From Above!

In the early 1980's, I was flying for a float plane airline operating out of Seattle. One afternoon, I was flying a recently serviced Cessna 206 on floats from Lake Union to Friday Harbor, when I noticed a strong smell of fuel. I landed in Friday Harbor and searched the airplane from top to bottom but could find no reason for the smell of fuel. As I continued to search the Cessna, and I soon discovered that the underbelly of the airplane was full of fuel. Under the carpeting, below the three rows of seats, was 20 or 30 gallons of fuel. After years of service, one of the fuel lines that runs down side of the aircraft from the over wing fuel tanks, had began slowly leaking into the spar gaps under the floor. One small spark and all would have been lost.

Another author tells this story of a pastor who "fired up the church furnace in preparation for choir practice. When it was time to return to church with his family they were delayed because his daughter changed clothes. At the same time student Ladona Vadergrift was struggling with a geometry problem and stayed home to work on it. Sisters Royena and Sadie Estes' car wouldn't start. Herbert Kipf lingered over a letter he'd put off writing. Joyce Black was feeling "plain lazy"
and stayed home till the last minute. Pianist Marilyn Paul fell asleep after dinner and her mom, the choir director, had trouble waking her. Pals Lucille Jones and Dorothy Wood were late because of a radio broadcast. Every single choir member was late; something that's never happened before or since. Was it a fluke? At 7:30 that night the West Side Church was flattened by an explosion from a gas leak ignited by the furnace...directly below the empty choir loft!"

How often we take our safety for granted. How often we forget that God has promised to take care of us in accordance with His perfect will. Do we realize He really does watch over us, even though we do suffer the loss of loved ones by accidents and violence? Some of these mysteries we are not given to understand, but God has promised to protect us as we do our best to seek Him as our source...He says, " I will protect those who trust in my name." Ps 91:14

Keep on keep'in on.

In the daily grind of air transport, nothing is more insidious in tempting poor judgement than boredom and complacency. The long hours of idleness and fatigue are only dispelled by rest and normal activities. In our spiritual life, the same principles apply. In our daily routines, the days can get long, and the way very tedious, at which point we are in a dangerous place if we forget that we have an enemy who pursues us like a stalking predator. "Satan has desired to have you" Jesus told His leaders of tomorrow in Luke 22:31. And you, the child of God, with unlimited potential, are a target of his tactics. So what's your plan? Here are some thoughts...


Remember, you don't have to give in to pressure from the enemy...Jesus said "I have given you strength over all the power that the enemy possesses". Don't let your mind tell your heart that you can't stand...He said that in His strength that you can stand!


If you fail, don't wallow. Becoming mature is a process that ends at the grave! Maturing is failing forward to a new behavior...finding new strength for tomorrow.


Confess your sin. God always responds to the repentant heart. He will meet you at the lowest point of your life and walk through the valley of darkness and regret to make you a better son or daughter.

So listen to Luke 22:32...Jesus says to the disciples,"I have prayed for you, that your faith might not fail, and when you turn back to Me, strengthen your brothers"

So use the tough times to learn, and in turn, be concerned for others!

Keep on,

A wise author once wrote,"Aviation is not inherently dangerous, but to an even greater degree than the sea, it is very unforgiving of any carelessness, incapacity or neglect." Every choice we make from the left seat of an airliner, or from the seat of authority at home, the office, church or government, carries some degree of consequence for the lives of others. With almost every incident or accident siting pilot error, a clear trail of circumstances led to a judgement that produced life changing results. A common factor in most events is the temptation to respond to our human desires or feelings that conflict with facts and procedures. Sometimes it is the most experienced pilots who overestimate their abilities in a seemingly ordinary challenge to their skills and make errors that have life altering consequences.

The Word tells us "We are tempted when we drawn away by our own desires". We are always naturally tempted to do things our way (pride), or because it feels right (flesh). Yet the Bible says that "there is a way that seems right to man but the end is the way of death." That is "the way" that excludes God from our common thinking...the lack of wisdom or any eternal perspective. Yet God Himself has created in all our lives a process, "a way", that will test us through being tempted. Though He is never evil and He will never set us up to fail, but he will allow the pressures and the forces of this sinful world to tempt us. Even Jesus was allowed to be tempted so He would be capable of knowing our struggles. But be of good cheer...He has overcome all the forces we will face and He stands with us in our struggle with ourselves.

