On the way home from South Carolina this afternoon, I heard my name called as we approached our gate in Detroit. To my surprise, the Delta attendant said, “Congratulations! On this flight today you have reached one million miles flown with Delta!” They gave me a bag of goodies and the note below which says that flying a million miles is equal to flying around the world 40 times. This got me thinking about all my flights on United and American (probably each of these airlines about as many as Delta), plus all the hundreds of flights in foreign countries over the last decades on other airlines, which in turn led me to contemplate God’s amazing grace in sparing me these last seven decades and giving me the inexpressible gift of preaching the gospel around the world. God’s faithfulness in Christ to an unworthy sinner and unprofitable servant like me is just stupendous: “What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord” (Ps. 116:12-13). I hope, and pray, and trust that when you look back over your life, you can also then cry out with me in astonishment so that all that is left is to say from the bottom of your heart: “Soli Deo gloria—glory to God alone!”
