In the Unlikely Event of a Water Landing: Lessons from Landing in the Hudson River

The image on the book cover to the right is one of the top news images of our time. Immediately upon seeing it, we asked ourselves, “How could that happen? It would take a miracle!” In the providence of God, one of the passengers on board was a Christian fourth-year medical student who got on the flight home to Charlotte, SC, standby, because his residency interviews in New York City, January 15, 2009 were concluded sooner than expected. From the book: “As I took my seat, I pulled out two books I had been reading on the interview trail. One, The Sovereignty of God, by Arthur W. Pink, was a heavy theological book that had been convincing me of just how sovereign God is. The other was a little lighter read, Prince Caspian, by CS Lewis. This is a children’s book with great biblical allegories.... “During this time on the taxiway, the flight attendants went through their typical speech of what to do if, “In the unlikely event of a water landing, your seat cushion may be used as a flotation device.” I only half-way registered what she said, but I guarantee you, those words will never fly past my brain again, unattended.” From the Foreword, by Dr. David Stevens, CEO of the Christian Medical & Dental Associations: “When you’re hurtling toward death, the character already developed in you takes over like an auto-pilot, and finds expression in one way or another. In Andrew’s case, while others might have screamed in terror, his response was to ask the nearby passengers if he could PRAY with them. Now that’s the kind of doctor I want to attend me when things are taking a turn for the worse, or as the saying goes, when it seems like the wings are about to fall off.”