Angels, Altimeters, and Airspeed

I have a friend who has his pilot's license and a plane. One of my favorite things to do is go flying with him. We flew today, but it was different than before. For the first time, we were an Angel Flight. (Angel Flight Central's mission is to "Serve people in need by arranging charitable flights for health care or other humanitarian purposes.") We supplied the 2nd leg of a 3 leg series of flights to take a woman to the Mayo Clinic. What a cool experience, and I hope there are more opportunities in the future. Below are a few miscellaneous observations from our trip today (not all related to being an Angel Flight and not necessarily all spiritual).

• It is more blessed to give than receive. Doesn't giving feel good? Try it! God has blessed us with so much. How could we not seek to be a blessing to others. Thankful for my pilot friend's good example of this.
• Perspective matters -
  
  • We spent some time today cruising above the clouds at 8,000+ feet. The ride was smooth, the sky was blue, the sun was bright, the clouds were white and puffy below, the ground invisible.
    
  • We spent some time under the clouds. The ride was bumpy, the sky and sun were invisible, the clouds (and the day) were gray.
    
  • We also spent some time in the clouds where all was white.
    
  • And there were various combinations of these.
  • Same clouds. Very different perspectives of the very same reality. I hope I remember that when facing trials. 
• God's power is unmatched. Now He has given man a planet full of resources and the abilities to cultivate those resources. Man has created machines that fly! But the greatest technological achievements of mankind bow before the power of the Creator. At times today we had a cruising speed of around 90 knots and at other times 170 knots. The difference? Sometimes we had a headwind and at other times we had a tailwind. Same plane. Very different results depending on the direction of travel. And God can send weather that won't let us fly at all. Men are amazing creators that reflect His creativity, but He is THE Creator.
• Little things matter - I'll not try to fully explain these here. Feel free to do some reading on your own if you're an aviation junky or just relentlessly curious. But the smallest things can have a huge impact on whether your plane stays in the air or not. There's all sorts of lessons to learn here from being careful on your homework to indulging just a little sin in your heart to whether you put a T or t of salt in a recipe. 
  • Pitot Tubes - (pronounced Pee-toh) - if this little guy gets iced over it can affect the accuracy of the instruments that show airspeed, altitude, and rate of climb/descent. When you're in the middle of the clouds and you're totally dependent on your instruments, you really need that Pitot tube to function correctly. But on a cold day in the clouds is when it's most likely to get iced over. That's why there's a Pitot tube heater. Make sure the switch for that heater is on when there's icing potential.
  • Altimeter settings - the accuracy of the instrument (altimeter) that measures the altitude of the aircraft depends on having the correct barometric pressure setting. If you don't update that setting for the locale where you're flying, you may not have an accurate reading on your altitude. Again. This can be the difference between staying in the air or not.

Loads of fun today. Hope you enjoyed a little window into the ride. Thanks to my friend, Chuck for the good flight and for his careful study and practice of aviation.