{"id":2141,"date":"2012-11-27T17:20:36","date_gmt":"2012-11-27T23:20:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/?p=2141"},"modified":"2012-11-29T06:36:20","modified_gmt":"2012-11-29T12:36:20","slug":"fellow-passengers-approaching-a-shared-crash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/umpteenhorizons.org\/wordpress\/2012\/11\/27\/fellow-passengers-approaching-a-shared-crash\/","title":{"rendered":"Fellow Passengers Approaching a Shared Crash"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been two years since I first posted about\u00a0the crash (this link provides a detailed description my initial experience with this crash)<\/a>. Until now, I have just shared what happened on November 26 and 27, 1974. On that evening and night of November 26, I had been injured and had been in significant pain, but the central experience was solidarity. In those moments, I began to have visions of a disaster on a mountainside. Slowly, I began to understand that I was witnessing a plane crash. I was suffering with the people and our hearts were joined.<\/p>\n

The next morning, November 27, 1974, I saw the note I had written to myself during the night (not that I needed reminding): \u201cIs there a plane crash?\u201d The 7:00 A.M. news was about to start and I fully expected to hear news of the plane crash. But there was no news. I continued to check the news each hour throughout the day. It wasn\u2019t until 3:00 P.M. of that day that I heard something like the following on the radio:<\/p>\n

There was a plane crash last night in Virginia. The plane had departed from Ohio and was en route to Washington, D.C. The plane was flying in dense fog and the pilot did not see the mountain in front of it. So the plane crashed into the mountain without warning. The reason this was not announced earlier is because the plane crashed into a site of a secret White House used in the event of a nuclear war.<\/p>\n

The announcement above is not a quote; it\u2019s just reflective of what I remember. Also I\u2019m not sure the announcement said \u201clast night\u201d but I presumed \u201clast night\u201d because that was when I experienced the crash. Also I\u2019m not sure if the announcement I heard said Virginia or West Virginia. Additionally, the announcement to the best of my recollection did not mention the departing airport location in Ohio but I felt that it was very local to me. At the time, I was in Worthington, Ohio, a town within Columbus, Ohio.<\/p>\n

\"This<\/a>

This Egyptian painting is reminiscent of Pharaoh\u2019s dream of seven fat cows followed by seven lean cows. Joseph interpreted the cows as representing seven years of abundance followed by seven years of famine. Much can be saved when we pay attention to such visions. – Painting from the tomb of Nefeteri, wife of Ramesses II, ca. 1250 BC, Thebes. Photo from Associates of Biblical Research.<\/p><\/div>\n

When I heard this news, I felt a deep sense of completion and was very satisfied just knowing that I had been with the people in this crash, in their hour of need, when few others knew of their suffering. Because of this sense of completion, I did not at that time feel the need to follow up and learn more about this event.<\/p>\n

Three years later, as a college senior, in the fall of 1977, I was inspired to vigorously research human suffering. The research was not for a class, and at the time I was not thinking about the crash at all. I was just driven to use my spare time to read and take notes on injustice, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Northern Ireland, the Middle East, the Holocaust, prejudice and civil rights, oppression, human divisions everywhere, various wars, the threat of nuclear war and other human-made catastrophes, \u2026 I kept\u00a0this up for weeks and weeks until one night, with pages upon pages of personal notes all around me, I got up from my study table and began to pace around the room. Then, like the evening of November 26, 1974<\/a>, I felt that God was coming. I stopped walking, stood in front of my notes, and kind of cleared my thoughts in anticipation of what was coming. At that moment, a rush of commanding insights began to flow powerfully through me:<\/p>\n

The plane \u2026 we\u2019re all in it! The whole world\u2019s in it, everybody, all of us! We\u2019re flying blind. Much of the blinding fog is our fixation on our own security. Despite being in the same plane, we can\u2019t see each other! The plane \u2026 shaped like a cross \u2026 is our cross! We think things are ok, but we\u2019re heading straight toward our mountain of security! We don\u2019t know it, we think things are basically ok, but we\u2019re going to crash! All of us!<\/p>\n

Sobering, mind-numbing insights for a 21 year-old like me at the time or for anyone at any time. Oh my, oh, oh, oh \u2026 my heart was beginning to get it, all the suffering of all those people I was researching, far-away people, people removed from me in one way or another, other people too who most of the time simply fell through the cracks of my consciousness \u2026 but now a new reality \u2026 all people \u2026 the \u201cfortunate\u201d and the \u201cunfortunate\u201d \u2026 suffering was not so far off \u2026 ALL OF US \u2026 FELLOW PASSENGERS \u2026 approaching a shared crash …<\/p>\n

But the powerful insights were still coming, more encouraging, hopeful ones now, just as mind-blowing, just as hard to accept:<\/p>\n

God will be with us when we crash! Suffering with us! Comforting and healing us! God\u2019s Heart joining ours! Generous, loving revolutions of the heart! And on the third day, there will be victory for all, a renewed and whole human family, joyously giving thanks!<\/p>\n

I was shocked at it all, but, oh wow, I was getting it,\u00a0we can win together! All this\u00a0again brought\u00a0a deep sense of completion, and that experience marked the end of that research effort and I returned to\u00a0\u201cnormal\u201d college work.<\/p>\n

As my life progressed over the years, I realized that this future crash is not our predetermined destiny, but it is our current flight path. This sight into our future, like the similar visions of others, akin to the prophesy of Jonah, are warnings of what will be if we do not soon wake up, open our eyes, understand what happening around us, and do what is needed so that we can make a safe landing.<\/p>\n

Yes, fellow passengers, the lively efforts of all of us are needed! We don\u2019t have to crash! Practical, generous, all-inclusive love is such a preferable option! Let\u2019s change our course before it\u2019s too late! Time is generous but time is short!<\/p>\n

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Post notes:<\/p>\n