Air Prayer

Many have read John Piper’s Desiring God. I’m actually reading another of Piper’s books which is really a flip side to the coin.  It’s entitled, When I Don’t Desire God.  I selected this book because firstly my wife wanted to do a book study with me, and secondly because many times I find I don’t deisre God or doing the things that pleases God.  Don’t get me wrong I try my best to do the things that God finds pleasing, but I don’t always feel a driving desire to do them.

Piper explains that this is something we must fight for.  We must pray fervently to God and plead with Him to instill in us the desire for Him.  Piper makes some seemingly contradictory assertions; he says that we are ordered to “Rejoice in the Lord” yet we cannot rejoice in the Lord because we are by nature sinful people.  That in fact we cannot rejoice in the Lord unless God bestows upon us the gift of rejoicing in the Lord.  And further that we are not less guilty of breaking the commandment to rejoice in the Lord because of this fact, bat all the more guilty because of this fact.  Piper points out that our prayers should take on urgency because of this.  We should be even more grateful because of the gifts God gives us.

We should be thankful to God not just for life, not just for salvation, not just for Christ, but for the very belief that we have, for the joy that we feel, for everything that we have, that we do, that we are is a gift from God.

God has been very good to me indeed. He has blessed me far more than what I deserve. One of His MANY blessings has been the gift of flight. Through flying I have come to appreciate God’s landscapes, His weather, the laws of nature God set forth such as… gravity. I’ve had many suprises crop up in my flying avocation but none have been so surprising as the trend I am beginning to notice among my fellow aviators.

When I first started flying about 15 years ago most of the pilots I met were hard core ex-military types. They were good men, fiercely self-reliant, and had not place for religion in their lives. But now I’m running into more and more Godly aviators. The men I’m beginning to find both on the Internet in various places such as bulletin boards, and at my local field aren’t just the casual run of the mill Christian. Many of them are men who truly immerse themselves in God’s word.

It has truly been heartening to find them.  Where once I was a lone voice in the groups I was in, there are now other voices for Christ.  What’s truly wonderful is that these are young men. On the same Internet groups were I was once derided for having scripture references in my email signature I am not seeing men openly discuss missions and trying to find ways to dedicate their flying to God.  Maybe it’s just God opening my eyes since my true heart change.  Whatever is bringing these men out of the woodwork, I am glad to see them, glad to share the air with them.

Praise God for His wonderful works!

This past Friday I found myself needing to attend a meeting in the morning in Sacramento, Ca and another in the afternoon in Turlock, Ca. The two cities are about an hour and a half apart. Coming back from Sacramento in the afternoon wouldn’t be so bad but driving up their in the morning would involve sitting in traffic. Not one of my favorite passtimes.

Did I save any time? Not really. I could have driven there in about the same time. Did I save any frustration. Yep. Did I have a whole lot more fun? You bet!