It was June in 1943 when a B-17 bomber left the west coast of the United States headed to the war in Europe. Night fell shortly after they took off and they disappeared into that night. A search in the following days revealed nothing about what happened to them. It was not until two years later when a couple of cowboys reported a downed aircraft that their fate was revealed.
The B-17 had crashed on the top of a ridge with the tail section on the west side of the ridge and the cockpit and engines on the east side. If it had been only 50 feet higher or just a couple hundred yards to the right, they would have cleared the ridge. [1]
Now I have heard many accounts of Christians who just barely escaped death or serious injury and they gave the credit to God. So if God is responsible for these fortuitous escapes, is he also responsible for this crash of the B-17? Could not God have prompted the pilot to increase his altitude or alter his heading? Or is the author of Ecclesiastes right?
“Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all.” (Ecclesiastes 9:11 ESV)
_______________________________
[1] Jeff Skiles. “Bomber Mountain”, Sport Aviation, March 2016, pp. 36-38.
