Fear makes us do funny things. A 64-year-old defense company executive in France was near retirement and his co-workers wanted to provide a better gift than a plaque, so they arranged for a very special event. To his surprise, they brought him to an air base in northeastern France for a coveted ride in the back seat of a Dassault Rafale B fighter. A quick flight physical certified him for the experience and a very short safety briefing failed to prepare him for the ride. After the event, it was shown that his G-suit pants were not properly worn, his seat straps were not his seat straps were not securely tightened and his helmet and oxygen mask were not buckled. The biggest problem, though, was that nobody thought to ask him whether he wanted the flight or not.

Heart racing, he got in the plane. The pilot taxied out to the runway and hit the throttle. The responsive jet rocketed down the runway and the pilot pulled 3.7gs of force smoothly rising to about 1,500 feet, where he started to level off. When the passenger felt himself lifting off the seat in negative g-force, in alarm he grabbed the first thing he could find to steady himself—a black and yellow striped loop sticking up between his knees. Sadly, that was the trigger of the MK 16 ejection seat, which blew off the canopy and shot him straight out of the plane. His parachute deployed perfectly and he landed safely, minus his loose helmet. The pilot was able to bring the plane in safely, too, so only pride was permanently wounded. Fear can derange our thinking.

“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (Hebrews 2:14-15 NIV).

Fear of death has led to every imaginable delusion and sin. People have spent everything looking for miracle cures, undergone staggering plastic surgeries, robbed, killed, and abandoned families—all in the vain hope of evading death. Others have invented religious rituals and spun myths, pretending that they can magically transform reality so that death will never come to them. Yet the universal statistic remains: one out of one will die. Yet, what if that certainty turned out to be not the final word?

Jesus demonstrated, beyond any reasonable doubt, that death is not actually the end of the story.He had resuscitated others during His ministry, but when He rose from death He showed that He has power over death. He promises that He will extend that same life to all those who want to accept it from Him, demonstrating their faith in Him by repentance and baptism so that their sins might be forgiven and they might be in a covenant with Him for life. Once the fear of death is removed from us, we are free to live each day in joyous righteousness and holiness. God has given us unimaginable blessings at every phase of our lives. When death can no longer terrify and derange us, we can relax and enjoy each part of the ride!