Terry Thompson’s Blog

My most memorable night flight was years ago while cruising just south of Greenland.  The darkest dark is over the ocean at midnight.  It seemed so eerie.  The only sound was from the engines, and the only light was from the instruments.  Unexpectedly, the horizon began to illuminate through our left side windows.  Soon, the northern night skies put on the most spectacular light show imaginable.   The aurora borealis!  Flowing ribbons of multicolored light draped the horizon and stretched as high as we could see.  A bored crew with tired eyes became awed spectators of one of nature’s most indescribable displays.  What a welcomed relief from the ubiquitous darkness.

God’s creation displays its most splendid sights by the medium of light.  Think of the rainbows, the sun, the moon, and the stars.  How about lightning?  Light gets our attention and leaves us spellbound.  On the other hand, darkness is boring, constraining, and depressing.  God describes Himself as light and Satan as darkness.  In that comparison, we see God as beautiful, exciting, liberating, and motivating.  Yet so many people choose darkness.  Live in the light!

Remember your first night flight?  You had hardly mastered getting the plane off the ground and down again skillfully, and your instructor had you out doing the same thing in pitch darkness.  Lighted instruments, no horizon, a different depth perception–it was a scary thing.  Okay, it’s still kind of scary.  The pucker factor is inversely proportional to the amount of light on the ground and in the cockpit.  Darkness significantly limits the visual inputs we need to maneuver our machine.  We have to compensate using unnatural data and assumptions.  We must depend on interpretations rather than what is visually obvious to us in the daylight.

God and His Son are described numerous times in the Bible as light.  Darkness is supposed to be unnatural and difficult.  God wants us to live in the light.  The difference between flying in the dark and flying in the light demonstrates the difference in living in the Light and living in the dark.  Choose light!

God created us to live by faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.  This faith is not some elusive, esoteric concept.  It is something we practice every day, especially those of us who are fortunate enough to fly.  Like aeronautics, the deepest mysteries of God will never be understood in this life. However, we see the undeniable evidence of His existence at every turn.  The Bible says that, since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities have been clearly seen so the we are without excuse.  Just as we become better pilots through more practice of instrument flying by faith, we mature as Christians by practicing more faith in the Lord.  Is there something going on in your life right now that you are trusting too much to your own reasoning?  Rely on faith.  Get on the gauges!

Every time we are at the controls of our aircraft, we place our faith in our instruments.  Especially when we enter clouds, losing sight of the environment outside of our plane, we depend on some gadgets to keep us stable and traveling in the right direction. As we added hours to our log book, we became more and more confident in the credibility of a bunch of dials or monitors.  We learned in training that we cannot trust our own bodies to determine aircraft attitude or position. Most of us have confirmed that training by experiencing vertigo–that most misleading feeling known to mankind.  throughout aviation history, hundreds of aviators have perished because they believed their own instincts rather than exercising faith in their aircraft.  How much more important is our faith in God Who has never failed us.

I am often asked to explain how an airplane flies.  People are surprised when I say that I don’t really know.  Oh, I can explain the basics of aeronautical science–lift as a factor of airflow, speed, and angle of attack–but the fact that it works is still a mystery to me.  I am convinced that aeronautical engineers do not really “know” how an airplane flies.  They just know the principles and how to apply them. I don’t know how electricity produces power or how airwaves transport sounds and images. I just have faith that they work because of the evidence resulting from their existence.  My faith in God began with the same reasoning.  Subsequently, that faith developed into a close, personal relationship with Jesus Christ–something that doesn’t come with faith in an airplane.

Perhaps nowhere is faith practiced more than in aviation.  Non-aviators regularly pay money to be hurled through the sky in a machine they know nothing about, trusting in aeronautical principles they don’t understand.  They willingly submit their lives to a cockpit crew they don’t even see.   We aviators, at least knowing something about flying, have even more reason to question the condition of the plane, how it flies, and whether the crew really knows what it is doing.  But do we hesitate to become a passenger?  Do we hesitate to submit out lives to the aircraft and pilot?  No.  We act by faith!

I am both saddened and perplexed when people have trouble accepting Jesus Christ by simple faith.  They say they just can’t trust something or someone whose existence they cannot prove.  Yet, everyone exercises faith every day in common ways and subjects their lives to someone they do no know or something they do not understand. Almost every aspect of our lives requires faith.  If we were seriously ill or injured, most of us would readily accept a doctor’s drug prescription or recommendation for surgery.  Yet, we cannot prove what is in the pill or whether the surgeon is capable of cutting on us successfully. We simply have faith in the doctor and the pharmacist.  We assume by testimony or evidence that something or someone is valid.  What greater testimony do we need than that of believers who have a relationship with the Lord?  What greater evidence do we need than what the Creator is doing all around us?

Just as one single error in one instrument can be deadly in IMC, one error in thinking can be disastrous in life.  Millions of people work hard all their lives to be “good” and worthy of anticipated eternal reward.  They go to great lengths to ensure that their good deeds more than compensate for their bad deeds.  They go to church, volunteer for benevolent efforts, are kind to others, and genuinely believe they are covering all the bases.  They may even sincerely believe in God and call on Him in times of need.  However, they err in one critical factor. They have never made a personal heart connection with Him through Jesus Christ.  Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)  Yet, many have not asked for and received the forgiveness that only Jesus can provide and have not begun a personal relationship that promises the destination of eternal life with Him.  Do you fit this description?  Are all the critical factors of your spiritual life correct?  If so, do you need to talk to someone dear to you about their course in life?

Dead reckoning navigation began with the first seagoing voyages beyond the sight of land.  Celestial observation and DR developed simultaneously with DR being the primary means of navigation under overcast skies.  It was also a confirmation of sun and star measurings.  All that is required, then and now, is a compass, a speed measuring device, and a time piece.  Unfortunately, an error in any one of the instruments or calculations will likely result in failure to arrive at the planned destination. 

We may have every reason to believe that our direction in a certain area of our lives is logical and good only to find out later that we missed one planning factor.  Every thing we do in life should pass the test of the leading of the Holy Spirit, biblical instruction, prayer, and the advice of other believers.  Missing one of these crosschecks is like missing a dead reckoning element–it causes us to miss our planned destination.

In our modern world of flying, we seldom think of dead reckoning (DR), the method of using course, speed, time, and distance to reach our destination.  Why trouble ourselves with that when our on-board equipment gives us exact course tracking with constant updates on present and future position.  Actually, though, we are using DR all the time as all the latest avionics incorporate its elements in their system algorithms.  We should never lose sight of the basics and how to use them.

Regardless of the modern systems that run our lives, such as instant messaging, GPS, and the internet, in life’s greatest challenges, we have to go back to the basics.  Everything in life ultimately incorporates the basics such as relationships, trust in God, and a strong moral fiber.  Just as we should not become too dependent on our latest systems in the cockpit, we should not live our lives completely confident in our latest conveniences.  Acknowledge the basics that still matter and make sure they are what really counts in your life.