5 Lessons From My Logbook

 

logbook

Sometimes apparently useless information can be helpful.

 

I have recorded every commercial airline flight I’ve ever taken … beginning in June of 1952. On that day I traveled with my parents to Miami from Havana, Cuba where my Dad had been doing ministry.

Up through my latest flight I have flown over 1,116,000 miles strapped into airline seats (which have gotten smaller as I have gotten larger) more than 2,600 hours. That comes out to over 350 eight hour days while buckled in!

My shortest flight was fifty-five miles from Colton to Los Angeles and took twenty-four minutes. My longest – a fourteen hour skip across the Pacific from Los Angeles to Hong Kong.

Why, you might ask, would anybody take the time to record that information? I have no idea, other than that as a list person I often track totally inconsequential pieces of information just because they’re there!

But in reviewing my logbook, I believe that I have come up with some ‘life truisms’ that have helped in my spiritual walk.

  1. Don’t despise small things. The fifty-five mile journey is still part of the whole. The journey of life is actually made of smaller ones. Little decisions and choices have large implications. Small joys add up. Little kindnesses produce long-lasting results.
  1. You can hit turbulence in good weather or bad. So keep the important things in your life tied down! Several years ago crossing from Chicago across the lake to Detroit, with bright blue skies outside the windows, we hit severe turbulence that could have injured or killed anyone not belted in. Maintain strong relationships with good friends. Take care of health, finances and commitments. Stayed tied to the fellowship of a good church.
  1. Keep your spiritual radio on and in good working condition. You never know when you’ll need specific and timely directions from your Controller.
  1. Watch for ice on the wings. There are subtle things that when added to our lives slow us down … mess with the smooth flow of the Spirit’s wind over the wings of our lives. The Bible calls them ‘little foxes’ which spoil the vines. Keep the main things the main things and avoid distractions.
  1. The plane you get on always determines where you are going to land. This refers to the law of ‘sowing and reaping.’ People always seem surprised at the outcome of wrong decisions. We shouldn’t be. Get on a plane labeled ‘laziness’ and you will arrive at poverty. Embark on a plane called ‘immorality’ and eventually reach regret. We get what we sow … we arrive at where we’re headed. It’s that simple.

This week take the journey seriously, yet joyfully!

 

“Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. 

Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track.”

Proverbs 3:5,6 The Message

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