On a Wing and a Prayer

Amazing what happened to US Airways Flight 1549 on January 15. The heroic decisions and actions taken by the pilot, Chesley Sullenberger, and his crew were incredible! I don't think I will ever forget the image of the passengers standing on the wings of the airplane floating in the Hudson River. I can be certain that the passengers themselves will never forget it. I know Emma Sophina will never forget it.

Emma Sophina is a 26 year old professional singer-songwriter from Perth, Australia who is trying to make it into the U.S. music industry. She was aboard flight 1549 on the day it went down on the Hudson. She had traveled to New York as part of a vacation opportunity and for an opportunity to meet with Marc Swersky, a writer and a producer. She was leaving New York and headed for Charlotte when the life changing event occurred. After her rescue, Marc Swersky was the only person she had a contact with in New York who could help her after she lost all of her belongings to the bottom of the Hudson River. So, naturally, she contacted him.

I don't know what kind of, if any, meeting Emma may have had with Marc Swersky before the fall of Flight 1549, but the time they spent together after the accident has produced a song that could not have had the same meaning or impact if it had been written prior to the accident. As the story goes, Marc had an unfinished song looking for someone to add some additional verses and to sing the finished product. Emma brought her experiences of January 15 and added lyrics to that unfinished song finalizing the piece which is now entitled, "Send Another Prayer."

Somewhere out on the wing of that aircraft floating in the Hudson River, Emma Sophina was inspired to give thanks to God for saving her life and to give thanks for the flight crew and the magnificent job they did. She was literally "on a wing and a prayer!" Of the song she says, "Send Another Prayer" is a thank you to God for my life, firstly, and secondly a thank you to the pilots."

Tomorrow (January 29), Emma is scheduled to perform her new song in front of several major U.S. record companies. Sometime next week, she expects to perform it on U.S. television. What a turn of events! One minute, on a flight out of New York, not knowing if her dream of breaking into the U.S. market would ever happen, the next minute literally "on a wing and a prayer" and that just might be the break she needs. Do you think it is actually possible that our desperate situations could become the "breaks" in life we need?

"On a wing and a prayer" is a saying that comes from a song written during World War II. It has come to mean that you are in a desperate situation and are relying on God to see you through. Emma Sophina and so many others were in a desperate situation that day, and she and other believers relied on God to see them through.

Do you find yourself in a desperate situation? Are you living "on a wing and a prayer?" If so, think about the image of those passengers standing on the wings of an aircraft floating, of all things, on the Hudson River. Emma Sophina is somewhere in that picture. Picture yourself there. Then, send another prayer!

"But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." Isaiah 40:31

The information about Emma Sophina comes from an article, "From A Plane's Wing a Song is Born," written January 27, 2009 by Ian Munro for The Sydney Morning Herald, found on their website at www.smh.com.au