My job is better than your job.

I must say that there are days when I think I have the best job in the world, and the best office view ever. This Thursday Dick Eckels and I flew a two day mission. We meet at the hanger at 6am and made short work of the pre-flight. The sky was looking ominous, the wind was picking up, the sky was punctuated with flashes of lightning, and the winds were at 13 gusting to 20, ah, what a beautiful morning to fly!(not). Dick and I decide to scram before the real nastiness arrives. We took off and climbed out in slightly bumpy weather and made it up to 18000'. We check our ground speed and learn that we have a 70knot (105mph) tailwind! Why do we always have a tailwind when we don't need it and a headwind when we don't want it? So now we have to circle for a half hour to avoid landing before 9am. (We have to pay $90 extra if we land before 9am).
Its this kind of flying that makes it so challenging. Flying in the States is so easy, we really don't know how good we have it! When you go out of the country the chips start to stack up against you. The customs paper work better be spot on. Don't be an ugly American, and always say please,t hank you, and have a blessed day. When getting into Haitian airspace the chips get stacked even higher. Bad ATC (air traffic control) poor or non-existent radar, and BIG mountains. Now fly without being able to see out the windshield. Call me crazy but this is the kind of flying I do for Agape, and I love it! Am I complaining? Not at all, I have the best job in the world, and I do it while in the mighty hands of the Father.

Reflecting the Father.

Reflecting the father...Its often easier said than done, and I'm so glad that God has lots of patience, because I just keep messing up. So, like when one of my kids fall down and scrape their knee, I go over and pick them up, dust them off and send them on their way, some times more often than not giving them a hug and a kiss. But I'm not like the Heavenly Father; I'm an earthly father, full of flaws, I'm a shameful human that without Jesus I don't know where I would be. So I try to reflect on the Father. I want to be like Him; but I can't.
It becomes a cycle of repentance. How many time can you say you are sorry, yet He forgives. I'm so glad he has patience.
So what am I trying to say...? I think its funny that just because you a re a christian that life is a bowl of cherries. Far from it! Many people will test you just to See how you will react. I found this to be very true when I worked as a corrections deputy. The inmates would always question me on my fairness when I would ask them to lock down or take away their TV when they would misbehave, "Hey man! I thought you were a christian!" they would shout or other vulgar remarks. I had a Sargent that would call me into his office a try to intimidate me, but he could never figure out why he could never get me down. I read one of his reports, and it said " After talking with deputy Mikarts on several occasions he always seems to be in good spirits." It must have stuck in his craw that after talking with him I would walk out of his office with a smile on my face. The world will try to smash you to pieces, but not if you wear the holy Armour thats talked about in the bible, that's not to say that you won't feel the blows.
I'll keep trying...after all I'm only human...and He is God.