The wise commander always relies on his officers to help him make good decisions. He knows how to keep himself from being led by feelings or by bad information. He knows how to rely on the Word and on the counsel of others to make good and godly decisions. So can you.

Remember, the seat of authority is the seat of consequences for others...so choose carefully.

Keep on keepin' on!

Cort
cetangeman@kmoraine.com

There is no phase of flight more subject to errors in judgement than the takeoff. Before safe flight can be achieved, these multi-ton aircraft go from being large buses, to subsonic space vehicles in a matter of seconds. Should a critical event occur at takeoff speed, stopping on less than two miles of runway at speeds over 150 mph is difficult at best. Most runways are much shorter than two miles and braking action is often less than ideal depending on runway conditions. In this critical phase of flight, is imperative to know how and what to do before an event occurs...whether it be an engine fire, a tire failure or an engine failure at the point of lift off . For years, in every training scenario, we train for these possible but rare events. We always hope for the best results, but we plan each takeoff with the potential for critical failures BEFORE we begin the takeoff roll. In the case that we discover the aircraft to be unsafe for flight early enough in the takeoff roll, we abort the takeoff. If it is late in the takeoff roll, and the speed is high, it is safer to takeoff and land as soon as possible. In either case, much thought goes into the possible outcome of every transition from earth to sky!



In our lives we all face critical moments. Moments that define us...that reveal to our own hearts what lies within us. Even Jesus was faced with the temptation to respond to His own flesh...even the basic legitimate needs of His flesh in an inappropriate manner...a manner unpleasing to God. In fact God prerequisited Jesus ministry with the temptation in the desert. Satan was allowed to influence Him at a time of great vulnerability. He was lonely, hungry, tired and uncomfortable...all part of God's plan of character development and self revelation. In Jesus case, He walked this path before us an an example of how to abort the enemies tactics. When Peter denied Christ, he was devastated. But Jesus had called Peter, anointed him and encouraged him BEFORE he failed, knowing beforehand that Peter would stumble in his faith. Peter's shame was so great that he no doubt assumed he had failed his Lord beyond repair...but Jesus...(God!)...came to him so that he could stand again after his failure! That's the amazing love and grace of God... that sees us before we fail and lays a plan to help and keep us.





So let's listen to the Master and He will show us how to walk away from the enemy...how to abort those threatening life events...



Keep on keeping on!

Proverbs 3:5 says we are to "Trust in the Lord with all of our heart". Though we have many voices competing for our attention, the Lord knows that only a fixed attentiveness to His influences will give us the strength and peace we need to be healthy in the faith. Even attention to good things can distract us from His best, therefore, we are encouraged to know and respond to His voice above all the others... "In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path".

In the early 1980's I was flying for a small airline in the Pacific Northwest that operated 9 seat twin engine aircraft that we flew single pilot. One night I received a vector from an air traffic controller that headed us for a mountain range. The controller intended to turn us away from this heading after he had achieved spacing with other aircraft, but he forgot about us. I reminded him that we were on a dangerous course, and he immediately turned us to a safe heading.
His voice is one of those human voices we learn to trust. We are taught to trust doctors, firemen, policemen ,teachers, parents, pastors and the like. We are taught to listen to their voice and act on their advice for our health and safety. But because they are human...they fail with regularity.
But the voice of the Spirit of God never fails to guide us with perfect personal and intimate foreknowledge. Think of the amazing privilege to have a voice in our life that always knows what is best for us and can never be in error! A voice that is motivated for our highest good spoken by the One who loves us perfectly. How can we not listen with all our hearts and obey with gratitude the words of His voice? We forget his desire to speak to us and the simplicity with which He offers Himself. We lose His voice in the daily routine... we miss Him because we are human, living in flawed sinful flesh. But He is ever waiting for us to hear and respond to His voice. What a gift of Himself we have received!

Here are some thoughts on keeping on in Him:

Thomas Kelly wrote,"There is a way of ordering our thoughts on more than one level at a time. On the natural level we can be thinking and working, and on the other we can we can be in prayer with a gentle receptiveness to divine breathings."

