the coffee is not working...

worship

I've been freelancing for just about a month now and it has been a blessed experience. I've cherished this time as it has just been me and my creative director. It has been intense at times with just the two of us keeping the ball rollin, but amazing still, because I feel like i'm worshiping God through it. I'm so grateful that God has humbled me, and so thankful on so many different levels.

my brother has returned from the wild safely, i'm sure am glad and i sure do miss him. my mum is relieved for sure.

dear all, i am leafing to starve now :D

Worship

I’ve been meeting up with my mentor pretty much every day for an hour+ or straight worship and reading of God's word and I’m being filled up so much. I'm really embracing my identity as a worshipper and have found where I belong. God's been teaching me to put my trust in Him and to live out my inheritance as a son of God. Today I said for the first time I might not want to be a pilot. To my worldly self, I think piloting would be the sweetest thing ever, but God might have different plans for me. And I know that His plans will be far more fulfilling and adventurous than flying even the most advanced fighter. Our prayer group at USAFA just got canceled due to some new policy about tailoring to the cadet wing’s needs. A fellow intercessor prayed tonight, “The devil doesn’t want us to knock because he knows if we knock, God will give it to us. The devil is keeping our hand from knocking, but God has overcome the world so we can knock and receive.” The cadet wing needs prayer and I am fully confident God will turn this minor bump into a display of His magnificent glory.

Solo

So I've been trying my hardest and doing really well in the soaring program, partly because I didn't know if I could ever fly again after this. Turns out a lot of the instructors liked me so they made sure I got my flights in everyday and basically pulled strings for me. Four days ago, I flew only once and flew particularly bad - so much so that it prevented me from soloing until I had completed two more proficient flights. I was really depressed that night; I had only flown once, when I usually flew twice or three times, and I had flown horribly. But then I remembered my devotion from that morning, saying how we were Sons of God and have an inheritance in Him. I had forgotten where my worth came from. And not only that, I had falsely credited my success to my own skills and hard work. Rather, God was enabling me to fly well and find the favor of the instructors. When I realized that, my perspective on the whole program changed.

I woke up Tuesday morning, ready to get those two flights over with, pre-solo, and then solo. But right before I went out the door, I reminded myself my satisfaction shouldn’t come from whether or not I soloed that day, but that God has allowed me to be at the airfield one more day. I flew my two flights wonderfully that afternoon and was getting ready to go through my pre-solo brief when the winds became too strong and they stopped letting students solo. It was ok, though, cause I knew whatever happened was God’s plan.

The next day I was getting ready to go through the brief again when they reviewed my records and noticed I was not cleared to solo. We waited three hours for a phone call from the flight clinic to see if it was just a paperwork error, but the call never came. We ended up going down to the cadet clinic to see for ourselves. Turns out, my failures on the depth perception tests had finally caught up to me. I asked the sergeant if I could retest and she responded, “Why? Is anything different? Do you have new glasses or something? Cause if you didn’t pass it before, you won’t pass it now.”

I replied, “Well, I know people who have tested a second or third time and ended up passing it.”

She shrugged her shoulders and directed me to optometry. Once I was there, I explained to another sergeant my situation and was led to yet another sergeant sitting next to the testing machine. He promptly pulled up my records on the computer and remarked, “Well, feel free to try, but I don’t know if anything’ll change.”

I grunted and looked into the machine.

At this point I knew the dots I picked would be ones that God had already predestined for me to choose, so it was a no-stress situation. If God wanted me to pass, I’d pass. If not, I wouldn’t. I got the first two sets of three correct and then moved on to the third set. This set was hard. So I started praying for God to help me see which ones were different than the others. I continued until I had finished the fourth set and the sergeant said, “Alright…um, you can go into the lobby and I’ll come out and get you.”

“Can I know how I did?” I inquired.

“Yea. You passed all of them,” he responded with a somewhat bewildered look. “I’m going to go tell the doctor and then I’ll find you.”

He came out a few minutes later, saying, “You’re all cleared. Good luck!”

I was excited; I’ve heard for 19 years that I could never see depth perception, but I passed the test and being a pilot was a possibility again.

Back at the airfield, I found out I needed a flight surgeon to clear me and not just the optometrist, which meant I couldn’t solo that day. Still, I was content because I had passed, and I knew God was control of what was going on. I left the airfield early that day to get crew rest, which is mandatory rest/sleep.

The next morning, I went to the flight surgeon, got cleared to solo, and proceeded to the airfield. That day was the third day I was trying to solo. i waited for three hours, feeling like a pilot on alert status – ready to fly but never flying. Finally, they cleared me to solo and I got my pre-solo briefing. I ran to the gliders and hopped into number 10. My pre-solo went without a hitch so the instructor cleared me for the solo. We pushed 10 onto runway and I hopped in. I’m strapped in and halfway through my before take-off checklist when the control tower announced a stop to all launches. Turns out, the space program was going through their exercise day that morning, which included firing rockets from the stadium, directly under where we fly. I sat in 10 for about 15 minutes until another instructor and student decided to use my glider. After20 minutes the tower announced we could solo again so I grabbed the next glider available. I climbed into 34 and strapped in for the second time. My IP told me, “Woody, get on that radio as soon as you can and take off before they change their minds.”

I made my call, “Skytrain, Flash 3-4, request area tow.”

“Flash 3-4, wah wah wah, winds 3-3-0 at 6, runway 3-4 left, cleared for takeoff.”

“Cleared for takeoff, runway 3-4 left, Flash 3-4,” I confirmed. I raised my thumb, giving the wing runner the signal I was ready. He lifted my wing, I wagged my rudder pedals, the tow plane wagged his, and we took off.

I had a rough takeoff – probably made some tire marks – but soon put that behind me when I flew and turned over the academy. I looked down, 2,000 feet above the terrazzo, and gazed at the beauty of where I was.

My landing was better, and two instructors immediately drove up in a go-cart and shook my hand in congratulations.

There was no debrief by my instructor, only good jobs and a newly pinned wing on my nametag. The tower also announced a runway change, meaning if I had waited 10 minutes longer, my solo would have been cancelled again. I headed back inside and ran into my old element leader, who picked me up with another instructor, and as with tradition, dunked me into the tank of water.

The past two weeks were filled with growth as a cadet and as a son of God. I’ve learned every skill I have is God-given. Moreover, I’ve begun to find my success in just knowing I am loved by God rather than anything I can do. From the depth perception test, I know for sure that God is present even in what I fear most and can turn my weakness into a display of His power. I know God is looking out for me and loves to spend time with me in the sky.

"He stretches out the heavens like a canopy,
and spreads them out like a tent to live in." Isaiah 40:22

(when I shut the canopy, I look up to the sky above me and say this verse)

More pictures here

Soaring

I've been learning how to fly gilders for the past week and so far I'm pretty far ahead of the power curve. The instructor pilots (IPs) really like me cause I work hard so they pull some strings for me. As a result, I'm always one of the first to go up, I fly multiple times, and they pretty much all look after my progress! So I'm having a great time at the airfield. I'm now going through all the checklists, making all the radio calls, taking off, and landing without any help from the IPs. I'm flying well enough that I should be able to fly by myself on Tuesday. :D

This'll be me!!!