Help! I Need a Course Correction!

I travel the highways to Austin and Tulsa often and rarely do I need directions. But, when I am on the phone or in Lala Land while driving, I just might take a wrong turn. One time, I took the wrong exit to Dallas coming home from Tulsa and ended up on some backwoods roads. I thought "Since I'm this far into it, I'll just stay on this road and see where it comes out. After all, I'm going southwest so it will eventually get me where I need to go." It did, but it was a 45-minute longer drive. I should have course-corrected, turned around to get back back on the right road. Then it would have only been a 20-minute longer drive.

What you may not know about me is that I’m a Private Pilot. Haven't flown since my husband when to heaven, but once a pilot, always a pilot. We had a single engine, 4-passenger, Cessna 182 like the one pictured here – a sweet ride. We logged many hours flying across this great country. I remember some crucially important things that ensured landing where, and when, we intended. Wind speed and wind direction requires course corrections throughout the flight. A strong wind can certainly take you off course. Constant “tweaking” is necessary. All it takes is to be off just a few degrees and you can end up in Timbuktu, instead of the intended destination.

And those course corrections while driving and flying are true in our own day-to-day living. Our emotions, our bodies, and our spirits may get off course by “negative winds” that we’ve let come in. They may have come in by the company we keep, some unhealthy habits, some unwise decisions we make without consulting our Heavenly Father first, maybe some compromising of our ethics and integrity, or literally missing the mark.

Perhaps, it’s time for some tweaking and correcting our course. The winds can certainly slow us down, and take us completely off course -- not to mention keep us from receiving the blessings that could have been ours if we were on track. Here we are in the season of Lent when we deliberately focus our attention on getting it right – getting our hearts right. It’s the perfect time to make course corrections – where we make the adjustments necessary to be fully devoted followers of Christ.

“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10. I promise you….this is the stuff that helps us drive further -- faster and fly higher than we’ve EVER flown before. I'm quite sure I can use some tweaking!

Stir Up Your First Love

As the 50th Wedding Anniversary date (July 8th) of my Sweetheart and I nears, I seem to be "in a remembrance zone". Dear friends of mine, who are celebrating their 50th year, are doing so by rekindling the love they had 50 years ago by purposefully going on all kinds of romantic and fun adventures. They've cruised, traveled near and far, taken lots of date nights and every day they are celebrating those 50 years in special ways, all year long. I love that. That gives me pause for a moment. I think that's what we would be doing, too. I won't get to do that, but I sure can spend sweet time remembering the special times we had in our 44 years.

When we had little to afford us to travel, we made lots of memories camping out and fishing in lots of lakes. We had LOTS of date nights to a movie, a restaurant, a musical (we loved those – “The Music Man” was our favorite and our favorite song came from it “Til There Was You”). Then we travelled in a Winnibego across the U.S. when we were The Master's 4 Quartette. We had four conversion vans over the years and chalked up a lot of miles travelling across the U.S. and Canada (my Sweetheart's home). Both of us being Private Pilots, we travelled many miles in our Cessna 182 airplane. We travelled on commercial airplanes, making many trips to see our kids when they lived in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Washington. We travelled to many events and conferences, near and far away. We travelled many times to my Sweetheart's beloved Belize and Mexico where we regularly went to share God's love on missions trips. We travelled on a Gulfstream when our son took us on the ride of our life to New York City when his company became public. We were there when he rang the opening bell on Nasdaq. We enjoyed 15 cruises together, the last of which was our dream trip, 5 days in Rome and 12 days on a Meditteranean Cruise.

One of my fondest memories is the trip Ron won at an LPGA Golf Tournament. He putted a 50 foot hole in one stroke. A hole-in-one that awarded us with a trip, the next day, on a 747 with the LPGA women to Sweden for the Solheim Cup. Eight days and nights -- all expenses paid. We made the most of the moments when travelled by train to Denmark and the ferry and train to Berlin, Germany.

Not only did I enjoy "remembering" all those experiences for myself, but I wanted to share them with you to say: "DON'T let the wonders and wows of your todays past you by." Like us, you may not make it to your 50th year to celebrate the years. Make memories today. Make every day count for loving and sharing and rekindling that love that brought you together with your sweetheart in the first place. Get off the couch and go for a walk. Get up early to see the sun rise together. Holding hands, watch the sun set together. Light some candles. Stir up that FIRST LOVE that you shared. STOP and behold the beauty God gave you, before it's too late.

Then, spiritually, let's not move so speedily through life, that we fail to set aside the time needed to stop and behold the beauty of the Lord and to gaze upon the wonders that are found in Him alone. Let’s stir up that FIRST LOVE we encountered with Him.

Psalm 27:4 "One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, and BEHOLD THE BEAUTY of the LORD and to meditate in His temple."

I Believe I Can Fly

As a Private Pilot, when I hear that song "I Believe I Can Fly", I have extra help with the notion of flying. We had a single engine Cessna 182 that was a sweet ride, and we logged many hours flying across this great country. I've only flown an airplane once since my Honey's promotion to heaven, but I remember some crucially important things that ensured landing where AND when we intended. Knowing the plane's airspeed, wind velocity and wind direction is essential to a pilot. It requires course corrections throughout the flight. A strong wind can certainly take you off course. Constant “tweaking” is necessary. All it takes is to be off just a few degrees and you can end up in Timbuktu, instead of where you intended to go.

And isn’t that true in our lives, as well? Our emotions, our bodies, and our spirits may get off course by “negative winds” that blew in. They may have come in by the company we keep, the food choices we’ve made, some unhealthy habits, some compromising of our ethics and integrity, or literally missing the mark. The winds can certainly slow us down, and take us completely off course -- not to mention, keep us from receiving the blessings that could have been ours if we had stayed on course.

This season of Lent continues through March 24th, and we've been deliberately focusing our attention on getting it right – getting our hearts right. Lent is the perfect time to make course corrections – where we make the adjustments necessary to be fully devoted followers of Christ. “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10.

I promise you….this is the stuff that helps us fly and soar higher than we’ve EVER flown before.

God's Road Map

Day 112 of Photo Inspirations -- God's Road Map
Since I was a young child, I've loved reading maps.  My Dad taught me to read a road map at a very young age as we made our way to West Virginia to see my oldest sister and her family.  Then I was the navigator, using the Atlas Map Books as Ron & I and our ministry team traveled the U.S. and Canada in our 28 ft Winnebago.   And then we progressed on to flying in our Cessna 182 and I was his Co-Pilot and Navigator.  Flying takes mapping to a whole new level of mapping using coordinates and considering wind velocity and other factors essential to staying on course.

This is the 17th cruise I've been on -- two of which have been as a "single" since my sweetheart went to heaven.  I really enjoy seeing the world this way and as I look at places I'd like to go to on maps, I dream about new horizons that are just waiting for me to explore.

This photo is of where we're heading today enroute directly north to Ireland and then to Holland, France, Germany and then on to Denmark.

Mapping certainly causes me to consider the road map that has been the most beneficial to me in my life .  I love God's Word that gives me the proven ways to succeed in my life experiences and voyages.  I can't begin to tell you how many times I've read a scripture multiple times and then all of a sudden, a certain scripture will be illuminated to be  -- with a fresh perspective that gives me the navigation I needed to go from Point A to Point B in decision making.  Like a good road map, God's Word points us to the best roads and places of insight and illumination so that God's Spirit can shine His Light into our minds and hearts.  And that "road map"  NEVER needs updating.  The roads, the destinations, the promises and the treasures are as sure today as at the time they were written when He illuminated them to His transcribers.