Great Expectations and a Valentine’s Day Airplane Flight
There is a story about a new couple in love. They were in a long distance relationship and the girl at the last minute demanded that the man jump on the next plane to get to her in time for Valentines day. The man was terrified of flying and had never been on a plane before, so this was something of a test of his love. Well, he did it he booked the plane and with trembling hands got on the plane.
He was on a charter flight in a 3 engine Lockheed TriStar. They were about half-way into his flight when their pilot’s voice came over the intercom, "This is your captain speaking. Ladies and gentlemen I feel I ought to let you know that one of our three engines has failed. There is, of course, no need for alarm. This plane is entirely airworthy flying on two engines but I regret to say we will be one hour late in arriving in New York."
One half hour later, inevitably, with that desperate calm that is reserved by air pilots and astronauts for conditions of extreme emergency, the pilot of the TriStar spoke again: "This is your captain speaking. I regret that we have lost the second of our engines. But I would like to reassure you that we have every expectation of making a normal and safe landing at JFK Airport. We shall, however, be three hours late in arriving. If any of you would like to take this time to make some calls the cell phone restriction has been lifted for the remainder of the flight."
At this, the man called his girlfriend and said "My dear, I’m so sorry, I can’t keep my promise... we have lost two engines and we will be getting in three hours late, but that’s not the worst part... I’m afraid that if we loose this third engine I may be up here all night."
From a sermon by Spencer Homan, Great Expectations - (Valentine’s Day), 11/19/2009