God Issues Today: "Bipartisan Helicopters"

Author, educator and commentator Dr. James Denison has been pastor of Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas since June, 1998. Prior to that, he was pastor at churches in Atlanta, Georgia, as well as Midland (at First Baptist) and Mansfield, Texas.

I must begin today's essay with a disclaimer: I have never ridden in a helicopter. I hope that fact never changes. A fishbowl with a propeller is not my idea of safe travel. If a flock of birds could make an airliner land in the Hudson, just think what they could do to a helicopter. I have no experience with this subject, and plan to keep things that way.

Unfortunately for the president of the United States, he has no choice in this matter. If he's flying anywhere, he starts on Marine One. I did some checking this morning—the empty weight of his helicopter is 15,200 pounds. By the time all his burly Secret Service agents have boarded with him, there's no telling how much the contraption weighs. Now I have yet another reason to be grateful I'm a preacher and not a politician.

At least our political leaders have found common cause in their helicopter angst. Today's New York Times reports that last night, President Obama and Senator John McCain held their first public appearance together since Inauguration Day. They agreed that a project to build new helicopters for the White House has gone terribly awry. Their encounter came at the end of a "fiscal responsibility summit" called by the president. Mr. Obama called on Mr. McCain to offer his thoughts. Mr. McCain suggested that one priority should be dealing with out-of-control military contracts such as the helicopter project.

The original contract was for $6.1 billion; it has now mushroomed to $11.2 billion. That's "billion." The contract calls for 28 new helicopters. That's "28." Last I checked we didn't have 28 people in the entire presidential cabinet. Mr. Obama agreed with Mr. McCain's concern: "The helicopter I have now seems perfectly adequate to me." Then the president admitted, "Of course, I've never had a helicopter before. Maybe I've been deprived and I didn't know it."

The president raises an interesting point. While both Mr. Obama and I doubt that he is suffering from helicopter deprivation, we don't know what we don't know. I once asked my 95-year-old grandfather how people got along before air conditioning was invented. "You don't know what you're missing if you've never had it" was his logical reply.

There is one place where my grandfather's reasoning breaks down, however. As Pascal said, there's a God-shaped emptiness in every one of us. Augustine was right: Our hearts are restless until they rest in him. We somehow know that we need to be made right with our Maker and that our souls need to practice the presence of God. As in Eden, our Father has come looking for his children today. How close to him are you?