Marriage Airplane
24-Feb-08
Of all things, it seems like a modern-day airliner makes a great analogy for marriage. First of all, it takes a right & a left wing, not 2 right wings or 2 left wings. These 2 complementary wings are like a husband & wife. Many airliners have a jet engine on each wing that propels the plane through the air. Similarly, the husband & wife must not only work hard to propel the marriage, but have to be going in the same direction for it to be successful.
The jet engines produce tens of thousands of pounds of thrust to get the plane off the ground & sustain flight. The tremendous force of each engine is applied directly to each wing. As a result, each wing must be firmly attached to something to keep it from flying off aimlessly. In an airplane, the main wing structures, called spars, of the right & left wings primarily must be firmly joined to each other – like a strong marriage. Not only does this joint sustain the work load of the engines & maintain stability, but it must withstand the lifting load for the entire aircraft.
During most flights, some degree of turbulence is inevitably encountered. If you have ever had a window seat so that you could see the wing at these times, you have likely noticed the bending & flexing of the wing, which further stresses the spar joint. While it’s not very settling, you should know that the airplane engineer has designed the wings & the joint to handle it – just as God has designed the husband, wife & marriage to handle the stresses of life.
If the joint between the wings fails allowing the wings to separate, control of the plane is totally lost, resulting in catastrophic destruction of the entire plane & it’s passengers. By the way, the passengers can be likened not only to the children of that marriage, but all successive generations. However, if only a wing is damaged or an engine fails, the plane can usually be landed & repaired according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Likewise, if a marriage is damaged, but still in tact, it can be repaired, but only through obedience to God’s instruction in His Word, thus saving the plane, all the passengers & those to come.
Now Boarding: Your Children… Time for a flight inspection.