KneEmail - a devotional by Mike Benson associated with Forthright Magazine
Souls
ON FRIDAY A new Embraer Legacy jet took off from my city of São José dos Campos on its way to its new American owner...
Over the thick Amazon jungle, it collided with a Boeing 737, Gol Airlines Flight 1907, from Manaus to Brasilia. While the new jet
landed safely with its seven people aboard, the 155 passengers and crew of the Gol flight plummeted to their death. Officials said body and airplane parts are scattered over a wide area, which will take a week to scour and collect.
The cause of the accident is being investigated and will not be known for 90 days. Both planes had the Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System installed, which sets off light and sound alarms when approaching another plane in flight. The Boeing jet was also a new aircraft. The black box has been returned here to São José dos Campos for analysis.
"It's very difficult for us to be able to locate all the passengers," said the operations director, Brigadier Jorge Kersul Filho. "The situation is much worse that any of us could imagine."
The situation is worse than even the brigadier describes. As far as we know, there were no Christians on board. No one in that plane was ready to die. As horrible as the accident was and as gruesome as the removal of the bodies may be, the spiritual aspects of this moment are even more horrendous. Souls went into eternal judgment unprepared. People living for today entered eternity without having given a thought to preparing for what lay beyond the grave. I'm not judging. I'm merely stating a fact. I can't say what was in the passengers' hearts nor what passed their lips, if they had time at the end to consider their fate.
But the God who looks for obedient submission to his will is certainly saddened that none of those on board were his servants. Above the news of the accident, the loss of souls should cause a greater sadness in us as well. (J. Randall Matheny)
KneEmail: "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" ( Matthew 16:26).