I’m a firm believer that every twelfth-grade guy needs a big adventure before he heads off to college. That’s why each spring I take some of Gateway’s twelfth-grade guys on a big adventure. This year we went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Cedar Point Amusement Park and the Dayton Airshow. The preceding years I have taken them to NYC to visit our church plant and tour the city. It’s always a great adventure!Now imagine this. You are in the 12th grade, you are 17 years-old, and you get this crazy idea that to a teenager seems perfectly rational. You ask your mom and step-father if you can rent a plane so that you and your three best friends can fly from High Point, NC to Washington DC to “hang out.”
Now imagine that not only did your mom say yes, but the parents of your three best friends said yes. That means eight rational, sober, non-drug users, had a good nights sleep adults, made a conscience decision to let their four sons crawl into a four-seat Cessna 172 airplane and fly to the Nation’s Capital with a 17 year-old pilot who has had his license for only 5 months!
You are probably thinking – “Not in this life time!” Most parents wouldn’t even let their sons drive on such a trip.
Well, that was me back in 1971. I’m on the far left; then Doug, Jimmy and Mike.
The photo was taken early on the morning of December 29th, 1971. After doing the preflight of the plane, fuel check, weather check, filed the flight plan, we crawled into the plane. Before I started the engine, we had a prayer for a safe flight. I always did that. On this particular day, it was a really good thing that I had prayed.
So we were heading to our big adventure in DC. All the check points were exactly where they were supposed to be. It was a beautiful day with unlimited visibility. Little did I know that the big adventure would begin before we reached DC.
One of the guys asked, “So how are we getting from the airport to downtown DC?” “I have no idea, but something will work out.” was my confident response. There was a quiet moment in the plane. “So where are we spending the night?” “Well, I think we can stay with this girl I met last year at a flying event. I wrote her about us coming to Washington.” It got quiet again.
After convincing my friends that they can trust me, it suddenly hit me, I’m not really sure where I am! This was long before GPS. One of the guys asked “How much longer? I need to go to the bathroom.” After a really long pause, I finally said, “I’m not sure. I have to figure out where we are.” It was dead quiet.
This is when the lesson began in learning the difference between faith in facts or faith in feelings. A pilot has to trust his instruments, not his feelings, especially if you get disoriented. Your feelings can tell you one thing, while the plane is doing something completely different. The air had been very rough and I was attempting to find a smoother altitude for the guys. I was soon flying by feelings, not facts. I was focused on the rough air and not my navigational instruments. I was putting my trust in what I thought was the right course instead of keeping a trusting eye on the instrument panel.
For the safety of my three friends, I had to set aside my ego. I began looking for a place to land in order to get my bearings. How embarrassing! I noticed some pasture land that looked like it had a dirt air strip running in the middle. That was good enough for me. I had learned to fly at a very small airport, so landing on a small, short dirt field was second nature to me.
I checked for other airplane traffic and headed in for a landing, no sweat. There were also no buildings, no phones, no nothing. My three friends bailed out one side of the plane and went straight for a line of trees to answer the call of Mother Nature.
As I got out of the plane, I saw a guy in his car at the end of the field. I walked over to him and with all the confidence I could muster I asked, “Do you know which way Washington is?” Without judging, or at least not to my face, he said, “let me get my road map.” We studied the road map on the hood of his car along side of my flight map. “I see where I made a mistake. I know where I am now. Thanks!” With the four of us back in the plane and all of the cows off the runway, we took to the air with new confidence. We were only 20 minutes away from the airport I was looking for. Potomac Airfield (PG Airpark back then) was just southwest of Andrews Air Force Base and directly south of Washington.
I can only imagine the conversation that man had with his wife at dinner that night! I gave him something to talk about for the rest of his life. “Did I tell you about the time these four teenagers flying an airplane landed in a field and asked me how to get to DC?”
Twenty minutes later, we landed at Potomac Airfield. Okay, I found the airport, now I need to find a ride for the four of us. As I walked into the airport lounge, standing right in front of me was Mike Brooks. We both immediately recognized each other. Mike was my age and we had met a year ago at a flying event. He lived in the area and was hanging out at the airport. We talked for a moment. I asked him, “How far is it to downtown?” “About 20 or 30 minutes,” he said. So I made a deal with him. “I will take you up and let you fly my plane if you drive us to DC.” Done deal.
We ran around DC seeing the sights. It was awesome. We laughed and enjoyed every moment. Later that day I called my other friend – which I had met only once. She had already made arrangements for housing and was coming to pick us up near the Washington Monument. She had also made plans to get a group of her friends together, and they had a party for us! Way cool.
After the party we headed to another friend’s house to spend the night. Now get this, the only available bed for us was a king-size water bed. Image 4 teenage guys on a king-size water bed (or maybe you don’t want to imagine that). We laughed all night long.
We woke up early the next morning with bad news on the weather. There would be some strong winds and storms hitting the east coast, so we would have an even rougher ride home. No sweat.
Another recently made friend drove us back to the airport. We jumped into the plane and soon we were heading home.
The winds were tough. One of the guys was watching the interstate below us. He said, “Don, I think the cars are passing us.” “No way,” I said. But he was right. I called the weather station on my radio and discovered that we were flying into 50 knot headwind, but it was smooth air. So if you are flying 120 and heading into a headwind of 50, your ground speed is 70… so cars were passing us!
On the return trip home, I trusted my flight instruments completely. I set aside all my feelings. I made course corrections for crosswinds. After avoiding much of the thunderstorms, we landed safely at Midway Airport in High Point, NC. When the wheels touched the runway, we all began singing Handle’s Hallelujah chorus… awesome trip!
