“Hey - what's happening here?” These were the last words of Captain Robert Loft, on December 29, 1972, before crashing his Eastern Air Lines flight 401into the Florida everglades. He became so engrossed in a matter that seemed important at the time that he involved his whole crew in the distraction while no one noticed that they forgot the most important thing. No one was flying the plane! A new aviation term was created to account for such errors. Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT) describes an accident in which an airworthy aircraft, under pilot control, is unintentionally flown into the ground, a mountain, water, or an obstacle. Pilots with any level of experience, even highly experienced professionals, may commit CFIT. Pilot fatigue, loss of situational awareness, or disorientation may play a role when the pilots get distracted and forget the main thing...like keeping the plane from crashing into the terrain (Duh!). CFIT may also apply to other events in life.
Recently I attended a meeting of some 500 pastors in my state to discuss the future of our convention. The subject of declining churches and denominations and ways to address this matter was to be the focus. Many reasons were shared to explain such things as 70% dropout rate when churched kids get to college age and can make their own decisions about going to church as well as the fact that real Spiritual growth is seen in only 11% of today’s churches. During the meeting I was reminded of CFIT and thought of Captain Loft’s final words, “Hey - what's happening here?” I wondered could it be possible that we have become so involved, distracted and disoriented in ‘religious activity’ rather than developing our relationship with God that we have become distracted like the pilots who forget to notice their primary task?
Jesus only mentioned the word ‘church’ twice; once when he established the church as his assembly of those who know him for who He really is, in Matthew 16, then later in Matthew 18 when he talked about our relationships with each other. We often get so caught up in religion and the bureaucracy of our organizational systems that we frequently have a ‘loss of situational awareness and disorientation’ and forget that the primary purpose of the whole thing is love, not our own expectations or following certain religious rituals. People don’t drop out when they are transformed by the greatest love story of all time. Constantly following and reflecting the love of Jesus will keep us from crashing into the terrain.
I fear that our ‘loss of situational awareness and disorientation’ can be a major factor other areas of life. This concept of CFIT applies not only to my profession. Government, whether state, local or national can forget their real purpose and ‘crash into the terrain’. Our government exists best as an entity “of the people, by the people, for the people”. When we forget and get away from our founding principles we can ‘crash’ as other nations have seen in history. Hopefully we are not already getting too close to the ground to pull up.
Marriages ‘crash into the terrain’ all too often when couples become ‘distracted, disoriented and have a loss of situational awareness’. The primary purpose for marriage is companionship (See Genesis 2:18). CFIT can happen in a marriage when couples become too caught up in other things and forget the main focus of the marriage is building their growing companionship. Couples must never lose sight of doing all they can to delight in doing things together growing closer as friends building a life-long companionship. Keeping Christ as the center and joy of each life and head of the marriage will not only keep each life soaring but will also keep the marriage from crashing.
Isaiah 40:31 speaks of keeping our focus on God and soaring to great heights with renewed strength an energy for the journey. Forgive the personal paraphrase, but I believe ‘those who focus and trust completely in the Lord will soar on wings like eagles and not crash into the terrain.’
