Don’t Sink

Belief

Recently a friend of mine who is also a Pilot told me about a mistake he made while flying his plane. He told me that he had taken off from an airport and had been given a northerly heading to fly. He did just as instructed, but the air traffic controller advised him that he had made a big mistake. He said my friend had turned the wrong way to get to the assigned heading which caused him to fly directly through restricted airspace. Whether my friend did or did not turn the way he was told is irrelevant to the fact that it would now be a big mess for him. This incident would cause lots of meetings, investigations and a ton of stress for him.

We chatted on the phone for a little while and I told my friend all about the mistakes I have made. How I have been down that same road and I understand how big a burden it is to go through the process. I told him the only way I kept my head up was by keeping my eyes on Jesus.

Keeping my eyes on Jesus means that I do not worry about the details. I know that my heart is for God and He loves me. He knows how everything will turn out and it is always for my best interest. The good the bad and the ugly all work together for good to those that Love the Lord. I simply have to trust Him. My mistakes in life are so much more meaningful than my successes. Successes come and go and many times are forgotten. I very rarely forget my mistakes though. Mistakes are the things that have shaped me, drawn me closer in my faith to God, and caused me to change my future behavior.

During the storms of life we find out who we truly are and what we really believe in. Storm are turbulent and millions of things are moving in every direction. A person cannot focus at all by looking at all of the circumstances. In those times I have always made it out of the storm better and stronger by remaining fixed on Jesus.

Scripture

Matt 14:28-31

²⁸ “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

²⁹ “Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. ³⁰ But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

³¹ Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”\

Application for Life

God gave us a wonderful illustration of this in the Bible. Peter was in the midst of a storm when he saw Jesus walking on the water. He called to Jesus and asked to come to Him. Jesus said “Come”. Initially Peter kept his eyes on Jesus in spite of all that was going on around him and he was able to walk above it all. However, the moment he took his eyes off of Jesus, he began to sink. Thank God that so many times when we start to sink, Jesus is still faithful to deliver us. I pray that both my friends and I keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.

 

I AM THE HULK

My Belief

While I was on vacation I had the chance to watch the new Marvel Comic movie, The Avengers, in 3D! This was a fun movie that took me back to the time of my youth. Just like when I was a kid I found myself in a fun bantering argument, with my friends, about who the STAR of the show was. While there were many differing opinions, it was clear that everyone enjoyed the performance of THE HULK.

THE HULK is an interesting character and in a way I can relate to the HULK. He is really a normal intelligent guy named Bruce Banner. Unfortunately, Banner has been exposed to an enormous amount of gamma radiation that has altered his DNA and causes him to have a destructive reaction. If Bruce gets angry or hurt, he transforms into a horrible monster called THE HULK that destroys everything in its path! As a result Banner isolates himself as much as possible. He is always trying to remain calm and shy away from situation that may cause him to lose control of the monster inside.

This is me! I am a normal nice guy, but my DNA has been horrible altered by SIN! I am capable of becoming a horrible destructive monster that gives into my own selfish, passionate desires. Just like Banner, I am devastated every time I lose control. I hate the thought of hurting myself and the people around me. As a result I attempt to slink away from the situations where I am vulnerable. I am careful  to stay away from opportunities for my monster to get our and begin lying, stealing, lusting, or raging into anger. This old sinful monster inside of me will never go away, but with God’s help I can keep him from getting out. God knows I am stuck with the evil inside of me and that is why He sent Jesus. Jesus paid for the damage that my monster has caused and He has left me with the Holy Spirit to help me keep my own personal Hulk at bay.

Scripture

Galatians 5

¹⁶ So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷ For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever^[c] you want. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

¹⁹ The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰ idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹ and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Application

I am very aware of the sin that I am susceptible of falling into. I put up guards to keep me from the traps that I would fall into. Sin is easy, sin is fun… until you do it. After the sin has been committed then I realize what a horrible thing I have done. I realize how much THE HULK has destroyed. I pray each day that God will help me stay out of sin and I am thankful that even when I do mess up, God picks me up, dusts me off, and lets me start over again after I repent. 

There’s Work to DO!

My belief

I had a pretty amazing trip this last week. I always pray that God will use me in some way, and it often amazes me when he does. I usually have most of my focus on trying to find ways to share my faith in Jesus with members of my crew each trip, but this time God snuck up behind me with a job to do.

I felt that this trip was going to be a bit of a loss for talking about my faith. I had a couple different First Officers and a particularly nasty flight attendant. The 1st First Officer I flew with was a new guy that was not interested in matters of faith. He humored my attempts at discussion a bit, but the conversations all dead ended quickly. My 2nd First Officer was a very good looking young guy who was more interested in himself, partying and girls than anything else. My Flight Attendant was for lack of a better term a DIVA. I had no chance to talk about anything with her much less faith. So, I sort of felt like this trip was just going to be one of those where I do my job and go home. Boy was I wrong!