Everyday you have a choice. You can put your faith in the facts of God’s Word or you can put your faith in your feelings. Your feelings can be deceptive because of your ever-changing circumstances. Your feelings can be unreliable. Your feelings can contradict the truth of God’s Word. But your feelings do not negate the truth of God’s Word. Choose to put your FAITH in the FACTS of God’s Word. You will find that your FEELINGS will eventually catch up.
Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
JESUS: “Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.” John 14:21
The photo was taken early on the morning of December 29th, 1971. After doing the preflight of the plane, fuel check, weather check, filed the flight plan, we crawled into the plane. Before I started the engine, we had a prayer for a safe flight. I always did that. On this particular day, it was a really good thing that I had prayed.
So we were heading to our big adventure in DC. All the check points were exactly where they were supposed to be. It was a beautiful day with unlimited visibility. Little did I know that the big adventure would begin before we reached DC.
One of the guys asked, “So how are we getting from the airport to downtown DC?” “I have no idea, but something will work out.” was my confident response. There was a quiet moment in the plane. “So where are we spending the night?” “Well, I think we can stay with this girl I met last year at a flying event. I wrote her about us coming to Washington.” It got quiet again.
After convincing my friends that they can trust me, it suddenly hit me, I’m not really sure where I am! This was long before GPS. One of the guys asked “How much longer? I need to go to the bathroom.” After a really long pause, I finally said, “I’m not sure. I have to figure out where we are.” It was dead quiet.
This is when the lesson began in learning the difference between faith in facts or faith in feelings. A pilot has to trust his instruments, not his feelings, especially if you get disoriented. Your feelings can tell you one thing, while the plane is doing something completely different. The air had been very rough and I was attempting to find a smoother altitude for the guys. I was soon flying by feelings, not facts. I was focused on the rough air and not my navigational instruments. I was putting my trust in what I thought was the right course instead of keeping a trusting eye on the instrument panel.
For the safety of my three friends, I had to set aside my ego. I began looking for a place to land in order to get my bearings. How embarrassing! I noticed some pasture land that looked like it had a dirt air strip running in the middle. That was good enough for me. I had learned to fly at a very small airport, so landing on a small, short dirt field was second nature to me.
I checked for other airplane traffic and headed in for a landing, no sweat. There were also no buildings, no phones, no nothing. My three friends bailed out one side of the plane and went straight for a line of trees to answer the call of Mother Nature.
As I got out of the plane, I saw a guy in his car at the end of the field. I walked over to him and with all the confidence I could muster I asked, “Do you know which way Washington is?” Without judging, or at least not to my face, he said, “let me get my road map.” We studied the road map on the hood of his car along side of my flight map. “I see where I made a mistake. I know where I am now. Thanks!” With the four of us back in the plane and all of the cows off the runway, we took to the air with new confidence. We were only 20 minutes away from the airport I was looking for. Potomac Airfield (PG Airpark back then) was just southwest of Andrews Air Force Base and directly south of Washington.
I can only imagine the conversation that man had with his wife at dinner that night! I gave him something to talk about for the rest of his life. “Did I tell you about the time these four teenagers flying an airplane landed in a field and asked me how to get to DC?”
Twenty minutes later, we landed at Potomac Airfield. Okay, I found the airport, now I need to find a ride for the four of us. As I walked into the airport lounge, standing right in front of me was Mike Brooks. We both immediately recognized each other. Mike was my age and we had met a year ago at a flying event. He lived in the area and was hanging out at the airport. We talked for a moment. I asked him, “How far is it to downtown?” “About 20 or 30 minutes,” he said. So I made a deal with him. “I will take you up and let you fly my plane if you drive us to DC.” Done deal.
We ran around DC seeing the sights. It was awesome. We laughed and enjoyed every moment. Later that day I called my other friend – which I had met only once. She had already made arrangements for housing and was coming to pick us up near the Washington Monument. She had also made plans to get a group of her friends together, and they had a party for us! Way cool.
After the party we headed to another friend’s house to spend the night. Now get this, the only available bed for us was a king-size water bed. Image 4 teenage guys on a king-size water bed (or maybe you don’t want to imagine that). We laughed all night long.
We woke up early the next morning with bad news on the weather. There would be some strong winds and storms hitting the east coast, so we would have an even rougher ride home. No sweat.
Another recently made friend drove us back to the airport. We jumped into the plane and soon we were heading home.
The winds were tough. One of the guys was watching the interstate below us. He said, “Don, I think the cars are passing us.” “No way,” I said. But he was right. I called the weather station on my radio and discovered that we were flying into 50 knot headwind, but it was smooth air. So if you are flying 120 and heading into a headwind of 50, your ground speed is 70… so cars were passing us!
On the return trip home, I trusted my flight instruments completely. I set aside all my feelings. I made course corrections for crosswinds. After avoiding much of the thunderstorms, we landed safely at Midway Airport in High Point, NC. When the wheels touched the runway, we all began singing Handle’s Hallelujah chorus… awesome trip!
Everyday you have a choice. You can put your faith in the facts of God’s Word or you can put your faith in your feelings. Your feelings can be deceptive because of your ever-changing circumstances. Your feelings can be unreliable. Your feelings can contradict the truth of God’s Word. But your feelings do not negate the truth of God’s Word. Choose to put your FAITH in the FACTS of God’s Word. You will find that your FEELINGS will eventually catch up.
Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105
JESUS: “Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.” John 14:21
