No drone experts whisper in my ear

In recent days stories of drone sightings dominate our American news skyscape. Without fail, many of the pundit and news media class instantly removed their previous ‘expert” hats and have now donned “drone expert hats” without missing a beat.

Being just an ordinary citizen and having no expertise on aircraft or anything pertaining to flying, I can state with 100% certainty that I have no idea what’s the truth with this situation. The same people who trust the Biden administration have taken the position that these drone sightings are all really mistakenly identified and are really just planes and/or nothing to worry about. The same people on the right who distrust everything the Biden administration says and/or believe there’s some evil big government entity out to destroy America are convinced the government is engaged in a cover-up or worse behind something nefarious going on.

I remain neutral and cling to this fact – I don’t have any idea or theories about the drone sightings. I don’t have any drone experts whispering in my ear.

My most embarrassing unidentified sighting of lights at night and jumping to UFO-level alarm happened in 1992. My late husband was stationed in Germany and we lived there for 5 years, returning to the States in the summer of 1992. We were visiting my parents in rural PA.

One night I got up to use the bathroom and through the open window I heard a peculiar buzzing sound, interspersed with zip sounds. I peered out the open window and saw a strange glowing purple light in the middle of the backyard.

I woke up my mother to share my sighting with her and in an exasperated tone, she told me that’s just the “bug zapper” and to go back to bed. I crawled back into bed and laid awake for a long, long time, wondering what on earth a “bug zapper” was. In the morning I asked my husband if he knew what a “bug zapper’ was and he didn’t, which made me feel like less of an idiot.

At breakfast, I asked my parents what exactly is a “bug zapper” and my mother pointed out the kitchen window to this innocuous looking thing, that resembled a large bird feeder or lantern, hanging on the end of the swing set and they explained that you plug it in and the purple light supposedly attracts bugs and those zip sounds were bugs being zapped.

I hadn’t seen any “bug zappers” in Germany, although they might have been selling them there too in 1992. After that experience, I learned a few valuable lessons – don’t jump to conclusions about strange lights at night, don’t assume unexplained things are something ominous or dangerous and just take a deep breath, be patient, and most of all don’t rush to judgment. Eventually, answers will come, I feel certain.

Another more important lesson has taken me a lifetime to learn and I still need to remind myself of this often – place your burdens and cares in God’s hands and trust in his love and care. Answers to many of the things we worry about or get worked up about may not come as quickly as our instant gratification culture has taught us to, not only expect, but demand.

Working on remaining calm and resisting the pull of all these hyped up media and social-media driven dramas can be hard. What you gain if you do start resisting getting sucked into all that drama is more time to focus on things that actually matter in your life and you can develop a sense of inner-peace and strength. I believe this is the power over fear that God makes available to all of us – if we choose to seek it out.

This is the season where three wise men followed the light of a star to guide them on a journey to Bethlehem. It wasn’t the light that propelled them onward, it was faith in God. The least we can do is stop getting worked up and listening to every yahoo online, who proclaims to have all the answers about all these sightings.

It’s okay to say, “I don’t know” and not waste time getting wrapped up in all this hype.