We were flying a flight from Florida to New York on one day of this trip and we took an extended delay. NYC was a mess as usual and they scheduled us a departure time several hours after our original time.  This flight was our first flight of the day and my Flight attendant was a lesbian who had brought her wife with her. I did not think much of it because homosexuality is common in the airline industry.  My crew and I were relaxing on the plane without any passengers during the delay. I was sitting on the flight deck updating some of my manuals when I realized my FA’s wife was onboard and had wondered up to the flight deck. She was amazed by all the lights and buttons on the flight deck of a Jetliner and I invited her up to take a look. We had a pleasant conversation about airplanes and then she asked me what I was doing for Mothers Day. I told her some of the plans I had made with my family and then I asked her the same question in return. She told me that she was spending all of Mothers Day at CHURCH. I was instantly surprised!!! I told her that was cool and very interesting. She could see my surprise and said, “it is because I am gay right.” I told her that I was a little surprised since most of the gay people I know do not attend church or go to an unusual version of the Christian faith. At that point she just started opening up and pouring out her life to me. She explained how she knew her homosexuality was wrong and God does not approve and how she is in a constant struggle between the two.

WOW!!! God had a job for me to do and He snuck it right up behind me. I told her that God loves her. That God hates her sin, but loves her. I told her that the struggle she has is the Holy Spirit working in her life to free her from her sin. To draw her close to Jesus and help her to let go of her destructive nature. I shared with her some of my own sin that God has helped me to overcome and told her that I would pray for her. We had a long and wonderful conversation and I did not get a single one of my manuals updated. At the end of our chat I could see something in her eyes. The start of her conviction to turn to the Lord. She had an appreciation for our time together and I think she had a bit more clarity of where she was and why she had such a struggle in her heart. I have had the chance to share Christ with a few gay people in the past and there has always been a hardness that was impossible to penetrate. This is the first time I had ever seen the Holy Spirit actively pulling someone away from the grip of homosexuality! WOW!!! what a mighty God we serve.

Scripture

Eph 2:10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

John 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

9 Of sin, because they believe not on me;

Application for Life

This was a pleasant reminder for me that God has work for me to do all of the time. Even when I don’t think there is something to do, I must remember that God is in control. He has tasks lined up well in advance that I have no idea about. I feel very blessed that I was given the privilege to share my faith in Jesus with this woman and very encouraged that God has overcome sin! He can break the grip of sin in anyone’s life who will seek His face. Thank you Jesus for the job you have given me to do.

Best Sermon Ever!!!

My Belief

I just heard the best sermon of my life and I did not even know I was hearing it when I was hearing it! It was sort of like when you watch an artist design something, draw something, sculpt something, whatever… You watch very intently as they do it trying to figure out how the finished product will look, but you can never quite see it until they step back and go “Vuala”! The message today by pastor Solomon directly addressed one of my deepest darkest fears/sins/concerns. It is the fear that somehow my own sin will mess up my life.

I believe in Jesus and I know I am part of God’s family, but I always feel like the “black sheep” of the family. I always tell my wife that if the rapture comes in my life time and we are all standing around on a cloud with Jesus, I think I would position myself at the back of the crowd and sort of shuffle my feet, raise my hand, and say “yes” Lord it’s me. I believe I am covered in the blood of Jesus and I have grace, but I also realize the evil in my heart and the sinful nature that exists inside of me. That is why I call myself “Captain Dirty” on this blog.

In this sermon Lon gave a powerful example of how God operates. He has a plan and He is faithful to us, even when we are not faithful to Him. The message centered around Abraham and his journey to Egypt to buy food during the great famine of his time. Lon explained how Abraham did not trust God to protect him and lied about his wife. He said she was his sister and allowed her to be taken by Pharaoh. Even in this act of unbelief, the one true God of Israel protected and blessed Abraham regardless of his disobedience. Abraham did it all wrong and still left Egypt extremely rich and blessed. God had a sovereign plan for Abraham and He has a sovereign plan for each of his followers. Even as bad a sinners as we are, we are not BIG enough to mess up God’s plans.  We can not forfeit our salvation and we can not void the plans that God has for us. This gives me a powerful reassurance to walk boldly in my life knowing that God has laid the way! 

Scripture

Gen 12:12-13

¹² When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live. ¹³ Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.”

http://mcleanbible.org/media_player.asp?type=large&messageID=122375 (Lon’s Sermon)

Application for Life

I do not have fear of death because I know Jesus is just on the other side, but I also do not have fear in life. No matter what happens to me or how bad I sin I know that God will forgive me and have HIS WILL for my life. I don’t need to worry about jobs, safety, finances, health, or my future. I need only to do “MY BEST” to keep my eyes on Jesus because God has already work out all the details that lay ahead.

 

In the END, we are OK!

My Belief

My family had a bit of a brush with death this week. As you all know, I am an airline pilot and from time to time my wife does this wonderful thing where she drops me off at the airport so I don’t have to take public transportation. She did this very thing for me this week. After I had gone through security and was waiting for my plane to arrive she gave me a phone call and told me that she had just had a horrifying experience. As she was driving down the road away from the airport a massive deer charged toward her car on a direct collision course to smash through the passengers side window. My wife was terrified! She said there was nothing she could have done. There was no time to speed up, slow down, or swerve. Miraculously, the deer stopped only inches from hitting the car. My wife told me in our conversation that God was really watching out for her that night and we both prayed to thank God for His mercy to our family.

