Isaiah 40:31““But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” I can still remember the first time I saw an airplane takeoff. It was at a small airport in Orange County near the coast. That little airport had just one simple runway, no control tower, and no fence to keep people out, so I took full advantage of getting as close as I possibly could to the planes. I sat down in the grass and waited. In the distance I could hear the rumble of an engine starting. My excitement grew as a small airplane taxied into place. Suddenly, I thought there must be something wrong. This concern came to me because the pilot had positioned the plane head-on, right into the wind. How could he ever take off if he was going against the wind? Wouldn’t the airplane need the help of the wind to push it down the runway so that it would have enough speed to soar upward? It seemed impossible to me that going into the wind could help the plane off the ground. Surely this pilot was making a terrible mistake. However, to my relief and excitement, that little plane began heading down the runway into the oncoming wind and suddenly, as though it was being catapulted, it leapt up into the sky and nearly passed over my head. I was thrilled and yet puzzled. Later, I would learn an excellent lesson from that experience. For a plane to take off and slip from the gravity of this earth, it must enter the realm of flight. The science of aerodynamics is basically the greater amount of air coming from an opposing direction and striking the wings of an airplane, the greater the lift, and the greater the lift, the more rapidly the plane flies upward. The revelation for me was that the opposing wind didn’t push the plane backward and keep it on the ground at all – it was the reverse, it was actually helping the plane to climb higher. Could there be a lesson here for us when it comes to the opposing winds that we face in life? At times, it seems as if there are strong winds that blow against us and sometimes from every direction. It could be the opposing winds of fear or intimidation. Or, it may be the winds of financial troubles or marital difficulties. Sometimes the wind can blow so hard that we find it almost impossible to stand. We feel like the only thing we can do is to fall on our faces and hug the earth. But what if we’ve been approaching the winds of life (opposition, resistance, trials) from the wrong direction? What if we decided to change our direction and turn around and face these winds only to discover that by doing so we experience a life that can be lived above the power of the issues that hold us down? Rather than panic and fret over the things that seem to be blowing against us, consider turning around and meeting them head on; and by God’s grace and promise – He will lift you up on His wings. Pastor Jack
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