Before I start, I thought I would give a nod to the blog entitled Flying Into Action by Todd Strickland. He’s got a great blog based on his viewpoints as a manager of a very popular cellular phone store and as a ministry leader at my home church. Now, based on the title of this particular entry, you would think that I would be trying to infringe upon any copyright laws and steal his thunder, but I’m honestly not. Instead, I just thought I would recognize his great blog and consider it as recommended reading. Thanks, Todd, for your insights and reflections from your site. God bless you.
One of the things that I find most enjoyable during my free time is anything in regards to aviation. The love of flying for me started when I was young and my father worked for Dobbs Food Service at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport back in the late 70s-early 80s. Every now and then, I had the opportunity to meet up with my dad at his workplace and be able to view all the different airliners take off and land at one of the world’s busiest airports that used to be an old dirt track in southwest Atlanta. Though he didn’t stay for long in that environment, I was immediately hooked on the idea on “earning my wings”.
From that point on, I did just about anything that I could do in regards with airplanes. I had a shortwave radio that picked up transmissions from Air Traffic Control that I listened to for hours on end. I spent some of my summer days sitting out in the front yard looking for airplanes with my binoculars. I read and studied different aviation books that I checked out at the local library (and still do to this day). If anything was a hollow metal tube with wings on it, I was all over it.
Fast forward now to the early 1990s where I went with my parents to pick up a brand new Windows-based computer at a local computer store (either Computer City or CompUSA–I’m not really sure which one). The store had a display for a computer program that went beyond my wildest dreams: Microsoft Flight Simulator. Though I was unable to purchase the program at the time, I had the opportunity to fly a Cessna 172 for a few minutes around the virtual skies of San Francisco. It was an absolute blast and one that I wouldn’t soon forget.
Soon after Shawna and I got married, we purchased our own computer and the ‘98 version of Microsoft Flight Simulator. I was finally able to fly on my own on all the different aircraft that the simulator provided. The love of flying continued to grow later on as I had the opportunity to finally sit in the right seat of a cockpit of a Cessna 140, flying around northeast Georgia as a sightseeing passenger and learning a few basics on piloting small aircraft. In addition, I was part of a three-man crew that flew a Cessna 172 from Athens (GA) to St. Augustine (FL) and back.
I love to fly–whether it is in the virtual skies of Microsoft’s Flight Simulator or in the real skies flying actual Cessnas. While it has been a number of years now since I last went up in an actual plane, I’ve been desktop flying for almost ten years now as I have remained dedicated to the Flight Simulator franchise (I’ve purchased FS98, FS2000 Pro, FS2002 Pro, FS2004: A Century of Flight and FSX Deluxe). I’ve also purchased other flight simulators along the way including the most recent purchase–X-Plane 9 by Laminar Research.
Today, the realities of the economy have resulted in the job losses of many different corporations. This past week, Microsoft announced the layoffs of 5000 jobs in their company–including all developers of the Flight Simulator program. This has left a lot of doubt into the future of the Flight Simulator franchise. For me, it is somewhat of a concern, but I thank God that He remains in control of the situation. See, I don’t necessarily just consider flight simulating as a source of entertainment but, more importantly, as a tool to help me in my studies of aviation with future aspirations of obtaining my own pilot’s license and, with God’s grace and provision, as a tool to prepare me for ministry in the aviation field.
In closing, let me share with you a vision that I had a few months back as our church was discussing a recent mission trip to Nicaragua:
As we prayed for the nation of Nicaragua, I had a vision of a plane filled with supplies for different nations to take to distant lands–like Mexico or Nicaragua–possibly to deliver during the times when the different mission trips were held from our church. I feel that God could use me as an important tool for our church in delivering these essentials whether it would be food or supplies in a plane rather than having to make stops in Texas (by car) for these items. May God open these doors!
It is a dream and a vision that I’ve had for a while that has yet to dissipate for any reason–and it is my prayer that God would grant this dream in my life and for Him to open the doors to allow this to happen.