In light of this, I think of several other things I have heard about this week. The mega million lottery took place with the winners sharing an estimated half a billion dollars.  While this seems like an awesome positive thing to happen to a person, I find it amazing that the Word of God says it is not. I have read countless stories by simply “googling” lottery winners who say the money has wrecked their lives. In many cases the winners go broke, are killed, commit suicide, or are cheated by all their family and friends.

During Easter services my pastor talked about famous people who have reached the height of earthly success only to end in tragedy. Hollywood is full of these stories. Elvis, Lindsey Lohan, Michael Jackson, and on and on and on… Madonna has been quoted as saying, “Being rich and famous is NOT all it is cracked up to be”.

My point in all of this, is that in this world it is easy to get on the treadmill of success. The thought that if I could only get this, do this, be that, or have it all, then I WOULD BE HAPPY. This is the mindset in our world today and the evidence is quiet to the contrary. If you had it all how much of it would you trade or give up on your last day to continue living? There is nothing in this world that will bring people peace, joy and happiness. The only thing that has been proven to do that is a relationship with Jesus Christ. No one knows when a deer is going to come smashing through the window of our cars, but if we embrace Jesus we will be ready when it does.

Scripture

Matthew 16:26

²⁶ What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?

Matthew 6:25-27

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^[a]?

Application for Life

I struggle with this same dilemma in my own life at times. Being a pilot is a very competitive business and we are all trying to become the Captain on the biggest jet at the best airline. Well regardless of what jet you are on, or what airline you work for, we all fly in and out of the same airports, stay in the same hotels in the same cities, and ride the same employee shuttle busses. The guys with the best jobs in the best jets, at the best airlines are no more happy than anyone else. All the stuff they have does not satisfy their lives. Only Jesus brings that contentment and joy that I need and have in my own life.

Annoying People

My Belief

There are a few people in my life that really annoy me! For example: I find it annoying that some of the people at my church act like they are performing INSTEAD of leading worship. I find it annoying that some people in my life seem like they are playing church INSTEAD of having a heart for people and I find it annoying how many people in my job are just nasty and bitter about everything. In my mind I am GLAD I am not like those people!

Obviously this attitude is not inline with the mind and heart of God and He has convicted me about these thoughts. He is helping me to bring my thinking in line with His will. I had a thought a few weeks ago while I was at church one Sunday. I was  watching the person on stage put on a SHOW and leave the audience sitting quiet while continuing to loudly wale on. I thought to myself, no matter what they are doing, Jesus loves that person the same as he loves me. It is just wrong for me to think badly about that person because they are a sinner the same as me. I am a sinner and Jesus loves me. Instead I need to pray for them and pray for myself. Jesus came to serve people who eventually stuck him on a tree. I think I can change my thinking to serve people instead of letting them annoy me.

Scripture

1 John 2:2² He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

Application for life

People are all that matter to God. All of creation is set up for his glory and in the Bible He says we are the apex of that creation because we are created in His image. I'm praying the Lord helps me see people the way He sees them. He sees past my flaws and has covered me in the BLOOD of JESUS and so I will try to see past everyone else's.

Struggle

My Belief

I find it amazing and encouraging that so many powerful men of God in the Bible could screw up so bad! For example: David was the "man after Gods own heart", Noah spoke directly with God and watched the entire world perish, and Moses was given a direct command by God to lead Israel. Each of these men had an important connection with the creator and each of them failed in a big way. David had sex with a married woman and indirectly killed her husband on purpose, Noah and his family were the only ones left on earth and he got drunk and performed some sort of debauchery in his tent after the flood, and Moses willfully disobeyed a direct order from God after being delivered out of Egypt.

Even the best men alive STRUGGLES with a raging sin to rebel against God. This evil Sin lives in every Christian or non Christian alive and it is definitely alive and well inside of me. The difference between believers and non believers is  Struggle against this sin. This struggle is a wonderful reminder to me! This is proof of the Holy Spirit in a life engaging a conscious and pushing a person against their natural desire to turn from God. Paul described it best all through out Romans when he said he does what he does not want to do and his sinful flesh rebels against God. His heart desires to obey God but he finds himself battling to stop himself from doing wrong. This gives me great hope because I know God is working in my life. I fight sin every day and my heart breaks when I fail. I am happy to know that I am in good company though when I do fail. Better men and women of God than me faced the same sin. It also saddens me to know some of my friends who profess Jesus have no trouble sinning at all. They are the first to delight in jumping into drunkenness or a bed with just about anyone and does not appear to bother them at all. They are proud of their sin. There is no struggle because there is no Holy Spirit, and without the Holy Spirit there is no salvation.

Scripture

Romans 7:15

¹⁵ I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.

Application for Life

Just like Paul I continue to evaluate my walk with the Lord and war against my own sinful flesh. Just like David I continue to study Gods word so I may not sin against Him. Thank you Jesus that you have given me the helper to convict me of my sin that I may continue to be refined. I pray to overcome my flesh and look forward to the day that I will trade my sinful body for a sinless one!