Henry Dempsey was piloting a commuter jet from Lewiston, Maine, to Boston, Massachusetts, when he heard a rattle in the rear of the plane.  There were no passengers on the 15-passenger Beechcraft 99; only a co-pilot.  Dempsey turned the controls over to his co-pilot, Paul Boucher, while he went to the back of the jet to investigate the noise.

As Dempsey was inspecting the rear door, the plane encountered some turbulence and the door popped open and down.  Dempsey fell face down on the door as it opened.  The jet was flying at 4,000 feet at the time and traveling at a speed of nearly 200 miles.

Boucher looked back and saw that the door was open, but he could not see Dempsey.  Boucher immediately radioed the control tower at Portland International Jetport to request an emergency landing.  He reported that the pilot had fallen out of the plane and instructed the tower personnel to contact the Coast Guard to make a search for Dempsey out in the ocean.

Boucher landed the jet safely in Portland.  An airport crash crew quickly responded.  Amazingly, they found Dempsey clinging to the cable railings on the door-stairway of the open door.  He had grabbed hold of the railings as he fell and held on for dear life for ten minutes until the plane landed!  He survived with just a few cuts and bruises. *

Our world is headed for a crash landing (see 2 Peter 3:10).  Sin and its consequences have caused such terrible, destructive turbulence.

Yet there is a place of safety!  There is Someone to whom we can and must cling for life.

God loves us so much that He sent His Son Jesus to rescue us from sin and its consequences.  To save us, Jesus had to give His life to pay the price for our redemption from sin (Ephesians 1:7).  Jesus willingly “gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father” (Galatians 1:4 NASB).

In order to accept His gifts of salvation and eternal life, we must cling to Jesus through our trusting obedience.

God will save and give eternal life to those who place their faith and trust in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from their sins in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).  Those who continue to cling to Jesus by walking in the light of His Word will continue to be cleansed by His atoning blood (1 John 1:7-9).

Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).  Jesus is the only Savior.  “Grab hold” of Him and don’t let go.  He will lead you safely home.

-- David A. Sargent

* Information gleaned from Mark Posey in a lecture at the Faulkner University Lectureship in Montgomery, AL, on October 25, 2023 and an article in The Washington Post entitled, “Pilot Falls Out, Clings to Door Until Landing,” www.washingtonpost.com.

David A. Sargent, Minister

Church of Christ at Creekwood 
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama  36695

Archived issues of Living Water can be viewed and accessed from our website at: www.creekwoodcc.org