Off and Running
It is almost impossible to walk across the grass runway without stepping in moose poop. They’ve been everywhere on the property, leaving their scat around houses, hangars, and airplanes. Moose are clearly king around here, roaming wherever they please from October to April. Now we are waiting for the cows to have their calves—we all enjoy watching the young ones trot behind mama on their gangly legs! Spring is late and snow on the mountains is slowly melting; we still have 30s at night and 40s during the day. We are holding off on planting flowers for another week, hoping it will warm up!
We have had the busiest May anyone can remember. Our flight students are here—this year we have 16 of them in Alaska, working on a variety of ratings, and three in Pennsylvania working on their Private Pilot certifications. We also are blessed with several hard-working volunteer families who cheerfully help with jobs small and large: from washing the ever-dusty vehicles to clearing fallen trees and chopping them into firewood. Guests have regularly been stopping by and supporters have flown across the country to visit.
The roar of airplanes taking off overhead is steady in the background, especially after breakfast as our students embark on the day’s training. Our primary students (those working on the Private Pilot certificate) do most of their training in Palmer at the Palmer Municipal Airport. Advanced students are checked out individually for permission to land at King Ranch, which has a short and soft grass runway on the edge of a mountain. It can be challenging even for experienced pilots, especially if it’s windy, which it often is.
Last night we presented a scholarship check for $10,000 to Nathan Jaffrey. He is a pilot and an aircraft mechanic who has volunteered at Kingdom Air Corps for several summers. He was notified of the scholarship a few months ago at a LeTourneau University event, and he has now received the check to put toward his college loans. Kingdom Air Corps makes every effort to encourage and to help pilots and aircraft mechanics keep their educational debt to a minimum so they can enter the mission field soon after graduation rather than working for years—or even decades—to pay off their loans. Most mission organizations require a pilot to be debt free before they can begin work as a missionary. It is an unfortunate fact that missionary pilots with a lot of debt seldom make it to the mission field. Their need to pay off their debt usually brings careers, growing families, and home ownership over the years that obligates them financially most of their adult lives.
It's often difficult to keep the first things first when life gets complicated. Each of us is responsible to do what God has called us to do. There are distractions, urgent affairs, crises, and emergencies that vie for our attention. Of course, we can’t ignore the urgent or the emergencies. But it’s easy to get distracted and never get back to the work God has for us. For me, it’s Dwayne. God has called me to help him. Now there are dozens of other responsibilities, people, and projects that need attention, too, so I have to be intentional to put Dwayne first. It’s an ongoing challenge as busy as he is!
These verses from Ephesians, chapter 1, are encouraging and I pray them for you and for me:
For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.