#86 Reversed Controls

I have many loves in this life. I love the Lord with all my heart. I love my wife and kids more than I know how to express. I love great fellowship, food, music and playing the guitar, being outdoors, and I love to fly model aircraft. Yes, we are all just big kids I suppose.

Since the time I was young boy flying has fascinated me. My grandmother and mom would buy me model airplanes that you build and then sit on a shelf. Countless hours were spent selecting, building, and then pretending to fly those models. It was easy to see the progression of my skills as I grew older. Earlier models bore the marks of a novice builder.

That love for flying never died and it is my hope that one day I will be able to fly a real aircraft. Until then I will satisfy my love for the skies through radio-controlled (RC) aircraft. Just this year a dear friend of mine took the time to help me get started in the RC aircraft sport. From the first moment I took hold of the controls I knew that I was going to love doing that.

Eventually my first airplane was purchased and then another. My first few flights went very well with my trainer beside me. When I got out on my own the first several flights also went well. But--yes there is always a "but" right?--my lack of time on the controls eventually caught up with me. You are supposed to do a pre-flight check to make sure your radio is configured properly. Up needs to be up, down should be down, and so forth. I went through the checks and somehow failed to notice that up was not up. So if up is not up then up must be down, right? Right.

Well, I pushed the throttle up, my father-in-law threw the plane into the air like I had shown him and when I pulled back on the control stick to go up it went down and nose-dived into the ground smashing the propeller, the cowling around the engine, and the mount that holds the engine splintered into multiple pieces. My heart sank and my flying confidence was shattered too. How I wished my training buddy could have been with me. I have since rebuilt the aircraft, but more importantly I have learned the absolute necessity of having the controls properly set up.

Life is much the same way is it not? There are controls over our lives. Speed limits, various colored lines to keep us in our lane, signs that tell us where to go and not go, laws that help prevent people from causing harm to others, and God's laws.

Most of us by nature do not like to be controlled. We want to be free to do as we please, and when God or anyone else comes along and tries to restrict us we may buck against that control. We think we are more than capable of making our own decisions; flying by ourselves as it were, when in actuality we have the controls reversed and end up crashing.

When I look back on my own life I see many times when I crashed and made foolish mistakes. How much better could my life had been if I would have just let God have control of everything? I will never know until I get to heaven, but I praise God that He is willing to help me more and more as I let Him have the controls. It's my encouragement to you all today that you let go and let God have full authority in your life. Trouble may come, but when God is in control He will safely fly you all the way to heaven. Trust in Him friends. He is the master flier ;-)

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank You for being so awesome and for loving us despite how messed up we get. Please teach us today to trust You and to let You have full control of our lives. Please keep us focused on You until the day You come to take us home. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.