Well it’s been almost 2 months since returning to the states. Some days it feels like I have never left and others I feel like nothing is the same. I didn’t know if it would be hard to get used to everything again and for the most part it wasn’t. If I want something it is always in arms reach or just down the street. Enjoying the fun times with friends started right back up again. Dollar movies, half price shakes, and motorcycle rides are once apart of my weekly routine. But no matter how easy it is to do the same things you once did and enjoy them, life will never be the same. I have seen the world and experienced things some will never be blessed with the opportunity to. Memories and experiences I now have no one around me can relate to. Everything I now see I see differently than I used to. I may not be able to pinpoint it but it’s different.
I used to think many things in life our possible, but most our just out of reach. I sometimes ask myself “did this world race experience really happen?” It really did, and I remember how God was with me every step of the way, from applying, fundraising, and showing up every single month! Now that I am home, I can see that He is just as present in my life. Upon getting home I wanted to take a private flight lesson to make sure that is what I am passionate about and want to pursue. I found a place in Omaha several hours away from where I live where I could get one of these lessons for $150 for a quick lesson. With just a brief conversation with my future sister-in-law she connected me with a pilot in Kearney. In about a week I learned that He was going to be a mission pilot and he took me out for an entire day flying his clients all around Nebraska and Iowa! At one point I was flying the plane! It was such a blessing to get this connection.
Flying over my hometown McCook!
He also connected me with Iowa Western Community College where he went to school for his mechanic certificates. Flying as a missionary pilot I need to be both a pilot and a mechanic. So this fall I will be starting mechanic school at IWCC. Walking out of church the other day a gentleman thought he knew me so we started talking. We had never met before. Anyway long story short his daughter is in her 2nd year of the mechanic program at IWCC. So it was cool to see God giving me another connection to the school and I think they said there might be other mission-focused guys going to school there to. I have connected now with 3-4 other people from my church and community who are currently pilots or have pursued it at one point. I feel like this is what God has for me. If not I’m sure He will shut it down, but right now the hangar door is wide open.
Nebraska Pond Excitement! photo courtesy of Steven Morris
I still ask for prayers in pursuing this and that God is the focus of it all. I also ask for prayers that God will continue to provide the funding, as He already has to continue this pursuit over the next several years.
Ephesians 3:20-21: “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
