Driving fancy flying lawnmowers in puffy floating ponds is Christianity in a nutshell.

Due to the overwhelming outcry by whiny pilots, Cessna aircraft company designed windshields for their new model “172” in 1954 so pilots could see what was in front of them. They designed an amazing piece of crystal-clear acrylic that protects the pilots from high-flying bird droppings and prevents damaging their all-important hairdo. I have enjoyed looking through this plastic portal and have seen many beautiful sights over the last few months. That has unfortunately come to an end…

In 1929 a man named “Doolittle” did something. Jimmy Doolittle flew an aircraft by referencing only his flight instruments for the whole flight, without looking outside. This was a pivotal flight that only lasted 15 minutes but changed aviation forever. Because of this heroic flight, you can now hop on an overcrowded and smelly, “Spirit” Airlines flight from New York City, fly in clouds the whole way, and land safely in Los Angeles. And also because of Doolittle, I am no longer looking through that fancy acrylic 20 inches in front of my face.

I am currently training for my instrument rating. This is a license that will allow me to not limit flights just because some annoying elevated fog is in my way. Training for this license requires me to shortly after takeoff don some stylish sunglasses coated almost entirely with blue paint, blocking my vision of all of God’s beautiful creation outside. Instead, I focus almost trancelike on about 7 instruments in front of me, telling me everything that is happening outside. If you would like to try this at home, get one of those shiny windshield cover thingies’, cover your windshield, and just follow your phone’s GPS instead of looking outside. I know, I know, it’s not the same. On the road, you have other “obstacles” like people walking, and deer, but if I am flying in December, stray reindeer are a real concern of mine.

But pilots also have maps to follow made by the US Federal Aviation Administration. Your opinion of not trusting the government may be perfectly valid, but in the midst of mist, you blindly trust some bureaucrat’s map and the government’s radios. Republican or Democrat doesn’t matter when all you can see is various shades of white out the windshield.

So, what does this have to do with Christianity? The similarities between Christianity and flying by instruments alone are numerous, and I completely doubt I’m the first Christian pilot to realize this. Let me explain;

Your ears.

The two wonderful noise collectors on the side of your head are incredible! Not only do they collect the melodious sound of your singing in the shower, but they also provide your body with a sense of balance. Daily your eyes and ears work together, for example when you walk a tightrope over Niagara Falls, to provide you with the balance you need. But in an airplane in the clouds, your sense of what is up or down is almost completely erased. Your eyes staring at the gauges are telling you one thing, but your ears are telling you something completely different. Blindfold someone smaller than you and spin them rapidly and then get them to walk straight ahead and you will see what I mean. Now imagine that in one more dimension, and you will see just how difficult this can be.

This world has been confusing, and it will only continue to be so. Defining right from wrong is daunting sometimes, and you can sense almost daily changing opinions. But we have hope amid the haze. We have truth in the Bible, which is a more perfect set of instruments or maps than any engineer or bureaucrat can ever hope to produce. And we have the Holy Spirit, which, unlike the overworked and stressed-out air traffic control, will never fail you. Like air traffic control, the Holy Spirit will correct you when you are going astray, but without the annoyed smoker’s voice, you hear crackling loudly in your ear.

But just like ATC, the Spirit will not help you if you don’t ask and seek a relationship. ATC/maps/instruments are the only way pilots have life, and The Bible/Holy Spirit/Jesus’s Blood is the only way you can have eternal life too.

Maybe you think you don’t need any of this but remember EVEN “Spirit Airlines” pilots don’t fly blind.