“. . . I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.”

— 2 Timothy 1:12

The year was 1943. Halfway around the world, a young pilot was flying his Corsair above the scattered islands of the Pacific, scanning his radar for the enemy. Suddenly, out of nowhere, he saw enemy planes. Before the young pilot knew it, one of them was on his tail. He rolled his plane over and dove down, back up again, turning, twisting, diving, doing everything he could to escape. But he had an expert fighter pilot on his tail. In the end, a burst of machine-gun fire pierced not only his plane but his body as well.

Mortally wounded, the young pilot somehow managed to land his disabled plane on one of the jungle islands of the South Pacific. He struggled to crawl clear of the plane in case it exploded. Five days later his body was found. He had, clutched in his hand, a scrap of paper on which he had written his last words: “When peace like a river . . .” That was all. His final words were the beginning of that wonderful hymn that goes like this: “When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll; whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul.”

Here was a young man who had learned somewhere—whether in his home or at church—Who held his future. When we recognize and acknowledge that God holds the future, we can be assured that whatever comes our way, even if it’s the worst scenario we can imagine, God can transform it into a blessing. Only when we place our entire trust in Him will we have the kind of assurance in our future that this young man had.

Are you walking through a peaceful river or through rolling sea billows today? Whatever your lot, place your full trust in the Lord. Only when we trust the One who holds the future will it be well with our souls.

“I have no fear . . . Christ is the Captain of my soul.”
Dorothea Day