Listen...

Frank Laubach says, " I never lived until I reached the place where I wholly resolved, and then re-resolved, that I would find God's will, and that I would do it though ever fiber in me said no, and that I would win the battle in my thoughts."

Obey....

Ever hear someone say the Lord told me thus and so and then it fails to come to pass? We begin to think it foolish to confess what we think we have heard from God. But who's the fool...the one who seeks God and misses the mark, or the one who says God does not speak at all? We MUST believe that God really does speak to us! We are to know the voice of the Shepard and scripture says we can.

Have faith in Him...

The air traffic control system, or ATC, is responsible for the safe movement of aircraft on the ground and in the air. Their commands and directives are highly regarded as the consequences of ignoring there directions would surely be disastrous. Psalm 48:14 says " He will be our guide even to the end." What a promise! In the physical world we have people who help us by sight and by radar to protect us from harm...to keep us from going the wrong direction. We trust these imperfect people with our lives, yet God, who has created us and our earthly home, promises to guide us and give direction to our lives. Yet, how often do we access this Divine help?

How come when someone speaks to God we say " They're praying," but when they claim that God speaks to them we say "They're flaky?". Has God suddenly stopped speaking to His children? Would you stop speaking to yours?

Certainly the most obvious guidance is His word. Yet, in addition to His word, John Calvin described God's guidance as "the inner testimony of the Holy Spirit". Saint Ignatius called it "movements of the soul... thoughts, feelings,or desires...given to us by God." We live by sensory information gathered by our five senses...but God uses those and other internal influences that we learn to understand in the same way a newborn learns to use the external five. These may come as conviction of sin, an assurance of God's love, or the call to do a certain thing. But they're a must for the Spirit-guided life.

To hear from God you must be receptive. And sometime desperate! During a rough time in Jacob's life God appeared to him in a dream, saying, " I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go". When he awoke the next morning he said, " Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it". Most of us are here with Jacob...we don't know when He has spoken. These words written here in this text guide your thoughts...they lead your mind to a set of thoughts and conclusions...is God less capable of directing our minds by His own internal "soulish" means?

Samuel learned to hear God speaking to him. So real was the voice in his heart that he got out of bed to ask Eli what he wanted...yet Eli heard no voice! So eventually, Eli recognized God was speaking and confirmed to Samuel he was in fact hearing from God, and his life was forever changed. Will God speak to us, His children, in His own God-like way if we want hear?

Absolutely!

Let's listen up and learn to hear our Heavenly Father!

Keep on!

Several years ago, a United Airlines DC-10 had a catastrophic failure of its center mounted engine high in the tail section, cutting the hydraulic lines resulting in a total loss of hydraulic pressure. The DC-10 is controlled solely by the hydraulic pressure, so this failure doomed the aircraft to a nearly impossible landing. The crew was made up of three experienced pilots and one training pilot deadheading from work, and as these men struggled with their damaged aircraft, they learned how to control it by making small power changes on the remaining engines. They never gave up trying to control their wounded DC-10, and in the end, they maneuvered to a runway in Sioux City where they crash-landed. Had they given up on an apparently hopeless situation, all would have been lost! But instead, they persevered till the end and many were saved.

Jesus asks us in the book of Luke..."Will I find faith on earth when I return?" He knows the answer, so the question is posed for us to consider in our own hearts. He said in Luke 18..." Men ought always to pray and not faint".... that we are NEVER to give up. If hopeless situations, hopeless relationships, hopeless afflictions, addictions and perils are really hopeless, then He would tell us to submit to them and give in...but instead, He says if we are hopeful of His intervention ....nothing is truly hope-less!

When He returns, will He find us engaged in the work of trying to save those He died for? Will many be saved, even though some are lost, because we refused to give up?

One author wrote:
"I once was forced to take shelter from my enemies in a ruined building, where I sat alone for many hours. Desiring to divert my mind from my hopeless condition, I watched an ant that was carrying a grain of corn larger than itself up a high wall. I counted the efforts it made to accomplish this his task. The grain fell sixty-nine times to the ground; but the insect persevered, and the seventieth time it reached the top. The sight gave me courage to go on..."

Like this little creature, we will not fail if we persevere in Him...

Keep on....