Swiss Cheese

Psalm 142:3 -- "When my spirit grows faint within me, it is You who know my way."

It was explained to me in Swiss Cheese. I'm picturing the stuff in the small zip-lock bag at the bottom of the crisper drawer in my fridge. And it doesn't take very long for me to see how this is going to turn out. I was given a plane crash as an example:

On the tarmac, with hundreds of anxious and hurried people in the belly of a plane, the big metal bird is delayed because the co-pilot accidentally knocked his cup of coffee over and the hot joe fried a control panel on the console. It has to be replaced before the plane can take off. That's the first layer of cheese, set down on a small and other wise empty plate.

Enter the mechanic. He's the best at his job, but was in a huge argument with his wife last night and didn't get much sleep.  His head hurts, he's worried about this wife, and his mind isn't quite on the job. He replaces the electrical panel, but doesn't notice that an engine alarm light was also hit with coffee and has shorted out. When you think about it, it seems like a small thing, but it IS another piece of our cheese, place gently on top of the first one sitting on that plate. What are the odds of any of the holes in the cheese lining up perfectly? Allowing you to see all the way to the bottom of the plate? Maybe they don't line up all the way....but there are gaps, and SOME space is created and you can see parts of the plate through those gaps.

After take off, about mid flight - clouds are beginning to pile up in the sky - wind picks up, and a storm is generated. The pilots are now faced with dodging a rather nasty storm. The captain, has thousands of flight hours to his credit and is a very well-trained, well-experienced pilot. But they switched planes on him at the last minute, and much like having to get used to the feel of a new car, the pilot has to warm up to the new model of air craft. He's flown this type before, but is not in IT as frequently as he is other crafts. Another slice of the cheese on the plate. Do any holes line up?

The air plane is hit by lightning. Our tell-tale engine fire light comes on. The Captain shuts the engine down, as he's been trained to do. The other engines carry the plane with no problem. But the Captain didn't realize, the engine isn't really on fire. The warning light has shorted out. ...you guess it, another slice of cheese.

In an effort to dodge more lightning, he banks the plane left - on the opposite side of the "downed" engine. This bird is larger than he's accustomed, and without one of his right side engines, the plane pulls too far left, pushing the nose of the plane too low, and the pilot can't regain control. The bird goes down. Another slice of Swiss.

No one is seriously injured....but, if even ONE of the piled up slices of Swiss had not been placed on the plate, the holes might have lined up in differently, and the crash avoided. Maybe the pilot could have kept his job, and the airline could have avoided a slew of law suits.

What if the coffee hadn't been spilled on the console? What if the mechanic hadn't gotten into an argument with is wife? What if the first two slices of cheese hadn't been piled on the plate and the plane hadn't been delayed in the first place? They might not have run into the storm.

It's an interesting scenario. The thing that I couldn't help but latch onto as this scene played out in my head was: My God knows where all the holes are. I may fall into the gaps sometimes, as they line up just so....but my Father knows how to get by ALL of them. And while I may stumble, I may slip on occasion, my Father knows the way -- even when I can't see, and I'm left stumbling around in the dark, ready to trip on something. And really, if I were to be honest, it's usually my own fault the lights have gone out in the first place. I have overloaded a breaker somewhere and it eventually gives out.

As a pilot that just crashed a plane full of people -- I'm weary. As an individual stumbling around in a dark house without a flash light, I'm weary. As a homeschooling mom of a teenager, I'm weary. As a woman stretching the food budget and still eat healthy, I'm weary........I could go on. But I think you get the point.

When I'm weary - when I don't see all the holes in the Swiss Cheese, it only my Father who can get me back onto the hole-free path. I think it might be so very good - if I didn't wait until I was so weary to ask God to guide me in the first place.