David C Cook COVID-19 Response

Miracle on the Hudson

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Materials Needed:

  • Internet access

On October 24, 2021, a plane full of baseball fans took off from Houston Executive Airport in Houston, Texas. As it was heading down the runway, the plane hit a fence, stopped working, and caught on fire!

The pilot decided that his passengers’ only hope for survival was to crash-land—what pilots call “ditching”—in the Hudson River. Here’s what happened next.

Show your students the following video [2:54; stop at 1:50]:
How a plane crashed with more than 20 people on board and everyone survived

When you hear about a plane crash on the news, you often find out that some of the people aboard—more frequently all of them—died. But in this case, all 21 passengers survived!

  • Before you saw the video, how did you expect the story to end? (Some of your students may have been hoping for a happy ending. However, many of them will probably acknowledge that they expected a tragic conclusion.)
  • What would you say are the key reasons this story ended as a miracle rather than a tragedy? (Answers will vary. Accept reasonable answers, but help students to see that the pilot took quick control of the situation, the flight crew took quick control over the passengers, and the people sitting in the exit rows took quick control over getting the doors unlatched and the slide rafts into position.)

Most of us aren’t facing a plane crash today, but there are always things that seem out of our control.

  • What kind of things that you face make you feel out of control? (Answers will vary; be sure you’re prepared to share your own experience if needed to get the conversation going.)
  • How do you handle experiences that are out of your control? How do you respond? (Answers will vary.)

Today, we’re going to talk about a really bad situation completely out of Joseph’s control and how God used that to bring about a miracle.

Looking for Steps 2 & 3?

You can find Steps 2 and 3 in your teacher’s guide. To purchase a teacher’s guide, please visit: Bible-in-Life or Echoes.

Materials Needed:

  • Letter worksheet printouts (1 per student; template here)
  • Pens/pencils
  • Optional: screenshared version of the letter worksheet to explain each section to students

Spread the word

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