I had a dream when I was a child, of flying. That dream led me in many different directions. One of course, was the children’s book, ‘THE DAY I LEARNED TO FLY’, which was published last year.
But flight is a love affair, and once she bites, it’s sorta like a snapping turtle, she doesn’t let go easily. I flew for the last time 24 years ago. I was flying the teenagers that were in my youth group at church. I made a small salary and just couldn’t afford to rent airplanes any longer. Also, it wasn’t a shared love for my wife at the time. It was a hard decision, but it was a ‘wise’ decision to put the flying down.
I started thinking about going back into the air. Well, actually, I dreamed of it every year, but just couldn’t see my way back to it, due to life reasons. 
I am not sure what stars lined up, but it happened this year. I came back to flying! I did some price shopping and decided on Empire Aviation in Henderson, NC. It is a bit of a haul to get out there, but well worth it. The instructors have real time and life experiences with flying airplanes, and are all very capable, and good pilots.
Years ago, in another life, I was a minister. I have to say, I wasn’t a very good minister. I wasn’t designed for the ‘format’ of that type of ministry. However, God uses all kinds of things, whether you know it or not. One of the many non-ministerial things I did was to take my kids flying. There were two of my teenagers who really loved to fly, William Jones and Kim Miller. I lost track of them for years. Through a series of odd circumstances, we crossed paths again. Kim is flying parametic for Wake Memorial Hospital. Billy (William) is flying as a captain in Sipan as a flying church planter.
I feel as if God knew what He was doing when I found out about this. Here is a 40 year old man, on the other side of the world, working to take care of others, and he is a pilot. Kim is saving lives across the very county I live in. What a privilege to see how these unintended seeds grew.
Introducing flying to others is dear to my heart. If I had the money, I would do it more often.
I had a great privilege again this month of taking a friend’s 12 year old up for his very first flight. He says he wants to be pilot, but he has never been in a plane. He was totally jazzed as I had him do my pre-flight and walk around of the Cherokee, with me. I put his dad in the back, and he was my co-pilot for the flight. I did a full explanation of the controls, radios, etc., and fired up the old engine. 
Our taxi out showed me how excited he was. He wouldn’t shut up! I remember being just like that. But if I thought taxing out was a big deal, when we rotated off the runway into the blue someone plugged him in. He was talking a mile a minute and trying to get me to answer questions. (I like the sterile environment so he had to wait.) We climbed up to 3000 feet and flew over Kerr Lake. I let him take the wheel and make some gentle turns. He was hooked, and I could see the longing look of ‘never getting enough of this’ in his eyes. When we landed, it was clear he wanted more time, of which I didn’t have, but his dad says he can’t stop talking about it.
Flying is just one of those things, and it isn’t like anything else in life. The closest I have come to it is riding my old Goldwing but it misses the mark of being in the air. There is also the part of landing, which I think every pilot will tell you… is the most stressful and the most rewarding challenge.
It is finally breaking free, getting ‘unstuck’ from those bonds that stubbornly hold us back and down.
It is a metaphor for so many things in life. The ability to break free and soar into the clear blue, or to dance around the puffy whites of moisture clinging to our air as it floats by…
It is dreaming with your eyes open.
It is an adventure like no other.
It pushes you to your limits and returns to you gifts unexplained.
It opens wide the world from views on high.
It’s the open unlimited sky right in your face.
The sights from a hawk’s perspective couldn’t be better.
Release the desire of your mind, soul and spirit… take to the air, and find your dreams come true.
Safe Journeys this week and if you get a chance, go get in the air just once.
