Grace Baptist Church

  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Meeting Times
    • Location
    • History
    • Leadership
  • Sermons
    • Sermons by Series
    • Sermons by Date
  • Blog
  • Connect
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Meeting Times
    • Location
    • History
    • Leadership
  • Sermons
    • Sermons by Series
    • Sermons by Date
  • Blog
  • Connect

BLOG

Angels, Altimeters, and Airspeed

5/2/2017

0 Comments

 
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. 
0 Comments
    When I quote Scripture In this blog, unless otherwise indicated, the quotations are usually from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission.

    ​All rights reserved.

    Archives

    August 2021
    March 2021
    October 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    March 2019
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    October 2017
    August 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    September 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    January 2016
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    January 2013
    November 2012
    October 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

About

​Who We Are
Meeting Times
Location
History
​Staff
Sermons

By Series
​By Date
Connect

Email our Pastor

Copyright ©2021 Grace Baptist Church. All Rights Reserved.