Sunday, September 5, 2010

Inspirational Sunday

Bill Witcher will be sharing words of encouragement, inspiration and hope with you each Sunday.



“A Miracle on the Hudson”

The news was terrilble that year. One bank failure after another. A record number of bankruptcies, job layoffs and business closings. You couldn't pick up a newspaper, turn on the TV or check the Internet without being bombarded with bad news. It was that kind of a year. Downright depressing.

Then, during the middle of January, we heard a news bulletin about a plane crash in New York. A US Airways jetliner with 150 passengers and 5 crewmembers on board went down after taking off from LaGuardia. That was just what we needed…more bad news…a plane crash in New York in a heavily populated area where millions of people live. But wait. It wasn't bad news, this was good news. Everyone survived!

In what New York’s governor called “a miracle on the Hudson,” a veteran pilot, Chesley Burnett “Sully” Sullenberger glided a US Airways jetliner with two dead engines onto the river’s fridgid surface so smoothly that all of the passengers and crew escaped serious injury. Some didn’t even get their feet wet. Unbelievable. It was “a miracle on the Hudson.” And I don’t know about you, but I followed that story and rejoiced and praised our Lord. I couldn’t read enough about it. I couldn’t watch enough interviews. Thank you Lord. We needed a miracle. With all the doom and gloom, we needed a bright spot, some rays of hope. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said, “This is a story of heroes, something straight out of a movie script…it was too good to be true.”

Well, let me tell you this “feel good” story continued on fro me when I received some photos from a friend who lives in New Jersey. They had to bring in a giant crane and a barge to help pull the plane from the waterway. Once they pulled it out of the Hudson, they had to move it back to LaGuardia by detouring through East Rutherford NJ. Obviously their roads were not made to accommodate airliners. Take a look at these great photos he shot as they delicately moved the plane through the narrow streets. The miracle continues.

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And we thank God for it! I wonder where they all are today.

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