From Above!
An Online Ministry for the Men of CLF
When we venture into the world to earn a living, we all face our own unique set of challenges. As you can see, my office has a great view! But some days are more challenging than others. Long days away from home, weekly hotel stays, continuous jetlag and stress are some of the challenges we face in the travel industry. As men, sometimes our life is not aligning with our testimony...what people see on the outside is far from the feelings and emotions we are experiencing on the inside...
Saturday, April 29, 2006
After the crash!
Late December of 1981 I was hired to fly a small Cessna from San Jose, California, to a small town upstate. Several minutes before I was to start our final approach, one of our three propeller blades broke off and the plane quickly settled to earth. It was winter, and dark, and there was no place to land. As death or serious injury seemed unavoidable, my fears battled against reason and common sense.
To make long story short, the aircraft came to rest upside down completely destroyed, and the passenger and myself exited the upside down wreckage without a scratch. The next day I went to the airport and found life was not the same. Recent memories left me paralized with fear, and the joy of flying was exchanged with anxiety about every engine noise and vibration. Life was different after the crash.
All of us have a place in our lives that is so sensitive to our memories, that just the thought of the event, time or a person involved in the incident, creates anxiety. Thousands of abused women and children from war torn countries, soldiers with memories of past battles, those with divorce damaged hearts, and those who have lost a child, may live daily with the anxiety that a repeat event that would be unbearable. I think that's how Paul felt when he wrote, in 2Cor 1:8-9," We were crushed and completely overwhelmed, and thought we would never live through it. In fact we expected to die." The word "worry" , which is the mental side of anxiety, comes from the German word "wergen"...or "to choke". Is your life choking on the fears from the past ? Afraid life will arbitrarily take you back to a place you just "know" you can't live through.... again?
Well, Paul's thoughts continue in vs 9, he say's ,"But as a result , we learned not to rely on ourselves, but on God who can raise the dead."
In other words, the greatest of apostles learned to trust, while going THROUGH such crushing trials that our natural mind wants to give up and check out! But don't do either...just TRUST HIM ! This trust is the root of faith that pleases and motivates God on our behalf, so that we can testify to His great faithfullness.
Proverbs 3:5-6 say's "trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight". All of us, with out exception, must learn to trust, by prosessess we can't always understand. But at the end of day, God's promise will prevail, and we will be fearless people of faith and strength.
Since 1981, I have flown over 18,000 hours and the events of the past now serve me and no longer enslave me. I'm still here... and so are you! Those harrassing memories you fight daily will someday be used by God to build us up into faithfull people of God as we trust Him through the prossess... So hang in there!
If you need to talk to us, contact me at cort@clfmayville.org and someone will be here for you, or comment at the bottom of this note by clicking on comments...we are here for you.
Cort
To make long story short, the aircraft came to rest upside down completely destroyed, and the passenger and myself exited the upside down wreckage without a scratch. The next day I went to the airport and found life was not the same. Recent memories left me paralized with fear, and the joy of flying was exchanged with anxiety about every engine noise and vibration. Life was different after the crash.
All of us have a place in our lives that is so sensitive to our memories, that just the thought of the event, time or a person involved in the incident, creates anxiety. Thousands of abused women and children from war torn countries, soldiers with memories of past battles, those with divorce damaged hearts, and those who have lost a child, may live daily with the anxiety that a repeat event that would be unbearable. I think that's how Paul felt when he wrote, in 2Cor 1:8-9," We were crushed and completely overwhelmed, and thought we would never live through it. In fact we expected to die." The word "worry" , which is the mental side of anxiety, comes from the German word "wergen"...or "to choke". Is your life choking on the fears from the past ? Afraid life will arbitrarily take you back to a place you just "know" you can't live through.... again?
Well, Paul's thoughts continue in vs 9, he say's ,"But as a result , we learned not to rely on ourselves, but on God who can raise the dead."
In other words, the greatest of apostles learned to trust, while going THROUGH such crushing trials that our natural mind wants to give up and check out! But don't do either...just TRUST HIM ! This trust is the root of faith that pleases and motivates God on our behalf, so that we can testify to His great faithfullness.
Proverbs 3:5-6 say's "trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight". All of us, with out exception, must learn to trust, by prosessess we can't always understand. But at the end of day, God's promise will prevail, and we will be fearless people of faith and strength.
Since 1981, I have flown over 18,000 hours and the events of the past now serve me and no longer enslave me. I'm still here... and so are you! Those harrassing memories you fight daily will someday be used by God to build us up into faithfull people of God as we trust Him through the prossess... So hang in there!
If you need to talk to us, contact me at cort@clfmayville.org and someone will be here for you, or comment at the bottom of this note by clicking on comments...we are here for you.
Cort
Friday, April 14, 2006
Climbing over the weather!
As we move into summer weather patterns, much of our national weather is in the form of thunderstorms and rain. Radar is the only sure method of safely navigating around this kind of weather and yet it is impossible to not penatrate some areas of very turbulant air. As general rule, as you reach the very top or the edge of a storm system, at that point, the ride gets the worst. Just as you exit the cloud that is mixing with air that is radicly different...usually dryer and cooler, the ride is the very rough...then, in an instant, the ride smooths out, you can see hundreds of miles and the tension of navigating through dangerous weather is behind and gone!
Many of our struggles are similar...the storm is real, the fear is truly paralizing, the depression is devastatingly painful, yet as we climb to the place God is leading us, one day we climb above the weather! From here we have a new perspective, we can see our goal and the pain is behind us and it is now an experience that serves a greater purpose in the blessing of others.
Job, at the end of his great tribulation said, " Now I see with my own eyes."{spiritual eyes!} Job 42:5.
Elijah came undone after the battle at Mt. Carmel, fled to the mountains depressed, yet came away knowing God in a new way, having renewed purpose and a clear vision of the future.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn reflected on his unjust time in prison and said, " It was only when I lay there on rotting prison straw that I sensed within myself the first stirring of good. Gradually, it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes, not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either, but right through all human hearts. So, bless you, prison, for having been in my life."
Can you say " thank you Lord" for this time of testing and trial? Well, at one time neither could Job, Elijah or Alexander...but history tells us the rest of the story ...so keep on keeping on...your about to climb above the weather!
Please contact us at clfmayville.org or myself at cort@clfmayville.org...or just click on "comments" at bottom of this letter. We are here for you.
Blessings to you.
Cort
Many of our struggles are similar...the storm is real, the fear is truly paralizing, the depression is devastatingly painful, yet as we climb to the place God is leading us, one day we climb above the weather! From here we have a new perspective, we can see our goal and the pain is behind us and it is now an experience that serves a greater purpose in the blessing of others.
Job, at the end of his great tribulation said, " Now I see with my own eyes."{spiritual eyes!} Job 42:5.
Elijah came undone after the battle at Mt. Carmel, fled to the mountains depressed, yet came away knowing God in a new way, having renewed purpose and a clear vision of the future.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn reflected on his unjust time in prison and said, " It was only when I lay there on rotting prison straw that I sensed within myself the first stirring of good. Gradually, it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes, not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either, but right through all human hearts. So, bless you, prison, for having been in my life."
Can you say " thank you Lord" for this time of testing and trial? Well, at one time neither could Job, Elijah or Alexander...but history tells us the rest of the story ...so keep on keeping on...your about to climb above the weather!
Please contact us at clfmayville.org or myself at cort@clfmayville.org...or just click on "comments" at bottom of this letter. We are here for you.
Blessings to you.
Cort
