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...
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Patience...
Years ago I flew float planes in Alaska and lived on a remote island 120 miles west of Ketchikan.
Kathye and I were newlyweds, and we lived our first year in a cedar home on the western coast of Prince of Whales Island. The adventures never seemed to end, but neither did the rain and fog. The average rain fall was 220 inches and the visibility some weeks never got above half a mile. In this moutainous coastal terrain without any established navigational aids, the flying was low and dangerous. In this environment, impatience would almost surely result in unnecessary risk. There is and old saying that reflects the aviators rule of risktaking... there are old pilots, and there are bold pilots, but no old bold pilots. The weather will always change. It may get worse, but eventually it will get better. So the key to surviving in the North is patience, always having a way out, and being able to see far enough ahead to make good operational judgments. Unfortunately, patience is sometimes learned by the crisis created by impatience!
St. Francis de Sales said " Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your imperfections, but instantly set about remedying them...every day begin the task anew."
Are you an impatient person? Are you particularly hard on yourself? Are you never quite measuring up to your own standards? Well, I think Paul was very much like this is his personality and emotional makeup. He probably suffered greatly for killing Christians, especially the stoning of Stephen. Yet he learned after years of self torment to let God be his advocate in matters of the damaged conscience and move on in grace. I believe that if you or I are going to survive the crisis of conscience, we, like Paul, must let God be the God of our failures as well as the author of our success. We must be patient with ourselves in order to grow past our failures and become tools for healing a damaged world.
Listen to Paul's thoughts in Phil. 3:13-14..."Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me ..."
Senate chaplain Llodd Ogilvie writes,
" A patient person knows the shortness of time and the length of eternity. Patience is really faith in action. No wonder it is called an aspect of the fruit of the Spirit. It is one of the matchless characteristics of Christ himself. If we would learn patience, He alone can teach us. There are many facsimiles of virtue, but authentic patience comes as a result of our deep personal relationship with Christ".
So let's slow down and listen to the heartbeat of the Master, and He will make us patient soldiers, able to wait and ready to fight.
Blessings...Cort
If you wish to contact me, e-mail me at cort@clfmayville.org and I will respond personally and privately. Otherwise, to comment on the note, click on" comments" at the bottom.
Kathye and I were newlyweds, and we lived our first year in a cedar home on the western coast of Prince of Whales Island. The adventures never seemed to end, but neither did the rain and fog. The average rain fall was 220 inches and the visibility some weeks never got above half a mile. In this moutainous coastal terrain without any established navigational aids, the flying was low and dangerous. In this environment, impatience would almost surely result in unnecessary risk. There is and old saying that reflects the aviators rule of risktaking... there are old pilots, and there are bold pilots, but no old bold pilots. The weather will always change. It may get worse, but eventually it will get better. So the key to surviving in the North is patience, always having a way out, and being able to see far enough ahead to make good operational judgments. Unfortunately, patience is sometimes learned by the crisis created by impatience!
St. Francis de Sales said " Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your imperfections, but instantly set about remedying them...every day begin the task anew."
Are you an impatient person? Are you particularly hard on yourself? Are you never quite measuring up to your own standards? Well, I think Paul was very much like this is his personality and emotional makeup. He probably suffered greatly for killing Christians, especially the stoning of Stephen. Yet he learned after years of self torment to let God be his advocate in matters of the damaged conscience and move on in grace. I believe that if you or I are going to survive the crisis of conscience, we, like Paul, must let God be the God of our failures as well as the author of our success. We must be patient with ourselves in order to grow past our failures and become tools for healing a damaged world.
Listen to Paul's thoughts in Phil. 3:13-14..."Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me ..."
Senate chaplain Llodd Ogilvie writes,
" A patient person knows the shortness of time and the length of eternity. Patience is really faith in action. No wonder it is called an aspect of the fruit of the Spirit. It is one of the matchless characteristics of Christ himself. If we would learn patience, He alone can teach us. There are many facsimiles of virtue, but authentic patience comes as a result of our deep personal relationship with Christ".
So let's slow down and listen to the heartbeat of the Master, and He will make us patient soldiers, able to wait and ready to fight.
Blessings...Cort
If you wish to contact me, e-mail me at cort@clfmayville.org and I will respond personally and privately. Otherwise, to comment on the note, click on" comments" at the bottom.
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Vigilance...
Several years ago a Boeing 757 took off from an east coast city in South America in heavy rain. The takeoff flight path was east over the ocean, a departure route the crew had flown many times before. Soon after take off, the Captain's airspeed indicator began to indicate a very high speed which can over stress the airframe, and cause a catastrophic failure. As the speed increased on the indicator, the pilot's reacted by trying to slow the aircraft with reduced power and increased pitch, or a nose up attitude. Oddly, despite these efforts, the airspeed continued to increase and the crew continued to try to slow their aircraft that they thought was speeding out of safe structural limits. The next event on the data recorder revealed that the plane stalled, rolled over on it's back, and crashed into the ocean.
