When Faith Takes Flight-Blog

Excerpt from Chapter 2 of “When Faith Takes Flight”:

The plane nosed down into the ditch, and the propeller dug into the bank.
Scratch one airplane. Fortunately, he and the passengerwalked away unharmed.

Why did that happen? Here was a good pilot, well trained
and experienced. Now he has an accident on his record, and
the FAA will require him to do additional training. Insurance
adjusters and maybe attorneys will enter the picture. His
passenger friend may never want to fly again. All in all, it’s a disaster. It’s a bad thing that has happened to some people.

People often ask me, “Why do bad things happen to
good people?” It’s a fair question, but a tough one. There are several simple answers, and they are mostly wrong. When asked this question, I usually take a deep breath and respond slowly and carefully.

“First,” I say, “Let us agree that no answer I can give you
is going to be completely satisfactory to you. The library over at the theological seminary has a whole shelf of books on the topic of suffering, and none of them contains answers that would totally satisfy you. However, if you’re willing to accept a few partial answers, answers that are like small pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, answers that will let you see bits and pieces of a larger picture, then perhaps you can get some relief on this subject.”

The starting point is this: earth is a broken, fallen planet.
It’s a lousy, stinking, disease-ridden, war-rocked,  poverty infested, politically corrupt planet, but it’s the only planet
we have. Despite NASA’s wildest dreams, we truly have no
other place to go in our lifetime!

“There is a heaven, but this is not it,” I often tell my
congregation. “We are living on earth, and earth is no
paradise.” Once you accept this sad reality, once you really
chew on it and choke it down, the reality of life on earth will make a lot more sense to you.

While Chapter 2 tells us that we do, indeed, live on a “fallen planet”, we still have hope. We learn in Chapter 3 that God has a plan, and that plan is to rescue us from our fate.

You can read more excerpts from each chapter of Jim Walters’ book, “When Faith Takes Flight” right here on this blog; or, buy a copy of  “When Faith Takes Flight” and have it in your own hands in just a matter of days.

“When Faith Takes Flight” is a book about the Christian Life and Christian Growth, from the perspective of a flight instructor and pilot. You may not be sure if you’re a Christian, or even if you want to be one. Jim’s book will help you understand some things that may be elusive to you right now.  Whether you’re an aviation “buff”, or don’t know the first thing about airplanes, this insightful and fun-reading book will certainly provide you with a new view point.

Chapter Three Amazing Grace: The Cross Gives Us Power to Soar

“One dark night in West Texas, I was heading back toward
our home base at Lubbock, when an unexpected fog set in all
over West Texas. The weather at nearby airports wasn’t any
better, and we barely had enough fuel to go all the way to a
good alternate airport. So I decided to make one attempt to
land at home before making the long run to the alternate.

We set up for an approach, using the Instrument Landing
System, following a very accurate radio signal that could take us down to two hundred feet above the runway. My problem was, the fog extended down to one hundred feet above the ground. The tower controller said that even the control tower cab was up in the fog. But the air was smooth, and we were able to “fly the beam” right down to the end of the runway, coming in very low yet still unable to see anything through
the fog. We came all the way down to the minimum altitude,
where the pilot must quickly decide to land (if the runway is
in sight) or climb back up (if the runway is not in sight). My
passengers were pretty quiet as we all peered into the gloom, hoping to see something and knowing we were very close to the ground. Just as I was about to give it up, there they were! The flashing strobe lights at the approach end of the runway pierced through the fog, and they showed us that
we were right on course. We slipped down over those lights
and then suddenly we could see the runway—right in front
of us. That night, I said some extra prayers of thankfulness
for those lights that burned through the fog. They shouldn’t have worked for us, but they did anyway.

That’s how grace is too—it shouldn’t work, but it does
anyway. One way to remember this is that G.R.A.C.E. spells
“God’s riches at Christ’s expense.” If you get this key point,
you are well on the way to gaining altitude in your spiritual
life. The fact that “heaven is a free gift” and that it cannot
be earned or merited by good works is the one central truth
of the New Testament that seems to separate those who
experience the new birth and those who are confused or put
off by it.”

Chapter 3 tells us that Grace shouldn’t work, but it really does. Chapter 4 explains that we are saved by “faith”, transferring your trust to Him.

You can read more excerpts from each chapter of Jim Walters’ book, “When Faith Takes Flight” right here on this blog; or, buy a copy of  “When Faith Takes Flight” and have it in your own hands in just a matter of days.

“When Faith Takes Flight” is a book about the Christian Life and Christian Growth, from the perspective of a flight instructor and pilot. You may not be sure if you’re a Christian, or even if you want to be one. Jim’s book will help you understand some things that may be elusive to you right now.  Whether you’re an aviation “buff”, or don’t know the first thing about airplanes, this insightful and fun-reading book will certainly provide you with a new view point.

“When Faith Takes Flight” is a Christian Book that would be great to give to a new Christian, or someone who is seeking a way for this life on earth to make sense. You can get all you need right here on this website.

Jim Walters’ book, “When Faith Takes Flight“, is a new aviation book that demonstrates how flying an airplane applies to the Christian life. We hope this excerpt of Chapter 4 encourages you.

Chapter Four-Saved by Faith:
Wheels Up and on the Way

“As long as the skies are blue, the actual work of flying a
plane is a snap. You can see the ground, you can tell where
you are by the passing landmarks, and you can tell if your
wings are level just by looking out the window. This kind of
flying is pure fun!

However, if your plane flies into a cloud, everything
changes. The second the plane slips into the gray mass,
visibility goes to zero. You can’t see a thing beyond the
windshield—it’s as if you are flying inside a jug of milk. No
sky, no ground, and no horizon. Those were your references
to know if your wings were level or not. Also, since the
human brain depends on visual clues for orientation, it
quickly becomes confused about which way is up. It’s hard
to keep the wings level if you don’t know which way is up!

For pilots, learning to trust the instruments over the inner-ear sensations is the ultimate act of faith. This kind of faith involves trusting in a system that cannot be seen or verified by bodily means. If my instruments tell me I’m turning, even though my body tells me I’m not turning, I must trust the
instruments and adjust the controls. At first, this is hard to
learn, as it goes against everything your body tells you is
true, but it does get easier over time. I’ve spent enough hours flying in the clouds that it’s no big deal anymore. You might say, when it comes to instrument flying, my faith in those instruments is solid.

People ask me, “What does God really want from me?”
Trust! That’s what He wants. He wants you to trust Him as
if He were the pilot of your life. Absolutely risk it all on His
claims and promises. You put your life in His hands and
go forth with Him at the controls. You transfer to Him the
responsibility to save your soul for eternity, and you give to
Him the control of the direction of the rest of your life. This is what is called “saving faith.”

In the New Testament, the
word faith refers to a transfer of trust from self-worth and
self-righteousness (as well as from good deeds and church
membership) to God. Faith specifically trusts that God is
who He says He is, and that God will do what He says He
will do. It’s something like taking a nap while the pilot is
flying through the clouds.”

That’s a phrase pilots use once they get so far into a journey that there is no way to go back to the beginning, usually due having used up more than half of the fuel.

My new book, “When Faith Takes Flight“, explains the Christian life and Christian growth in ways all aviators can relate to. It’s a Christian Book and Aviation Book all rolled up into one.

Be sure to visit our Home Page and grab a copy.

Drop me a note right here on this blog. I’d be glad to hear from you.

Jim Walters