Sages have compared life to a journey. This may be true in some sense. One can compare life to a journey, for example flying from UK to US. Supposing one boards the flight from UK, with other passengers, among whom are a pilot (not the one flying the aircraft), an aeronautic engineer, a plumber, and oneself. In the case of oneself, I am an IT software specialist, I speak three languages fluently: English, Dutch and Yoruba. In order to make the scenario interesting, the passenger sitting next to me on the flight is my partner, a woman who speaks Arabic language ONLY (don’t ask me why I choose a partner who speaks Arabic language only, that is a story for another day).
The personality of the passengers are different, different experiences, different background, different knowledge base, different thinking and thought processes. This means that the way the passengers experience the flight will be different. For instance when we run into turbulence, the way we experience it would be different, such as, the pilot (not the one flying the plane) might be thinking that if he were the one flying, that he might fly the aircraft at a different altitude, in order to avoid the turbulence, or undertake some form of action to either mitigate the effect of the turbulence. While on the other hand, the aeronautic engineer, who during the turbulence, might be thinking of the stress or sheer factor or coefficient of the fabric or material used in building the aircraft, the rivets, joints, and air resistance of materials and components of the aircraft (mind you, I am not an aeronautic engineer). Then you have the plumber, whose stomach is churning as a result of the turbulence, is only focused on getting to the toilet to relieve himself and is only wondering about the plumbing system of the aircraft. There is also the passenger sitting next to me (my partner!) who speaks only Arabic, and during the turbulence, starts saying certain things (could be prayers to her God or angel or whatever), I do not comprehend due to the language barrier. Lastly you have me, an IT specialist, thinking of operating systems and software applications that are used in flying the aircraft, their quality and possible flaws or errors within the systems.
Would I be scared? No, I don’t think so. Why not? Firstly, because I believe that the pilot is God. Secondly, because whether we are going to crash in the middle of the Atlantic ocean or land safely at JFK in New York, there is nothing I can do about it, that depends on the aircraft pilot (not the pilot, who is also a passenger, in our hypothetical situation). So what do I do? I simply sit back and enjoy the ride, consider the turbulence as something that makes the flight interesting. Otherwise the journey would be bland, nothing special. The troubles, challenges and problems we encounter in our journey in life are what makes it (the journey) interesting. Sit back and enjoy the flight, no amount of worry on your part (the passenger), can change the outcome. Philippians 4:6-7; Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. The arrival of the flight is some point and time in the future, and Jesus Christ said in Mathew 6 verse 27, Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? And in verse 34, Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Relax.
