GOD FAVORED ME!

I grew up in the church, because my mother was the church organist and, of course played for the church choir. I grew up knowing all the things to do, all the things to say and was confident in my knowledge of church-ese. Unfortunately, the concept of my eternal destiny was something I had never really considered and although I knew Who Jesus was and what He had done, I did not consciously, faith-filled-ly or otherwise take into consideration what would happen if I died. When I graduated from college, I entered the U.S. Navy and within 18months I was designated a Naval Aviator and began my first tour as a multi-engine instrument advanced flight instructor, followed by a tour as an Anti-Submarine Warfare Aviator flying the Navy's P-3 Orion sub-hunter. My aviation expertise was also put into play when I was selected to be a flight instructor in the P-3 series aircraft and eventually led the Pilot Training Division in the Aircraft Operations Department. As a flight instructor, I relied solely on my own wisdom, abilities and aviation expertise which at times lead to bouts of anger, and extreme stress, since my job entailed putting the student pilot and the aircraft into aeronautical extremes . . . (that's a fancy way of saying I allowed them to try and kill me and crash my airplane).

Even through all those flight extremes and the hazardous environment inherent in military aviation, I still did not acknowledge, nor proclaim Jesus as Lord of my life. One night as I was laying around in my stateroom , on the USS Kitty Hawk (CV63) listening to music, Sandi Patti's song "There is a Saviour" began playing. I had heard that song many times, but as I contemplated the end of a career, my disenchantment with life and the horrible lifestyle I had led up until that time, I clearly heard Patti sing '...are there burdens in your heart, is your past a memory that binds you, is there some pain that you've carried far too long, then open your heart to this good news, there is a Saviour and He's forgiven you..." After all the sermons I've ever heard about the forgiveness of God, this was the first time I truly understood and believed

Then, all of a sudden, I understood and that understanding compelled me to live my life differently. I also understood the grace and mercy of God and how He had, all these years, extended that to me, because there are multiple times I should have been dead. Now for the first time I truly understood what it meant to give your life to Jesus, to allow Him to have control, and to realize that eternal life, now, not when I died was mine.

Now that I have the assurance of eternal life, I no longer fear death and I truly have, as the Bible states '...a peace that surpasses understanding...' As a matter of fact, I have on occasion commented that I am ready to die; and that's because I KNOW that I have a home in heaven, not made by hands.

As a former Naval Aviator, I was placed in multiple situations where my life was on the line. One of the most dramatic occurred during a training flight with some new fairly seasoned, yet still untested students. We were conducting a simulated mission over water and I noticed that the oil pressure on the #1 engine of our twin-engine aircraft was slightly lower than normal. I asked the student to look outside at the engine to see if he could see anything unusual about the engine. He responded negatively, but I noticed the oil temperature continuing to drop. I interrupted the training mission and decided to return to the field. Inbound to the airport, the "Chips" light illuminated (when this light comes on, engine failure is eminent and the engine must be shut down to prevent a catastrophic failure). Since I was flying the aircraft I instructed the student to read off the Emergency Shutdown Checklist; he kept looking outside the airplane. The situation required that I complete the engine shutdown, aircraft approach and landing checklists alone (not SOP). After successfully landing the aircraft with one engine shutdown, turning off the active duty runway and shutting down the operating engine on the taxiway, I exited the aircraft, went around to the port side and noticed engine oil completely covering the outside engine cowling. I jumped up and pulled myself up to look inside the engine. As I released my grip and settled back down to the ground, my knees buckled slightly as the reality that we almost died came flooding into my heart. BUT, I had no fear and could only praise God, because I KNEW that if we had not survived, I WOULD HAVE BEEN IN HEAVEN WITH JESUS THAT SAME DAY!

There are a multitude of events in my life, as a Naval Aviator, that, had it not been for the grace of God, I would not be here today. The wonderful thing about KNOWING GOD, is the confident assurance of your eternal destination...the Bible says "...absent from the body, present with the Lord..." Because I am still here, I KNOW that there is yet something He has for me to do. I owe Him my all and I must not keep that to myself!