Sully, a movie depicting the story behind the 2009 landing
of US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River showed up on a streaming service
this month. I’d long been aware of the heroism of Captain Chelsey “Sully”
Sullenberger and what is called “the miracle on the Hudson,” but I’m a nervous
flier and seeing plane emergencies on film get me going. I’m late to the table,
but finally my desire to see the film outweighed my apprehension.
I
did spend a good bit of time squirming during the movie, but there were so many
powerful scenes to distract me from my flying anxiety. Much has been written
about the heroism of Captain Sully, the flight crew, and the rescuers, as well as how the passengers responded to the emergency. I’ll just focus on one scene.
After
the landing in the Hudson and passengers had deboarded onto the wings and inflatable
rafts awaiting rescue, Captain Sullenberger was still on the plane searching,
checking every seat. With the thirty-six-degree water rising waist deep, the
plane going down, and the flight crew yelling for him to exit, he still checked
making sure as best he could that no one was left behind.
The
crew became insistent that he leave, so he grabbed what I imagine was the flight
log and gave one more glance back to the
cabin. Then he slid down the slide.
It
took hours to know what the actual passenger count was. One person had tried to
swim to shore, one had tripped into the water, and both were rescued. But who
knew if there were others who slipped away undetected.
Hours
later, when the final count came in—155, the relief on the Captain’s face, played brilliantly by Tom
Hanks, was apparent. Miraculously, all under his care were accounted for.
In Dorothea Day’s poem, “My Captain,” a response to "Invictus,” she writes,
“Christ is the Captain of my soul.”
The one scene of Captain Sullenberger wading through hypothermia inducing
waters, refusing to leave until he thought all the passengers were safe brings tears to my eyes. And it brings comfort to my
soul because I know that in an exponential way, God has done and is doing that.
When the chilly water is rising and it appears the ship is going down, our
Captain is still searching for those left behind. “For the Son of Man came to
seek and to save what was lost” (Luke 19:10). Jesus didn’t try to save himself
first, He gave everything to save us. It’s a message worth telling as long as
we have breath in our bodies.
Even after we give our lives to Him, we may face times when we feel a
little lost, not knowing what the future holds, or which way we should go. But our
Captain is on duty, never forgetting about us, never leaving us. Hebrews 13:5
reads, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
If you watch the movie, let it roll during the credits at the end, because
there’s a real-life scene of Captain Sullenberger with a reunion of the
passengers. So heartwarming. And folks, one day, we’ll have a grand reunion,
too, with all those whom the Captain of our souls has rescued.