Here’s a bit of practical advice we can use when countering street level skeptics and academics alike. It comes from Stand To Reason’s email newsletter called The Page. Check it out here.
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Welcome David,
Do you know what the survival rate for airplane accidents is? You won’t believe
it. Take a guess right now. I bet you won’t be anywhere close.
On average, ninety-six out of every 100 people involved in airplane mishaps survive
the ordeal. Amazing, isn’t it? Even with serious accidents, as long as there was
some chance of surviving, three-quarters of the passengers get out alive. *
And here’s another shocker. Many of the people who do perish could have survived,
but didn’t. So what makes the difference? If you guessed panic, you’d be wrong.
Yes, panic kills, but it almost never happens in desperate situations like airplane
disasters, earthquakes, or terrorist attacks like 9/11.
Most people don’t panic. They freeze. They do nothing, because they don’t know
what to do. And that’s what kills them. Usually, two things make the difference
between life and death: planning and action.
Since I learned those statistics, my preparation at the beginning of flights has
completely changed. Before, I never paid attention to things like exits, flight
attendant emergency instructions, or reviewing the safety card. What was the point?
If something went wrong, I figured, I was a goner anyway.
Now I know differently. I note my exits and try to get a seat close to one (seats
two to five rows away are the safest). I review the safety card so I know how each
emergency exit door on the plane works. I am fully alert with my seatbelt tight
and my shoes on during the most vulnerable times—the first three and the last eight
minutes of any flight.
And I have a plan in case something goes wrong, a plan I review every flight at take-off
and just before landing.
Here’s the point: Our preparation is different when we have an expectation that
preparation will make a difference. And when we have a plan, we are more likely
to act.
That’s why having the first two Columbo questions handy—“What do you mean by that?”
and “How did you come to that conclusion?”—makes being Christ’s ambassador so much
easier. Whatever situation you face, you have a basic game-plan at the ready.
The easiest time to develop good responses to troublesome queries is when the pressure
is off. Trying to shoot from the hip hoping you’ll be magically quick on your feet
usually results in ruin.
So, I want you to think for a moment about the most vexing challenge you face from
a skeptic as an ambassador for Christ, that issue you dread being mentioned, the
question you hope never comes up. Next, do some research and develop a plan of response
that is tactically sound.
In the last chapter in my Tactics book, I mentioned a Marine Corps training slogan:
The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in battle. This is the same lesson
we have been talking about.
In His Care,
Greg Signature
from Greg Koukl’s THE PAGE
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