Oh God! What a MIRACLE... A US Airways jetliner carrying 155 people lost power in both engines after taking off Thursday from LaGuardia Airport, but the pilot ditched in the frigid Hudson River and all aboard were rescued. What might have been a catastrophe was averted by a pilot's quick thinking and deft maneuvers, and by the nearness of rescue boats that witnesses and officials called miraculous.
The Airbus A320, which hit a flock of GEESE, ploughed into the icy water — where dazed passengers then scrambled on to the wings. The US Airways Airbus A320, bound for Charlotte, N.C., struck a flock of birds during takeoff minutes earlier, apparently disabling the engines.
As stunned witnesses watched from high-rise buildings on both banks, the Airbus A320, which had risen to 3,200 feet over the Bronx and banked left, came down-river, flying lower than many apartment terraces and windows in a carefully executed touchdown that sent up huge plumes of water at midstream, between West 48th Street in Manhattan and Weehawken, N.J.
Aboard the plane, the pilot, Chesley B. Sullenberger III, 57, unable to get back to LaGuardia, decided to avoid densely populated areas and try for the Hudson. He had warned the 150 passengers to brace for a hard landing, and most had their heads down as the jetliner pancaked and then slammed into the water about 3:30 p.m. EST.
Many on board and watching from the shores were shocked that the aircraft did not sink immediately. Instead, it floated, slowly spinning and drifting south in strong currents, while three commuter ferryboats moved in. Moments later, passengers began swarming out the emergency exits into brutally cold air and onto the submerged wings of the jetliner, which began taking on water.
When the first ferryboat nudged alongside, witnesses said, some passengers were able to leap onto its deck. Others were helped aboard by ferry crews. Soon, an armada of police boats, fireboats, tugboats and Coast Guard craft converged on the aircraft, and some of them snubbed lines to the plane to keep it afloat.
Helicopters brought wet-suited police divers, who dropped into the water to help with the rescues.
Over the next hour, all the passengers, including at least one baby, and both pilots and all three flight attendants were transferred to the rescue boats — a feat that unfolded while the white-and-blue jetliner continued to drift south.
When his passengers and flight crew were out, Sullenberger walked up and down the aisle twice to make sure the plane was empty.
Brought ashore on both sides of the river, the survivors were taken to hospitals in Manhattan and New Jersey, mostly for
treatment of exposure to the brutal cold: 18 degrees in the air, 35 degrees in the water that many had stood in on the wings up to their waists.
Still, most of them walked ashore, some grim with fright and shivering with cold, wrapped in borrowed coats. But others were smiling, and a few were ready to give interviews to mobs of reporters and television cameras.
Some described their survival as a miracle, a sentiment repeated later by city and state officials; others gave harrowing accounts of an ordeal whose outcome few might have imagined in such a crisis.
Even the aircraft was saved for examination by investigators — towed down the Hudson and tied up at the shore. In the glare of floodlights, the top of its fuselage, part of a wing and the blue-and-red tail fin jutted out of the water, but its US Airways logo and many of its windows were submerged.
"We've had a miracle on 34th Street," Gov. David Paterson said at a late-afternoon news conference in Manhattan. "I believe now we've had a miracle on the Hudson. This pilot, somehow, without any engines, was somehow able to land this plane, and perhaps without any injuries to the passengers."
The National Transportation Safety Board and state and local agencies will investigate the cause of the crash, but early indications were that the plane's engines had shut down after having ingested a flight of birds. 
Wing and a prayer ... crew and passengers standing on the plane as they wait to be rescued
Today's Scripture *January 16, 2009*
Romans 1:16
For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ.
It is the power of God at work,
saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile
Paul was not ashamed because his message was the Good News about Christ.
It was a message of salvation, it had life changing power, and it was for everyone.
When you are tempted to be ashamed, remember what the Good News is all about.
If you focus on God and on what God is doing in the world
rather than on your own inadequacy, you won't be ashamed or embarrassed. It was a miracle - 155 people landing in an icy, frigid river, every life saved and great tragedy averted. Isn't there a message from YOU here? It is too remarkable not to be a message from You, Lord!" "Didn't we see that all the people were standing on the wings, awaiting their deliverance?" "wings!" Exodus 19:3-4: "Then Moses went up to God, and Yahweh called to him from the mountain and said, 'This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself. "
Revelation 12:13-14: "When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the desert, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent's reach." In the first exodus, as LORD delivered His people from bondage in Egypt, they were delivered through the waters. They did not fly on eagles - they miraculously passed through the sea on dry land. Yet, the LORD wanted them to understand the powerful picture of their deliverance that only HE could orchestrate, like an eagle carrying its young to safety.
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You're safe now ... passengers in inflatable raft are carried to safety
Thank You
Heavenly Father, Jesus, Mother Mary, All the Saints and Angels
for all that You have done for us!
We worship You! May we tell others of Your saving power!
In Your Magnificent Name,
Amen!
 “Sacrifice of praise”
Lyrics:-
How can I say thanks
For everything You’ve done
And how can I give praise
Lord You’ve given me so much
You gave it all
You paid the price
Now I want to give You my life
As a sacrifice of praise
Oh I lift it up to You
Lord I give my heart away
Oh I give it all to You
Lord make my life an offering
Let me worship You in everything I do
A sacrifice of praise I give to You
In sunshine and in rain
In sorrow and in pain
Lord I will give You praise
And choose to bless Your name
You gave it all
And You paid the price
Now I want to give You my life
As a sacrifice of praise
Oh I lift it up to You
Lord I give my heart away
Oh I give it all to You
Lord make my life an offering
Let me worship You in everything I do
A sacrifice of praise I give to You
Lord I want to lift You up
Lord I want to lift You up
As a sacrifice of praise
Oh I lift it up to You
Lord I give my heart away
Oh I give it all to You
Lord make my life an offering
Let me worship You in everything I do
A sacrifice of praise I give to You (2)
Lord I want to lift You up
Lord I want to lift You up
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