Unfortunately, a second engine burst into flames. Once again the captain assured the passengers that two engines were sufficient. Then a third engine was suddenly ablaze. The captain said no more. There was only silence from the front of the plane. Soon the captain appeared in the cabin with a parachute on his back. As he opened the exit door, he said calmly to the passengers, "Don't anyone panic, I'm going for help." And out he jumped.

That didn't really happen, of course. Still, when the pilot leaves to go get help, you're in trouble! That will absolutely ruin your day. St. Paul knew what it was to have a bad day. He had many of them--shipwrecks, beatings, imprisonment. But he knew his Pilot would never bail out. That is why he could write: "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be also manifested...."

St. Paul was one of those people who was never under his circumstances. Some one asks, "How are you doing?" and we answer, "All right, under the circumstances." St. Paul never stayed under his circumstances. He knew how to get on top of them. Whether shipwrecked, or imprisoned, or in chains, his life was testimony to the truth that we can be victors rather than victims.

Ron Newhouse