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...
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
You asked for it!
The first time I stepped into the cockpit of an American Airlines 727, I was 28 years old and fairly sure the I could master most challenges the came my way. Unfortunately, my zeal and confidence was out of balance with the wisdom that comes from the years of routine and mundane operations. We always want to be at the top or in front until we are there bearing the load of leadership, and then we wonder what we were thinking! When James and John came to Christ with their mother and asked for the best place in the kingdom, Jesus did not refuse their request, He just added a caveat question... can you live with the resposiblity of leadership and carry the burden of My calling?
Do we really want the stress of high positions? Do really want the burdens? It is a good thing to want the great things, but they are always hedged in by the hardest things. Hardship and suffering is the price for coronation, and since God many times gives us the desire of our heart, He works at us until we are ready for the task we are pursuing. The daily hardships that you are struggling with are given by the Lord for the purpose of enabling you to win the very crown we asked Him for, it's just not wrapped it in the package we expected. Don't wait for that ideal situation, or that romantic notion of God's leading to open the perfect door for you, rise and take the day by the handles and work until you can work no more, and then see what He will do with your faithful service. The providence of God's hand is most commonly experienced in the difficulties found in our ordinary days. So embrace the hard things... those hard things that the world knows nothing about. Down deep in the secret corner of your soul, unseen and unknown by anyone but Jesus, is that trial you would dare not mention to anyone... it may be an issue harder to bear than the thought of martyrdom, yet it is this very thing God is using to make you fit to carry the crown that you and I, like James and John, asked the Lord to give to us.
Years later, John did carry the resposibility and the credit for receiving the revelation for five books in our bible...he received his great work, and we have all profited from his desire and faithfulness.
Keep the vision, but don't forget to embrace the harships that make it all possible...remember, you asked for it!
Keep on....
Cort
Do we really want the stress of high positions? Do really want the burdens? It is a good thing to want the great things, but they are always hedged in by the hardest things. Hardship and suffering is the price for coronation, and since God many times gives us the desire of our heart, He works at us until we are ready for the task we are pursuing. The daily hardships that you are struggling with are given by the Lord for the purpose of enabling you to win the very crown we asked Him for, it's just not wrapped it in the package we expected. Don't wait for that ideal situation, or that romantic notion of God's leading to open the perfect door for you, rise and take the day by the handles and work until you can work no more, and then see what He will do with your faithful service. The providence of God's hand is most commonly experienced in the difficulties found in our ordinary days. So embrace the hard things... those hard things that the world knows nothing about. Down deep in the secret corner of your soul, unseen and unknown by anyone but Jesus, is that trial you would dare not mention to anyone... it may be an issue harder to bear than the thought of martyrdom, yet it is this very thing God is using to make you fit to carry the crown that you and I, like James and John, asked the Lord to give to us.
Years later, John did carry the resposibility and the credit for receiving the revelation for five books in our bible...he received his great work, and we have all profited from his desire and faithfulness.
Keep the vision, but don't forget to embrace the harships that make it all possible...remember, you asked for it!
Keep on....
Cort
Saturday, June 03, 2006
Stress tests...
The Boeing Airplane Co. started building and testing there first airplanes in a small wooden building on Lake Union in Seattle Washington. The first airplanes were wood and cloth and many early designs were flying boats...seaplanes. Testing a new airframe was simple...you make a common sense visual inspection and went flying! But the water conditions can severely test an airframe when landing and taking off at speeds from 20 to 80 mph and failures were common... but of relatively small consequences. Today, computers test material with mathematical formulas and simulations, but every airframe is still tested in some dynamic test to verify it's integrity. The early 747 wing test, pulled the wing tips 16 feet above there normal in flight position before they failed under the stress. In 30+ years of service, no airframe failures (that I know of), have been reported in normal operations of the Boeing 747, most of which are still in service today. The stress of that final test that broke the wing in the hangar, has never been experienced in real life. The integrity of the wing was assured before it went into service carrying precious human cargo.
Feel like your going through it again? Can't get it right? Can't seem to get over it? Can't seem to change the attitude, change the actions or stop the feelings? Well Peter, that rough and tumble disciple turned apostle, even after failing a few early integrity tests, says this to us...
"Dear friends, don't be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. Instead, be very glad because these trials will make you partners with Christ in His suffering, and afterward you will have the wonderful joy of sharing His glory when it is displayed to all the world" (1Peter4:12-13)
James says..."Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when it is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything"
(James 1:2-4 )
A Japan Airlines 747 took off from San Francisco in the 1980's and headed over ocean in the dark of night. Several hours into the flight, the Captain noticed that the autopilot was struggling to keep the airplane level, and decided to turn it off and hand fly the airplane. What he and two other pilot's failed to notice, was that an outboard engine had failed(the 747 has 4 engines), and the autopilot was not capable of overcoming the adverse forces created by the engine loss. The airplane rolled on it's back in the black of night and dove straight toward the ocean, losing 25,000 feet of altitude before the crew leveled the aircraft. They turned the jet around and landed safely in San Francisco, missing a only few parts off the tail.
You probably never heard about this event. That's because the 747 airframe did NOT fail this test. It maintained it's integrity....and when God in finished with His trials and tests, we also will maintain our integrity in the face of any test the devil or the world can through at us. Then we as well, can move safely forward into greater service and fail NOT, being "ready for anything" and "strong in character".
Blessings.
Cort
If you would like to contact me, e-mail to cort@clfmayville.org ... I welcome your thoughts.
Feel like your going through it again? Can't get it right? Can't seem to get over it? Can't seem to change the attitude, change the actions or stop the feelings? Well Peter, that rough and tumble disciple turned apostle, even after failing a few early integrity tests, says this to us...
"Dear friends, don't be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. Instead, be very glad because these trials will make you partners with Christ in His suffering, and afterward you will have the wonderful joy of sharing His glory when it is displayed to all the world" (1Peter4:12-13)
James says..."Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when it is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything"
(James 1:2-4 )
A Japan Airlines 747 took off from San Francisco in the 1980's and headed over ocean in the dark of night. Several hours into the flight, the Captain noticed that the autopilot was struggling to keep the airplane level, and decided to turn it off and hand fly the airplane. What he and two other pilot's failed to notice, was that an outboard engine had failed(the 747 has 4 engines), and the autopilot was not capable of overcoming the adverse forces created by the engine loss. The airplane rolled on it's back in the black of night and dove straight toward the ocean, losing 25,000 feet of altitude before the crew leveled the aircraft. They turned the jet around and landed safely in San Francisco, missing a only few parts off the tail.
You probably never heard about this event. That's because the 747 airframe did NOT fail this test. It maintained it's integrity....and when God in finished with His trials and tests, we also will maintain our integrity in the face of any test the devil or the world can through at us. Then we as well, can move safely forward into greater service and fail NOT, being "ready for anything" and "strong in character".
Blessings.
Cort
If you would like to contact me, e-mail to cort@clfmayville.org ... I welcome your thoughts.
