my life will end far away from where I wanted to be.

My life is the same way – I don’t know how to live it in a truly righteous way that will lead to eternal life. Though I try again and again, I fail over and over. If I keep doing that, one day I’m gonna die trying to close the gap – the chasm – between me and God only to find that, in my death, I’m still as separated and apart from Him as I was in life depending on myself trying to get to Him.

Jesus said in John 14, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one come to the Father but by Me.”

So, there’s my Pilot. (Not my copilot, my pilot) Now I need to trust Him and give Him control. If I do that, I’m not gonna crash, burn and die far away from God. I land safely in His arms, right where I want to be.