Hold On For Dear Life

God’s Word is filled with promises, but they generally will not come to us unless we actively believe. Paul said to Timothy,

“Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called.” (I Timothy 6:12)

Our English phrase take hold is translated from the Greek word epilambanomai which means “to seize, lay hold of, or take possession of.” It comes from a metaphor drawn from the act of seizing someone with both hands to rescue him from peril. It is an active and aggressive word. It implies that if we want to experience God’s promises, we must take hold of them with a violent and aggressive faith.

On September 4, 1987, Henry Dempsey was flying a commuter jet about 4,000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean from Maine to Boston. He heard a rattling sound toward the rear of the plane, and leaving the controls to his copilot, went to investigate. As he approached the tail section, the plane hit turbulence and he was thrown forward against the rear door.

The door was hinged at the bottom but not properly latched. When Dempsey crashed against the door, it opened and sucked him out of the plane. The copilot saw the ''door ajar'' indicator light flash on and immediately requested an emergency landing at the nearest airport. He radioed the Coast Guard and asked for a search and rescue operation for a pilot who had fallen out of a plane.

But the rescue was not needed. The moment Dempsey had tumbled out of the plane, he seized the outdoor ladder railings. He held on for ten minutes upside down with only his feet inside the plane. When they landed, his head was twelve inches from the ground.

When the rescue workers arrived, he could not let go of the rail. He had seized it so tightly, it took more than fifteen minutes for the workers to pry his hands free. Henry Dempsey’s amazing rescue vividly portrays the essence of epilambanomai. He seized the ladder railings the way we must seize the promises of God.