John Denver was a famous folk singer and recorded approximately 300 songs, about 200 of which he composed himself. You may recall hearing the news of how he was flying his small airplane and it crashed killing him in 1997. As you can imagine with all such tragedies there was a great deal of investigation as to what happened to cause Denver’s plane to fall from the sky. What they discovered was that his plane was more like an experimental aircraft. It had two fuel tanks and because of the nature of how it was constructed the valve to change the fuel tanks was located directly behind the pilot. The system required someone to physically turn the valve from one tank to the other.
The investigators determined the first tank ran out of gas, but they discovered that if he had been successful in changing the tanks it would not have made any difference because the second tank was also empty. John Denver had committed one of the most frequent errors in flying. He had forgotten to check his tanks to see if they were full and it cost him dearly. The letter of Second Peter reminds us of the importance of not overlooking the basics of Christianity. To overlook the basics of growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus (2 Peter 3:18) could cost us dearly as well and make a difference where we spend eternity.
The investigators determined the first tank ran out of gas, but they discovered that if he had been successful in changing the tanks it would not have made any difference because the second tank was also empty. John Denver had committed one of the most frequent errors in flying. He had forgotten to check his tanks to see if they were full and it cost him dearly. The letter of Second Peter reminds us of the importance of not overlooking the basics of Christianity. To overlook the basics of growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus (2 Peter 3:18) could cost us dearly as well and make a difference where we spend eternity.
Clark Tatum
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