On January 13, 1982, Washington DC and the surrounding area experienced a blizzard that paralyzed everything including the National Airport. Most of the day the airport would not allow any air flight takeoffs or landings. On that fateful day a decision was made to allow Air Florida Flight 90 to attempt a takeoff. The 737 had been delayed for hours. The chain of events that led to the ultimate crash into the 14th Street Bridge that broke the plane into three pieces and eventually caused it to fall into the icy waters of the Potomac River just as darkness approached seem unimaginable. Renda Brumbeloe chronicles those chains of events. He writes that the bad weather conditions led to a string of optional irregular operating procedures and departures from company policy. Regrettably, no one stepped up to the plate to ask the hard question, “What are we doing?” while flight procedures and the operating manual were seriously disregarded. Renda lists six areas that should have been warning signs to cancel the flight.
1. The tug was unable to push the aircraft off the gate in the deep snow, so an irregular engine assisted power back procedure was used. The swirling snow actually froze in the sensor probes of the engine intake.
2. The engine bleed air anti-ice system was purposely turned off to make more takeoff power available. Another bad option, which resulted in iced up sensors and a false high power indication on the EPR gauges during takeoff.
3. No one confirmed that the aircraft was free of structural ice before the takeoff.
4. The first officer told the captain that something was not right on the takeoff roll. (The aircraft accelerated too slowly due to improper power setting and runway conditions.)
5. Distraction and tunnel vision ensued full blown at liftoff. The iced up airplane wobbled nose high into the air at an unknown percent of takeoff power and never became a flying machine. According to voice recorder the first officer said to the captain, “Larry, we are going down.” The captain replied, “Yes, I know.” Bewilderment!
6. The pilots were distracted with control problems and the complicated departure path near the White House. Tragically, had the power levers been pushed up to maximum power, the flight might have been saved.
The flight recorder indicated the pilots unknowingly used only 70% of power on takeoff. The pilots thought they had maximum takeoff power but failed to interpret the other engine gauges. It is incredible that they missed this, but they did.
Brumbeloe writes, “Abnormal operations in extreme conditions are what started the chain of events. There is never a good reason to depart from and ignore the flight manual. Pilots are not invincible. At the end of the day, the question remains: What are we doing?"1
Israel is doing incredibly foolish things that are about to bring them into a crash course with God. Jeremiah the prophet urgently warns and pleads with them, as well as giving the Israelites dire announcements of the coming disaster. Gloom and doom dominate his thinking, preaching, and writing for the first thirty chapters, but suddenly, almost without warning, his tune changes. Israel had departed from the normal operational manual of praise to their God and had drifted toward disaster. Now Jeremiah says that salvation from that horrific crash is about to be avoided! How? Because God is alerted to the situation and tells them “I will” be the one who will change your course. God says, “I will be the one who will restore you and your land. Trust me. Tune your instrumental panels into my frequency and see the difference. I will bring you from the brink of disaster to portals of success!” It is time to sing the song of salvation.
The Song Of Salvation Is A Shout Of Joy (Jeremiah 31:7-9)
Elmer Martin writes that Jeremiah sees ahead for Israel’s remnant “an anticipation of the reconstruction process, the return of joyful times, uninterrupted economic pursuits and vigorous religious activity ... a united Israel in worship."2
Praise is the celebration of God ... the basis for true worship. Sometimes it comes as a quiet inner sound. At other times it comes as a shout of joy from our lips. Both are praises of God. In Worship: Rediscovering the Missing Jewel, Ronald Allen reminds his readers that when we worship we extol God, we sound praises and we boast of him and his incredible deeds on our behalf. Allen concludes with these words, “As a thoughtful gift is a celebration of a birthday, as a special evening out is a celebration of an anniversary, as a warm eulogy is a celebration of a life, as a sexual embrace is a celebration of a marriage"3 — so a shout in worship is a celebration of God. This shout of praise should be:
* praise mixed with joy,
* praise mixed with human emotion,
* praise aimed at the source of salvation — God,
* praise mixed with loud voices,
* praise mixed with inner hope, or
* praise mixed with prayerful communication.
Praise comes by keeping our eyes focused on God as the absolute source of our faith, anticipating life’s goodness even when hope looks empty, circumstances seem overwhelming, and temptations and trials assault us.
Augustine wrote, “The Christian should be an alleluia from head to foot.”
The Song Of Salvation Is A Chorus Of Proclamation (Jeremiah 31:10-13)
Jeremiah proclaims salvation begins in the saving action of the great shepherd. He promises to ransom and redeem the people. To ransom something means that a great price will have to be paid to set it free. The concept is to “buy back.” The Hebrew understood this as a rich spiritual word that required a blood offering to avenge bloodshed that was happening in the siege and exile of Israel.
The Christian has the hindsight to know that Christ died on the cross ... he paid a great price for the redemption of humankind. Paul penned to the Corinthian church, “Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures ...” (1 Corinthians 15:1-3 NIV).
Working among the poor and neglected of London was a woman who inspired others because of her Christian faith and compassion. A newspaper man observed this Christian in action and asked what led her to work with the underprivileged. She related that as a young Jew, she had fled the German Gestapo in France during World War II. The Gestapo was closing in on her when she found sanctuary in the home of a French Huguenot widow. The young Jew later was told she must flee immediately to a new location, but the distraught girl replied that it was no use as the Gestapo would find her anyway. The widow responded, “Yes, they will find someone here.” This Christian lady took her Jewish friend’s identification papers and sent her off with other Huguenots escorting Jews to safety.
The young woman understood the plan. The German Gestapo would think that the widow was her and as an escaping Jew would arrest her instead. The Jewish refugee asked, “Why are you doing this?” The widow responded, “It’s the least I can do. Christ has already done that and more for me.” As predicted the widow was taken and imprisoned in the Jewish girl’s place. Six months later she died in the concentration camp.4
The Jewish woman was able to outrun the German Gestapo but could never outrun the Christian’s personal sacrifice. The Christian Huguenot’s sacrifice was for one. Christ’s sacrifice was for the entire world for all ages! We must proclaim the redemption of Israel’s God and our Savior Jesus Christ. How can we remain silent?