Spiritual lessons after her greatest nightmare

Soon after September 11, the news media stepped up its coverage of the plight of Martin and Gracia Burnham, the missionary couple captured and held hostage in the Philippine jungle by terrorists with ties to Osama Bin Laden. After a year of captivity, and a violent rescue that resulted in Martin's death, the world watched Gracia Burnham return home in June 2002 with a bullet wound in the leg and amazing composure.

Gracia reflects on the lessons and spiritual truths she learned in the jungle and how they apply to anyone's life. She offers the battle-tested wisdom of a woman who lived her greatest nightmare and came through it more convinced of God's grace than ever before.

Below, is an excerpt of Gracia Burnham's "To Fly Again." Watch her story on Dateline Sunday, May 28, 7 p.m.

Introduction
There’s something slightly odd about me writing a book on handling upheaval in your life— when my life still isn’t all that well put together. Whenever I go out to speak these days, I cringe when people come up afterward and gush, “I admire you so much! You are such a special person!” I want to look behind me and see whom they could possibly be talking about.

One day after I’d gotten all dressed up for a speaking engagement— you know, heels and everything—I headed to the van and reached for the door handle. Peering inside... I thought a bomb had gone off. Trash was everywhere. I decided it wouldn’t do for Mrs. Featured Speaker to show up in such a messy vehicle.

I grabbed a box from the garage and began throwing stuff into it: empty McDonald’s cups, a plate and fork with dried food on it, one of the kids’ change of clothes, even some crayons (my kids are long past the crayon age—what were those doing in there?!). I would have used the minivac on the floor to get the rest of the dirt only I knew I couldn’t find it in the messy garage, and I was out of time anyway.

So I just drove away and made it to the church on time, where I was greeted with warm words of admiration. If they only knew.

But here and there along the way over the past year or two, I’ve gleaned some fresh understanding of what’s really important in life, and what is secondary. I’ve had time to reflect on the meaning of my jungle ordeal, and how it applies to the stresses other people are going through. God has been teaching me some perspectives that perhaps make this book worthwhile after all.

A lot of his teaching seems to come while I’m driving—which can be dangerous. It’s about the only time I can sit still and concentrate for an extended period. I often have to pull over into a parking lot or a gas station to write for a while.

Sometimes when I get home and look at the notes I’ve scribbled, they make no sense. But other times, they spark more ideas, and some are included in this book.

One night, my oldest son, Jeff, simply had to get to an auto repair shop before it closed. I had just arrived home and was getting a bowl of chili for myself.

“Can I just eat this chili first?” I asked him.

“No, no, Mom—we gotta go!” he urged. “You follow me, so you can bring me back after I drop my car off.”

I trudged out to the van and began following him down the road, chili bowl in one hand. All of a sudden, I had this great thought for the book!

In that moment, I realized something. Gracia, you cannot keep following Jeff while eating a bowl of chili and recording your thoughts at the same time. You’re just going to have to let the thought go.

So that’s what happened. I never got to write down my brainstorm, and it’s lost forever. The world will never know how brilliant it was!

But other thoughts have been captured. As you read this book, I hope you don’t think I’m preaching at you, or that I have it all together. I’ll be the first to tell you that I don’t. And my kids would second that. I’m just a person with a unique story whom the Lord has graced over and over again.

God knows all about the crosswinds that batter our lives—yours and mine—tossing us, like a fragile aircraft, into a tailspin. He calmly guides our shaky hands on the stick, showing us how to level out again and keep flying safely. We won’t crash after all.

I started this book with fear and trembling. As I wrote, it helped me. Maybe it will help you, too.

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