But God!

I recently watched a newscast about a jet that overshot the runway. The aircraft was going far too fast to stop in time, and just beyond the runway was a busy highway. Disaster seemed inevitable.

But technology! At the end of that runway was an Engineered Materials Arresting System, a bed of lightweight, crushable materials designed to stop planes that cannot stop themselves. As the jet’s wheels sank into the material, the plane slowed down and came to a rough and abrupt halt. All were safe. What could have been catastrophic became survivable.

Life can feel a lot like that runaway plane. A diagnosis, a financial collapse, a broken relationship. Problems rush at us faster than we can handle. Left to ourselves, we cannot stop the momentum. But Christians have something the world does not: “But God!”

Scripture is filled with those two hope-filled words:
– “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” (Genesis 50:20)
– “…we were dead in our trespasses, but God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ…” (Ephesians 2:4–5)

The difference is clear: without God, the highway of despair waits at the end of life’s runway. With God, we have His grace to arrest the momentum of fear and bring us safely into His care.

I often wonder: how do people without a relationship with Him make it through? Where do they find peace, or hope, or comfort? As Christians, we know — big problems aren’t so big when we add “But God!” to the end of them. When life runs out of runway, His love stops us from crashing. His mercy holds us. His grace is enough.