Jack’s Winning Words 8/19/15
“He will raise you up on eagle’s wings…and hold you in the palm of his hand.”  (Michael Joncas – Isaiah 40:31)  Today is National Aviation Day, honoring the b-day of Orville Wright.  My first flight was on a DC-3.  Can you remember yours?  Now, grandson Jason is a pilot, and I’m looking forward to my first flight with him.  When Isaiah wrote about “eagle’s wings,” he wasn’t thinking about today’s jet travel…he was writing about God’s care for us.    ;-)  Jack

FROM TRIHARDER:  My first flight was kind of ironic. It came on the heels of a hitchhiking trip to Florida.====JACK:  Was it in a private or commercial plane?  Small craft flights seem more like flying to me.

FROM JT:  Wow!  Jason is a pilot!  I didn’t realize he is flying.  I bet Ben is thrilled to share the air with his son.  Hope you can go up with him soon!====JACK:  It has to find a place on my To-Do List, or it'll never happen.

FROM HONEST JOHN:  My first flight was in 1947...flew with my Dad to Chicago.====JACK:  Did you fly out of the Moline Airport?  United Airlines probably was the carrier at that time.

FROM TG:  My first flight was in a Cessna 180 and now the rest his history.====JACK:  Are you able to recall the different types of planes you have flown...at least the most memorable?

FROM BLAZING OAKS:  I LOVE THE SONG, "ON EAGLE'S WINGS" USING THOSE WORDS, AND HAVE HAD TO CLAIM THAT PROMISE ON OCCASION IN MY VERY  BUSY "YOUNGER YEARS"!  MY FIRST FLIGHT WAS IN A SMALL PRIVATE PLANE, WHEN A FRIEND PILOTED ME OVER MOLINE AND SURROUNDING AREA. iT WAS OPEN, ABOVE THE DOOR, I REMEMBER LOOKING DOWN OUT THE WINDOW!  MY FIRST COMMERCIAL FLIGHT TOOK ME CLEAR TO AFRICA, WHERE I SURVIVED SMALL PLANE FLIGHTS OVER BUSH COUNTRY, AGAIN! HA!  WHAT AN AMAZING TIME WE HAVE LIVED IN! AND I'M SURE MORE AMAZING THINGS TO COME AS ORDINARY PEOPLE ACCOMPLISH SPACE TRIPS!!  OUR GOD IS A MIGHTY GOD!! (ANOTHER GOOD SONG!)====JACK:  Flying over African bush country in a small plane?  Now, that would be exciting.  I wonder if Isaiah would be willing to be raised up on eagle's wings if he suddenly appeared today without a knowledge of happenings between his day and ours?

 FROM BB:  Had no idea Jason earned his pilot’s license – exciting!====JACK:  He first soloed on his 16th birthday (without his mother's knowledge) and then went away from it for awhile.  He re-soloed in his 20s and went on to get his instrument rating recently. 

FROM DC IN KANSAS:  Top this?  My first flight was over St. Peter, MN, in a helicopter in 1948 or 1949.  Do you remember buying insurance before boarding a place?====JACK:  Who was the pilot on your flight, Orville or Wilbur?  And, yes, I can remember buying flight insurance at the airport.  As I recall, it was pretty cheap at the time.====DC:  Neither!  I wonder if it was Skiorky of 'whirlybird' renown.====JACK:  Sikorsky was an "immigrant" from Russia who shared his aeronautical ideas with us.  I can't remember ever flying in a helicopter.

FROM JK IN CALIFORNIA:  Thanks so much for this, I always think about the eagle's wings, and the resistance it takes to make it fly!====JACK:  In the days before the Wright brothers, some people actually tried to fly using bird-like wings attached to their arms.  Crash!

FROM AJ:  I love this verse. It's one of my favorites.====JACK:  Your daughter should like it too.  Maybe you should share today's WWs with her, since it's Aviation Day.

FROM AW IN ILLINOIS:  a picture illustrating tha verse was given me by congregagtion when I retired. .====JACK:  I like the part where it says, "He will hold you in the palm of his hand."  That is  comforting to know.

FROM SBP IN FLORIDA:  You're right! I don't think that He was teaching about the elevation of earthly travel. I think that He's wanting us to know that He's wanting me to know that whether I'm a sparrow or an eagle or a jet fighter pilot He watches and cares for me. I have taken a few liberties with the poem "The Aviator" for my adaption. I love this poem.====JACK:  Even those living in the pre-airplane times were fascinated by flight as they saw it in nature.  I enjoy watching the dragonfly, the swooping hawk, the hummingbird...but not the mosquito.  To-do-today...Check out The Aviator.  (To-do-done!)  Is this the poem you were referring to?
SONG OF THE AVIATOR ( Ella Wheeler Wilcox)
YOU may thrill with the speed of your thoroughbred steed,
You may laugh with delight as you ride the ocean,
You may rush afar in your touring car,
Leaping, sweeping, by things that are creeping--
But you never will know the joy of motion
Till you rise up over the earth some day
And soar like an eagle, away--away.

High and higher, above each spire,
Till lost to sight is the tallest steeple,
With the winds you chase in a valiant race,
Looping, swooping, where mountains are grouping,
Hailing them comrades, in place of people.
Oh! vast is the rapture the bird man knows
As into the ether he mounts and goes.

He is over the sphere of human fear;
He has come into touch with things supernal.
At each man's gate death stands await;
And dying, flying, were better than lying
In sick-beds crying for life eternal.
Better to fly halfway to God
Than to burrow too long like a worm in the sod.
====SBP:  No. I so appreciate your sharing. I was prompted to Google it. I discovered that it was written after "The Swing" by RLS.  . I became interested in the literary concept of flight starting with Icarus. This research is certainly limited, but a rough list from the concept of Icarus ...."The Swing" by RLS , followed by " "Song of the Aviator", by Ella Wheeler Wilcox up to "High Flight" by Magee"( limits of my knowledge) demonstrates , for me, the development of the idea of and the excitement of actual achievement of flight.  I'm sure, that there are a lot of blanks to fill in and would welcome any and all additions.====JACK:  Recently I was asked what book (outside of the Bible) in my library I appreciate the most.  I picked, The Works of Carl Sandburg.  On second thought, I went to RLS's, A Child's Garden of Verses.  On third thought, I went back to Sandburg.

FACEBOOK LIZ:  727 or maybe a 737 to denver... united.====JACK:  The Boeing 737 is the best-selling plane in aviation history.  It's said that one is either landing or taking off every 5 seconds some place in the world.

FROM MW IN GL:  And whenever something goes wrong or I am down in the dumps, I have  a CD with this song, and it always brings me  to a good place.====JACK:  There's nothing like the feeling of comfort that is ours when we realize that God has us in the palm of his hand.

FROM MATURE ANNE:  I love the hymn and count on the Wings.  Mac took me to San Francisco  on May 8, 1951.  We were married two days.  Mac was returning to the ship during the Korean War. Plane  was a turboprop.  I was sick.  I learned to love to fly but I am still not fond of small jets. ====JACK:  If you don't like small jets, you probably don't like small prop planes, either.  That's the kind my grandson flies.   I wouldn't be afraid to fly with him.