Article January 18, 1999 Issue

Parents: remember who is in charge

"They hit the ground, completely destroying the plane, but both my daughter and her friend walked away from the crash."

By Ann Hymes

"Hi, Mom. I'm OK, but I've been in a plane crash." These words began a brief message I found on my answering machine one afternoon. My daughter, who lives on the opposite side of the country, went on to say that the crash had taken place the day before, and that she was now in the airport awaiting a commercial flight home. She would call me later.

My heart pounded. Where was she? What airport? And what was her definition of "OK"? There was no way to reach her. I felt cut off and helpless. There wasn't any human action I could take to help my child.

Instead I took action spiritually. I turned first to the Bible, where I found these comforting messages from Psalms: "The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee" (102:28) and "I have set the Lord always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope" (16:8, 9).

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