Air Prayer

A little progress report on my airplane.  I’ve mostly got the fuselage done.  I need to add oil to the engine, run a few wires for the nav lights and strobes, and then get my cowling squared away and then that’s about all I can do on it.  I estimate about a good day’s worth of work and it will be time to run her out to the airport.  I may go ahead and spray a clear coat on the fabric before I take it to the airport.  That will add a couple of extra days.

Then I start on the wings.  Once they are done, it’s final assembly time.

I’ll post some pictures later.

Yes, I know I don’t update this blog very often any more.  The crush of online things to update has finally started to overtake me.  There’s this blog, there’s my aircraft construction log, there are two online forums dedicated to aircraft construction that I belong to that want updates, there’s my flight logbook, there is EAA Chapter 90 whose website I run, there’s FaceBook, there’s email for church…  and then there is what I do at work.  And then there’s family.  Sqeeze in some airplane building time.  Maybe even some flying time.

It all adds up to a negative allotment of time.  I would actually have to fold time inside out to actually be able to accomplish everything I need to get done in a day.

Just when we think we’ve got live dialed in, God throws a curve ball.  Just to keep us on our toes mind you.  All that sanctification and such.  The latest curve ball is some weirdness at work and some weirdness at home.  I’m using euphemisms because they are things I wouldn’t wish on any one but the point is they are out of the ordinary.  We’ve been blessed by these events in that they have driven us back to God.

One of the events involved simply being the parent of a child with Autism.  Mrs Flying Deacon ran across this article which really nails what it’s like to be the parent of a child with Autism.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did:

http://specialneedslifeboat.com/beirut.aspx

My wife knows and understands me.  She knows my inner struggles.  She knows all my weak points and my shortcomings but like Christ, she loves me unconditionally.  I received the following quote by J. R. Miller from her today:

It would be a great deal safer, in one sense, for believers to be taken at once to heaven as soon as they begin to follow Christ. They would then have no temptations, no enemies to fight, no conflicts and struggles to pass through. But who would then do Christ’s work in the world? There would be none to tell sinners about the Saviour, none to show to men the beauty of Christ in a holy life, none to witness for God and to fight His battles.

There is another reason why Christians are left here. They are not the most majestic trees that grow in the sheltered valleys, where no storms break, but those rather which are found upon the hill-tops and on the mountains, where they must encounter the fierce gales. It is so with men: the noblest are grown amid difficulties and hardships, not in pampered ease. Even Jesus himself was trained in the school of conflict and struggle. It may be the easiest thing to have no battles in life, to grow in some sheltered plain where the storms never blow, to meet no hardships, to have no burdens to carry; but what sort of life comes in the end from such a career? If we would reach the heights of blessedness we must be content to pass through the fields of struggle.

When armies return from victorious war, the loudest cheers are not for those who have fought the fewest battles, nor for the flags which are cleanest, but for the regiments which are cut down to a few men, and for the colours that are shot to pieces. So it will be in heaven when the redeemed are welcomed home: those who have fought the most battles, and bear the most "marks of the Lord Jesus," will receive the highest honors. It is better, then, even for Christians themselves to stay in this world, and to grow to strength through duty and conflict.

Thank you, my love.  You know just what I need, just when I need it.  You are a blessing.

Just when you think you have it made the adversary can sneak up and blindside you.  I’ve been fighting a particular sin issue.  I keep running this speech through my head…

Hold your ground – hold your ground! Sons of Gondor – of Rohan . . . my brothers! I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. The day may come when the courage of Men fails; when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship; but it is not this day – an hour of wolves and shattered shields, when the Age of Man comes crashing down – but it is not this day!!! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good earth – I bid you stand!

I wonder why I’m trying to take heart from a speech by a fictional character in a movie when I have the greatest heroes of all in Scripture who have faced far worse than Aragorn ever did.  The speech I need to keep in my head is…

Have I not commanded you be strong and courageous, do not be terrified, do not be discouraged for the Lord your God will be with you where ever you may go.

This day and every day.  His courage will never fail, and of His reign there will be no end.  He is my help and my salvation, my rock, my shield.