When I was a flight instructor, I drilled things into my student’s minds that would keep them alive in flight. I did the same when I became a pastor 43 years ago. Mastering certain spiritual skills will keep our faith alive when the engine of our faith encounters a problem.

I made sure my student pilots always used a checklist to ensure that critical elements of a flight were checked off before they started the engine. When a student pilot took an airplane to flight, I had them make sure to not initiate their first turn until all the available runway that still remained could still be utilized if an engine failure occurred. They would still be able to safely land on the remaining runway.

I also asked my students to verbally call out a “GUMP Check.” This verbal checklist ensured the GAS was on the right tank; the UNDERCARRIAGE was down and locked in place; the MIXTURE was properly adjusted, and the PROPELLOR was in a position to land.

Repeatedly, while in flight, I would pull back the power to idle, and as the aircraft began to lose altitude, I asked my confused student pilot a vital question, “Where are you going to land?” Knowing they had done all they could to prepare for their fight, they would not have to play catchup in an emergency. They were free to fly the airplane and land.

Most importantly, when an inflight emergency happened, I would tell them, “Keep flying the airplane.” They should never give up and assume they are going to die. That decision saved my life in a few horrifying moments when it happened to me.

What should be on the spiritual checklist of our faith that will keep our faith from crashing?

We need to make sure that integrity to God’s word is present and firmly established in our lives. It is too easy to wander away from the truth of Scripture and allow human opinion to make decisions for the issues of this life to our peril.

We need to lean in the direction of grace and mercy when we see people fall away from God because someday, we may need that same grace and mercy extended to us when we fail.

We need to commit to always live in the light of truth no matter how challenging that choice will make us feel when people want to give us a pass to continue living in darkness.

We need to develop a life of worship. Worship will lead us to a safe landing when an unexpected turn of events happens, and we don’t know where to land. It will sustain us through our descent into the unknown allowing God to show us where to land when an emergency of our spiritual life occurs.

Once our checklist has been completed, we will be able to fly our faith with confidence no matter what happens while in flight.