When you are young, you dream about things that sometimes stays with you for a lifetime. Some would say that is because no goals are set. To them, they know not what they say. They, as I call them, are the naysayers of social media and i-phones today. To them, I say: Shut up!
My goals that were set as a young boy, a teen, a college student, a young married have all been meet ten times over. I have no complaints. I have only praise.
The difference between then and now is youth vs. old age.
For the bible says in Ecclesiastes 3:1,
"For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born,and a time to die;
a time to plant,and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to rend, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace."
From what I gather from this is that I have had my time to be silent. Now, it is my time to speak. There were times after my divorce that I would say to my mom that she had escaped the 60's worries that moms had then with protesting kids. I was to busy working and going to school to be bothered with that stuff. "But, now--" I said, "I'm not gonna shut up!" We had a good laugh about that many times, but she knew what I meant. We had all weep together at one time and we had mourned. And now it was a time to dance. We would mourn again for my son and then laugh and dance together for the memories each of us had of him while he was with us.
This morning, I read the most inspiring essay that I have read in a long time. It brought back many memories about dreams somewhat fulfilled but never achieved; dreams that were never meant to be fulfilled. As my uncle, The Reverend W.T. (True) Watson,would say, paraphrasing:"God will speak his wishes for your life if you will shut up long enough for HIM to tell you. Just listen to people over talk others today, from CNN reporters to their interviewees and many other media newscasters. Quickly, you see how no one is really listening anymore.
This brings me to the topic about that essay. The essay appeared in the The New York Times Opinion Page. The essay is entitled: In Flight: Enroute from London to Tokyo, a pilot's-eyeview of life in the sky by Mark VanHoenacker, a senior first-officer of a 747 for British Airways.
Mark has published his first book: Skyfaring: A Journey with a Pilot" and you can link to his webpage at: http:www.skyfaring.com
especially if you want to purchase the book direct. I would highly recommend reading the essay from the book that is published in The New York Times. The graphics are fantastic, the essay allows you to visualize on your own much of what he is experiencing as a pilot.
Anyone still young and dreaming of aviation as a career should read this essay and the book! If the good Lord wants you to fly as an aviator, He's telling you to check it out if you shut up and listen long enough (laughing).
 http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/05/14/opinion/14-in-flight-mark-vanhoenacker.html?_r=0 |
