Flying is a luxury
One of our MAF staff wrote the below and shared it with the rest of us this week:
“This week there has been major travel disruption in Europe due to ash from a volcanic eruption in Iceland. From noon on Thursday until 10pm on Tuesday no flights were able to take off or land in London, and most airports in northern Europe were also closed or heavily restricted. This has caused chaos for thousands of passengers heading home after the Easter holidays and for MAF staff trying to move around Europe and get to conferences in Africa.”
“The news has been full of people telling their stories of travelling for days across Europe and waiting for ferries and trains to get them across the English Channel. Many have said it has reminded them that flying is a luxury and that travelling overland takes such a long time. And this is a continent with good roads and transport links! In many of the countries where we work, travelling overland is much more arduous and dangerous than it is in Europe, and flying is much more of a luxury.”
It strikes me that while the ash in Europe has disrupted many travel plans (including my parents’, who had to cancel their 30th anniversary trip to Prague and the United Kingdom!), the lack of flights in Europe is perhaps not as striking as what would happen if MAF’s flight services were no longer available in the countries we serve in. Instead of vacations cancelled or business meetings missed, the lack of MAF flights would often result in patients not reaching hospitals in time to receive life-saving services, construction materials never arriving to build churches, or missionaries not being able to travel to inland jungles to preach the gospel. Praise God that as long as people continue to support MAF’s ministry through prayer and financial giving, MAF is able to continue providing these vital services!