19 Sep
Memory Lapse
There are just two things about my summer that I didn’t like – the seven-hour flight to Anchorage and the half-hour flight to Kenai.
Most flights from Anchorage to Kenai seat less than twenty people. Our plane held ten people, including the pilot. And before we got on, we had to tell them how much we weighed! If you’ve never been on a little plane before, let me inform you of the difference between that and a 747 aircraft. The flight on a 747 is relatively smooth, with bathrooms, air vents, personal lights, jet engines, and several pilots. Smaller planes do not have bathrooms. Neither do they have lights, or even barf bags. They have sharp, fast propellers. We had only one pilot, and my 12-year-old brother was sitting in the co-pilot seat!
When I flew in that tiny plane, the sun was completely hidden by fog. It was very foggy. We were up in the sky for about twenty-five minutes, and about half that time all I could see out my window was whiteness. Not that I looked out often. I spent most my time with my eyes squeezed shut and my hands clutching the seat, reciting in my head every single Bible verse I could think of. When I could work up the courage, I would crack my eyes open a little to look out the window. If it was still white, my eyes would shut quicker than a bug splat. It probably would have been better if I could have sat by my Dad, but since the seats were in two rows of five, and my family was all in my row, I couldn’t see any of them. Not that I could have communicated with them, because the engine was so loud. After about two hours (or twenty minutes), I heard someone talking. I opened my eyes to find that I could see the ground, and the pilot was telling us something. Since the engine was so loud and he didn’t have a loud speaker, I couldn’t hear him, but I assumed correctly that he was telling us we were landing. I’m sure no one has ever been so relieved. Later I told my mom that hell was not dark and blazing…I’m sure it’s white and thrums like a prop engine!
When I was up in the air, scared to death, I found myself only being able to remember the verses I had learned when I was little, like Genesis 1:1 and John 3:16. Right now I can remember more than that, but I’m not in any danger (or imagined danger). My purpose for memorizing verses is so I have them in times of need, like when I’m scared or being tempted. So this paragraph is more of an application than a lesson. I need to memorize more Scripture, and memorize it well.
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Filed in: Discipleship, Scripture
About the Author
Carly Bergthold is a 16-year-old homeschooler. She loves just being with friends and family, reading a good book, watching movies, and going to the lake every Tuesday in the summer. Some of her passions are playing flute and piano, writing fun stories or school papers, and her cat, Ypsie. She would love to visit everywhere in the world, but especially Europe and India. You can contact her through Facebook.
