The Weight of a Loaded Plane

On New Year's Eve, 1972, Roberto Clemente had every reason to stay home. The Pittsburgh Pirates legend had just completed his eighteenth major league season, collecting his 3,000th hit — a milestone only ten other players had ever reached. He was thirty-eight years old. He had a wife and three young sons. The celebration should have carried into the new year.

But a devastating earthquake had leveled Managua, Nicaragua, killing thousands and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless. Clemente had already organized three planeloads of relief supplies, and reports reached him that corrupt officials were intercepting the aid before it reached survivors. So he decided to go himself. He boarded an overloaded DC-7 cargo plane on that final night of 1972, believing his presence would ensure the supplies reached the suffering.

The plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean shortly after takeoff. His body was never recovered.

Clemente once said, "Any time you have an opportunity to make a difference in this world and you don't, then you are wasting your time on earth." He could have written a check. He could have made a phone call. Instead, he climbed aboard.

Scripture tells us that the Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. Jesus didn't delegate Calvary. He didn't send a representative. He came Himself, because love that costs nothing changes nothing.

What is the Lord asking you to board the plane for today?