The final analysis revealed that a large insect was lodged in one of the ram air tubes that measures airspeed, causing a reverse indication by that instrument. As the aircraft climbed, the pressure differential cause an anomaly in the airspeed indication. There are three airspeed indicators in the cockpit and at least one of these was operating normally. This fatal crash was caused by an indication problem that did not, in any way, make the aircraft unflyable.
What it did do, was cause enough confusion for two pilots to miss the obvious.
It is very easy to look back on past failures, either ours or someone else's and judge the outcome. In most cases, much can be learned from history, and God knows we that we need daily reminders of how ugly things can get if we are living with wrong motives and are making poor choices. Vigilance cannot be neglected or ignored. I have experienced first hand the results my lack of spiritual discipline and the pain I can create for myself and those who depend on me. Many times when we look back we can see we were missing a warning from the Lord...an indication of pending disaster we had been ignoring... we were missing the obvious.
Are you in an upside down, out of control place with God, your marriage, or some other situation you wish you had been more vigilant about? Are you desperately wishing you had seen the signs, acted earlier, prayed sooner, or spoken up before the storm of misunderstanding and broken relations ?
Jeremiah writes in the book of Lamentations about the horrors of war...vs. 10 of chapter 4 he writes, "Tenderhearted women have cooked their own children and eaten them in order to survive the siege". He says in vs. 12 that "not a King in all the earth...no one in the world would have believed an enemy could march through the gates of Jerusalem. Yet it happened because of the sins of her prophets and priests, who defiled the city...". He found himself at the bottom of a well. He says "They threw me into a pit and dropped stones on me. The water flowed above my head and I cried out, "This is the end!"". These were not good day's in the Jerusalem for anybody! Yet it was God who had let in the invaders. How do we live in a spiritual darkness that God has allowed?
Jeremiah shares what we are to do when we have allowed an invasion. He says in vs. 21 of chapter 3..." Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: the unfailing love of the Lord never ends! By His mercies we have been kept from complete destruction. Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each day." Vs 31 says "For the Lord does not abandon anyone forever. Though He brings grief, He also shows compassion according to the greatness of His unfailing love."
So be very VIGILANT... and keep on SEEKING, keep on KNOCKING and keep on WALKING...He will LEAD us though!
Blessings...
If you wish to contact me, I'm at cort@clfmayville.org ...we are here for you.
The final analysis revealed that a large insect was lodged in one of the ram air tubes that measures airspeed, causing a reverse indication by that instrument. As the aircraft climbed, the pressure differential cause an anomaly in the airspeed indication. There are three airspeed indicators in the cockpit and at least one of these was operating normally. This fatal crash was caused by an indication problem that did not, in any way, make the aircraft unflyable.
What it did do, was cause enough confusion for two pilots to miss the obvious.
It is very easy to look back on past failures, either ours or someone else's and judge the outcome. In most cases, much can be learned from history, and God knows we that we need daily reminders of how ugly things can get if we are living with wrong motives and are making poor choices. Vigilance cannot be neglected or ignored. I have experienced first hand the results my lack of spiritual discipline and the pain I can create for myself and those who depend on me. Many times when we look back we can see we were missing a warning from the Lord...an indication of pending disaster we had been ignoring... we were missing the obvious.
Are you in an upside down, out of control place with God, your marriage, or some other situation you wish you had been more vigilant about? Are you desperately wishing you had seen the signs, acted earlier, prayed sooner, or spoken up before the storm of misunderstanding and broken relations ?
Jeremiah writes in the book of Lamentations about the horrors of war...vs. 10 of chapter 4 he writes, "Tenderhearted women have cooked their own children and eaten them in order to survive the siege". He says in vs. 12 that "not a King in all the earth...no one in the world would have believed an enemy could march through the gates of Jerusalem. Yet it happened because of the sins of her prophets and priests, who defiled the city...". He found himself at the bottom of a well. He says "They threw me into a pit and dropped stones on me. The water flowed above my head and I cried out, "This is the end!"". These were not good day's in the Jerusalem for anybody! Yet it was God who had let in the invaders. How do we live in a spiritual darkness that God has allowed?
Jeremiah shares what we are to do when we have allowed an invasion. He says in vs. 21 of chapter 3..." Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: the unfailing love of the Lord never ends! By His mercies we have been kept from complete destruction. Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each day." Vs 31 says "For the Lord does not abandon anyone forever. Though He brings grief, He also shows compassion according to the greatness of His unfailing love."
So be very VIGILANT... and keep on SEEKING, keep on KNOCKING and keep on WALKING...He will LEAD us though!
Blessings...
If you wish to contact me, I'm at cort@clfmayville.org ...we are here for you.
