CHAPTER 4

 

Flight 219

 

Dear God, I don’t want to die.

It sounded so trite. So glib. Of course she didn’t want to die.

But there was so much more to Meredith’s prayer than mere survival instinct. And just like so many people who come face to face with death, Meredith found herself trying to bargain with God.

What about my next book, Lord? Think of all the victims it’s going to help. All the people it’s going to bless. Think of all the believers who need to read it.

As soon as she prayed these words, she realized how prideful she sounded. Did God need her words? No. She tried a different tactic.

I don’t want to die while my relationships with my old friends on the board are strained. Think how guilty they’ll feel if they find out I was killed just the day after they fired me …

No, that wasn’t the right focal point, either.

Think about the women I’ve ministered to, God. All those women I’ve helped. I can’t just abandon them.

The big man with the gun stomped back and forth in the aisle. Meredith tried to imagine how she’d react in a situation like this on her best days, when she was at her strongest spiritually, her most holy. She’d pray for him. That much was for sure. To take an entire plane hostage like this, he must be broken and hurting.

She would pray for him and everyone else on the plane. Pray for those who might not know Jesus yet. Ask God to give her the chance to tell them how to be saved.

That’s what she’d do on her best day.

Which clearly wasn’t today.

Today all she wanted was to erase the past few hours. Make it so she never stepped foot on this plane in the first place. All she wanted was to get back to Grand Rapids and nurse her aching soul in safety.

Today she wanted to live.

She wasn’t ready to die.