Eighty years ago on 6th June 1936 the Air Minister Lord Swinton officially opened Gatwick Airport in West Sussex. Three weeks earlier on the 17th May the first flight from Gatwick had taken off bound for Paris – the few passengers having paid the princely sum of 4 pounds and 5 shillings! In its first year the airport served just five destinations, all of them in the near European continent.
Probably no one waving off that first flight would have ever dreamt that only 80 years later, 41 million people a year would be leaving on flights to over 200 destinations in 90 countries.
I’m reminded of the occasion, shortly after His resurrection, when Jesus met with a handful His disciples and told them that they would be His witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Not exactly an auspicious bunch, the idea that they would somehow take His message to the ends of the earth must have seemed simply incredible. Which just goes to show that sometimes in life it is better not to look too far into the future, nor to wonder what might be, given the resources of today, but rather to take each day as it comes, and to dream dreams about what might be possible; and as the Bible points out – nothing is impossible with God.
