Air Prayer

I will start updating this blog again, I swear.  Right now I am finishing up the wings and getting my FAA paperwork ready.  I will begin updating the blog with my Coyote flying adventures very soon.  Stop back by in a couple of months!

My pastor and his wife have been on a long, tiring journey to adopt a child from overseas.  Recently God, in one of His lighter moments, decided to bless my pastor with not one but TWO adoptions.  (It’s a long story)  I wanted to help them in some way but I don’t have much money or talent… but I can fly.  So when my pastor took the decision to hold an auction to raise money, I donated my skill in the way of a one hour site-seeing flight.

A woman bid and won the flight for her parents.  I took her parents on that flight this morning.  We flew over Milton and the Salt Springs Valley and just generally enjoyed the cold, crisp, still morning air.  My favorite part of the flight was when one of my passengers yelled to be heard over the engine noise; “IT’S SO PEACEFUL UP HERE!”  And she meant it!

So, thank you Tanya Cantrell for buying this flight for your parents, and thank you Kiana and Jerry Sommers for being my passengers this morning!

Years ago I remember reading a response posted to rec.aviation.military in answer to a user asking how he could make his military flight simulator more realistic.  He wanted to build a realistic cockpit setup for his “misions.”  This is the response to the best of my memory:

Take two cynderblocks and place them together on the floor in front of your PC and monitor.  Find a piece of plywood and place it behind the cynderblocks and prop it against something sturdy like a wall.  Arrange the cynderblocks and plywood into a seat.  Stretch a thin piece of fabric over the cynderblocks.  This is your ejection seat.

Obtain either a heat lamp or an old doctor’s examining lamp.  Place it next to your ejector seat so that the lamp will be shining directly on your head.  This will simulate the sun.  Angle it toward your eyes for ultra-realism.

Take a backpack and fill it with old cloths, rope, and tools.  Pack it as tightly as possible.  Try to compress it so that it is as flat as possible.  Make sure something sharp is located right between the shoulder straps so that it presses into your back when worn.  Strap it to you as tightly as possible.  This will simulate your parachute.

Make a bologna sandwich and leave it out for a few hours.  Then gently wrap it in plastic and step on it.  Toss it in a small box with a badly bruised apple and a warm box juice drink.  Close the box.  Step on the box.  Place the box under the heat lamp in your “cockpit.”  This will simulate your box lunch for your mission.

For ultra-realism find a real military style helmet with oxygen mask.  Strap it on tightly.  Soak a rag in kerosene and let it dry.  Then place it in the tube connected to your oxygen mask.  This will simulate the on board oxygen system of your aircraft.

Now you are ready.  Turn on your heat lamp.  When the ejection seat feels warm go ahead and have a seat.  Turn on your PC and get your flight simulator software going.  Once your aircraft is loaded on your computer and ready go, sit there for an hour.  Go through the checklist while you are waiting.  After an hour under the heat lamp, begin your mission.  Make sure it takes at least 4 hours.  Do not under any circumstances leave your ejection seat during this time, that’s cheating.  Feel free to enjoy your lunch at any time.

For even more realism, have your wife wake you up in the middle of the night.  Put on your flight suit and helmet and run down to your simulator.  Put on your helmet and parachute while you are running to your “aircraft.”  Get in and fire up the PC.  Go through the checklist and then sit in your cockpit waiting for your launch orders.  After an hour have your wife come back and tell you to “stand down.”  Shut everything down, take off your gear, and go back to bed.  Have your wife do this a couple times per week and even a couple times per night at completely random intervals.

Congratulations!  You now have the most realistic flight simulator possible.

At least, that’s how I remember it.

I haven’t posted much on my aircraft progress.  If you are interested in following my progress, I have been logging everything here:

http://websites.expercraft.com/svanarts/

There are many challenges to raising a special needs child.  For us, it has been especially challenging lately.  Nothing is more challenging than trying to teach your special needs child about God.  My wife and I have always had our doubts about what he is actually absorbing.  This afternoon my wife showed me something that truly encouraged me about the state of my son’s heart.

A small book that simply says “People” on the front of it.  Inside I found this page:

On that page was Scotty’s name and the name of a young lady he apparently thinks very highly of. I’ve removed her name to spare her embarrassment.  If you can’t read the writing in the picture it says, “Me and <name deleted> like to talk about people around the Modesto to believe in God.  Jesus died on the cros.”  Now, despite the grammar and misspellings, can there be any doubt about Scotty’s heart?  He wants to partner with this young lady and spread the gospel.  And who are the people he wants to talk to about God? 

Everyone…

Quite literally, everyone he has ever known.  These are all the people he hopes to see in heaven.  He has even started to develop a means to communicate with them about Christ:

A catechism book!  If you can’t read it the title is, “The Catechism For Young Children and Hige School Boys And Girls and Colleges Boys And Girls With Cartoons”  On his own he has been studying two simple catechism booklets that were handed out by our church a few years ago.  He is going to recreate those booklets and apparently update them for high school and college folks.  With cartoons no less.  Sounds like a winner to me!  As he does this project I’m going to go through the catechism with him and try to help him understand the concepts if he doesn’t already.

As our church moves into a month of expanding awareness of evangelism, I find it budding in my own home.   What some count as weakness may actually be strength beyond comprehension.  Time will tell.

“My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”
2 Corinthians 12:9