Navigating Storms

As a pilot, with over four thousand flight hours logged, I found most flights boring. Just sitting there, waiting for the time to past, wishing I was already at my destination. After take-off and climb-out I’d trim for level flight and occasionally monitor the altitude and compass, mostly watching outside for traffic and that the blue shy was on top. They say….flying is hours and hours of boredom punctuated by shear terror.

I.M.C. (instrument meteorological conditions), thunderstorms, and when things go wrong… that’s what scares the “hell” out of me.

And so it is in life…it’s great when I am not in a storm, and when nothing is going wrong. But when I get in a thunderstorm I have to rely on my training. I have to focus on my instruments. I have to believe my attitude indicator, my altimeter and my air speed indicator. I have to focus, focus, focus. I cannot fly by the seat of my pants, or by the false sense that my inner ear gives me.

And life is exactly the same. I have to rely on my training. I have to focus on Jesus. It’s the only way I get through the storm without crashing. Focus, focus, focus …believe in my instrument….Jesus. I learned that I can’t go with “what it feels like” when I am I.M.C. (in my cloud). For that will turn my airplane upside down. “Spiritual vertigo”!

I need to stop telling God how big my storms are, and start telling my storms how big my God is.

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for giving me good trainers.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for making me realize that I need to focus, focus, focus.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for being my primary instrument.

Amen


by Gene Jeansonne, CFII

12/14/2007