Interesting choice of words one hears on airplane flights that leave the ground and travel thousands of feet upward. Usually before taking off and landing is when you’ll hear the stewards and stewardesses say, “crosscheck”. What does that exactly mean?

According to askthepilot.com, “Crosscheck is a generic term used by pilots and flight attendants meaning that one person has verified the task of another. In the cabin, flight attendants crosscheck one another’s stations to make sure the doors are armed or disarmed as necessary.”

Ever since our kids took their first airplane flight (and for both of them it was when they were under 3 months old) we made sure they had their baptismal Cross pendant to wear. My wife would meticulously place the cross front and center on their clothes. As the kids got a bit older they graduated to wearing their pendent cross as a necklace. Each and every time we fly, when the steward/stewardess says “crosscheck”, my wife yells out “Cross” check to each of us. One by one we make sure our Cross is around our neck or in our hands and we give the affirmative – got it!

Everyone must have some sort of an airplane flight routine, especially during takeoffs and landings. My routine is to hold my cross in my hands and either recite or sing (in my mind or sometimes audible) the Lord’s Prayer in Armenian or English, sometimes both. I also sing some of the liturgy hymns as well.

Airlines provide a crosscheck as a way to ensure people’s safety and it’s a reassurance that each steward and stewardess is doing their job. They double-check each other’s work. Just as the crosscheck is essential to the proper routine of over 100,000 flights per day worldwide, we too must do a “Cross” check each day of our lives.

Keeping a Cross close to us at all times can help provide spiritual safety and reassurance of our faith in Jesus Christ. The Cross surely provides security and comfort, and “Cross” checks help reaffirm where we ultimately place our trust and confidence.

The crosscheck on an airplane serves to remind me to do my own “Cross” check, to give thanks to God, to ask for forgiveness, seek His mercy and reconnect with my “Creator.”

How about doing a “Cross” check today?