The last several posts (10) were written before my wife and I left for vacation on the 20th. It is Saturday night now, the 18th. I am running out of ideas.
I was an instructor pilot in the U.S. Air Force. Flying is constant error correction, especially without an auto pilot. You are continually adjusting your throttle and trim to maintain altitude, airspeed, and bearing. There are times when things go wrong. One of the purposes of pilot training is to equip pilots to deal effectively with those times. Pilots are trained to think, think ahead of the aircraft, and think fast. Emergency procedures are memorized rote, and frequently tested. However, there are times when all of the training does not solve the immediate challenge. At that point the pilot’s proverb was…
When you are out of airspeed and ideas…wind the clock.
Short explanation, the clocks in the aircraft we flew were mechanical, they had to be wound.
The Christian life should be a lot like this. There should be training to deal with the stuff the world throws at us on a daily basis. But there are times when all of the training we have had does not prepare us for what we are facing. You get a phone call that your son has been in an accident, his life is lost. Your daughter’s child is still born. Your doctor tells you the pathology indicates stage four and you need to get things in order…
When you are the end of your training, experience, expectation, what does one do? There is no real clock to wind. For me – and I offer this with the trepidation that comes from failing to apply it consistently – winding the clock means remembering that my God is sovereign. That He knew what was coming, Psalm 139:3, and knows what is happening. Further, He has or will provide a solution. Winding the clock for me is falling completely and totally on the grace of my Lord.
If you have another idea I would be interested in hearing it…
When you are out of airspeed and ideas…wind the clock.
Short explanation, the clocks in the aircraft we flew were mechanical, they had to be wound.
The Christian life should be a lot like this. There should be training to deal with the stuff the world throws at us on a daily basis. But there are times when all of the training we have had does not prepare us for what we are facing. You get a phone call that your son has been in an accident, his life is lost. Your daughter’s child is still born. Your doctor tells you the pathology indicates stage four and you need to get things in order…
When you are the end of your training, experience, expectation, what does one do? There is no real clock to wind. For me – and I offer this with the trepidation that comes from failing to apply it consistently – winding the clock means remembering that my God is sovereign. That He knew what was coming, Psalm 139:3, and knows what is happening. Further, He has or will provide a solution. Winding the clock for me is falling completely and totally on the grace of my Lord.
If you have another idea I would be interested in hearing it…
THINKING ABOUT A CLOCK IS PRETTY GOOD BECAUSE WE KNOW TIME IS NOT RELATIVE CONCERNING OUR LORD BECAUSE OF HIS ETERNITY ... BUT CONCERNING US OF COURSE VERY RELATIVE ... BUT KNOWING THAT HIS WAYS ARE NOT OUR WAYS ALWAYS MAKES ME SO VERY PLEASE IN KNOWING THAT IT DOES NOT SUPPRISE ME WHEN HE BRINGS A NEW LIGHT TO MY PATH AND A NEW DESIRE TO MY HEART WANT TO KNOW HIM MORE ... THAT MY FRIENDS IS THE POWER OF GOSPEL AS IN THE WORDS OF PAUL... AND HE REWINDS MY CLOCK EVERY TIME I PRAY AND ASK FOR ANYTHING THAT MIGHT BE A HINDERANCE IN MY WALK ... PRAISE AND GLORY TO OUR KING AND LORD ... JESUS THE CHRIST )))
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