Coming in for a landing at the ridge.

A few days after that flight I had a six- month follow up appointment with my cardiologist, Dr. Mehta.  His nurse took an echo-cardiogram reading of my heart, and I waited anxiously as Dr. Mehta read the results.  He said “This is fantastic.  If I didn’t know better, I’d say your heart muscle has never suffered any damage!”  Donna and I were thrilled.  Even so, Dr. Mehta still insisted that I maintain a medicine regimen that included beta blockers for at least six more months.  I do not like the effect that beta blockers have on my mental clarity and energy levels, but I guess I’d better follow orders.  After all, it was my own insistence of reducing medications that got me into this predicament in the first place.

As I look back on this past year, I am as firm believer in the sovereignty of God as ever.  I may never know all the reasons or long-term effects of my scary experience, but God does and I trust Him.  This blog was prompted by my forced time off, and I’ve got a revised perspective on the precarious nature of life.  As the title of these chapters in my blog indicate you never know what a day might bring.  Any of us could wake up in the morning and get out of bed for the last time, because the events of that day just might propel us into the eternal presence of our Lord.

I have a fascination with studying what the Bible says about the end of the world, and I’m convinced that the popular view that we are living in the last days is entirely wrong.  I may write more about this topic in my blog.  But what intrigues me is how so many dear believers, when asked why they are so excited about their belief that we are living in the last days, say “I just can’t wait to be with the Lord in eternity!”  Well, I agree.  Being in the eternal presence of Jesus will be something wonderfully beyond our ability to comprehend.  If I challenge someone’s view by saying that, scripturally, I think this world will go on for hundreds, if not thousands, of years, the person usually acts dismayed and even angered.  It seems that many Christians have a mentality that it’s all going to be over soon, and our troubles in this world will go away when Jesus come to rapture us off the face of the earth.  Well, brothers and sisters, take heart!  Even though the end of the world may not come for a long, long time, I’m here to tell you that I have tiptoed right up to the edge of eternity, and we are all that close to dying every living, breathing moment.  You never know when the Lord might call YOU home, so you would be wise to live every day like it could be your last!

It’s obvious that the design of each wing reflects its purpose.  Beginner pilots should learn to fly with a less challenging and more stable glider, while more experienced pilots can exchange stability for higher performance.  The visual differences between gliders of varying performance are obvious in some cases and less obvious in others.  Experience over time has allowed engineers to discover ways to increase performance while maintaining a higher degree of stability than in earlier designs.  Pilots can choose the type of wing they prefer to fly based on their purposes for flying – pleasure, duration, distance – or on other factors such as ease of transport or setup or the cost of purchasing and maintaining their equipment.

I currently own two gliders.  One, the Airwave Pulse, is a beginner/intermediate glider that is fairly easy to set up and fly.  The other glider, a Wills Wing Sport 2, is in the recreational/sport class.  It’s somewhat smaller and sleeker but is newer and has a bit higher performance capabilities.  Unlike my Pulse, the Sport 2 has a feature called “variable geometry” (VG) which allows the pilot to adjust the nose angle while in flight.  With more VG applied, the nose angle is wider, the sail is a bit tighter, and the kite is somewhat more efficient in straight and level flight.  But the trade-off is that it’s more resistant to turning or banking when in this mode.  So a pilot would release the VG when thermalling, but when the pilot needs to cover more distance the VG can be pulled on, allowing the kite to fly faster while losing less altitude between thermals.  Obviously, the invention of variable geometry was a major step forward in glider design.

One of my fellow pilots, Michal, has an Airwave Pulse exactly the same size as my other glider.  We both recently removed and sent our sails to a shop on the west coast where a fellow named Kamron (he was involved in the original design of the Pulse) replaced the leading edge of each glider because they had begun to show signs of age.  This model, when introduced in the early 90′s, boasted a plastic laminated leading edge which was intended to decrease drag.  Over the years the lamination on these sails begins to peel off.  Because the glider is, otherwise, a very popular one due to it’s desirable flying characteristics, it is worth the cost of replacing the laminated leading edge with one made of Dacron like the rest of the sail.  Both Michal and I also chose to replace the old foam inserts inside of the leading edge pockets with mylar inserts.  The mylar option has proven to provide a more aerodynamic shape for the leading edge, improving the flying characteristics of the glider.

When I first flew my Pulse with the new leading edge and the mylar inserts, I could not have been happier.  The kite flew like a dream.  The stability and the roll characteristics improved noticeably.  Michal, on the other hand, was very disappointed with the results he experienced.  His Pulse felt very unstable in flight, and it seemed to “porpoise” (rocking forward and back) when flying straight.  Something was not right!  We examined his flying wires and the way the sail was mounted on the frame to make sure it was reinstalled correctly.  Everything appeared to be in order.  So one day in early spring Michal and John, the local hang gliding instructor, set up both gliders side by side to look for even the tiniest variances between the two wings.

John noticed that my Pulse had been shimmed so that the sail was a tiny bit tighter.  Thin rings of aluminum were installed at the wing tips which, in effect, extended the length of the leading edge tubes and pulled the sail so it was more taught.  The width of these shims was less than 1/2 inch on each side.  The only other difference found between the two kites was the way that the new mylar insert was positioned inside the leading edge pocket.  The mylar inside of my wing was shifted downward so that it wrapped around the bottom of the leading edge a bit further than on Michal’s wing.  John and Michal worked all afternoon to adjust his glider so that it imitated mine.  When John test flew Michal’s wing the difference in handling was astounding!  The kite was very stable and the porpoising was gone.  The tiny changes had made a remarkable difference.

Perhaps Kamron, as the designer of the glider, could have flown Michal’s glider and figured out what was wrong without the need to compare the gliders side by side.  As an experienced engineer with thousands of hours of flight time he, most likely, would have had the knowledge and experience to determine how micro changes in the dimensions of the wing would affect the flying characteristics of the glider he designed.

No one would argue that it takes much experience, education, and wisdom to continually improve on the design of hang gliders.  Early gliders were primitive, they had poor performance, and they were dangerous.  But the accumulated intelligent input by both engineers and experienced pilots has resulted in gliders that are safer, higher performance, and more specialized in their flying characteristics than earlier models.  This is the effect of intelligent design, and it’s obvious to even the most inexperienced observer.

I see the same evidence of intelligent design in the natural world as well.  To me it is obvious – there is purpose in every specialized component of every living thing.  But many people who would quickly acknowledge the evidence of design in man-made objects can, somehow, look at the natural world with all its wonders and believe that it all happened by random, purposeless chance.  They have been convinced that, through the process of evolution by natural selection, everything we observe in nature today is the result of naturalistic causes.

Recently I listened to a discussion forum featuring two of the world’s most famous atheistic evolutionists: Lawrence Krauss and Richard Dawson.  This was not a debate, because they agreed on almost everything.  Rather it was a meeting of the minds, a conversation, where they carried on a high level discussion in front of an adoring and mesmerized crowd at Stanford University. The topic was science education and the need to eliminate in discussions about origins any remnants of the belief that an intelligent designer had anything to do with the world we see today.  They equated believers in God-ordained processes to those who still believe the world is flat.  Evolution, in their opinion, is no longer a theory but, instead, is an indisputable fact.  Dawkins and Krauss set religious belief and progressive science education at opposite ends of the spectrum, indicating that the two were mutually exclusive.

I found numerous contradictions in their discussions, two of which I’ll highlight here.   Early in the forum Dawkins, in remarking about the obvious simplicity of evolution, remarked “It’s somewhat baffling to me why we had to wait for our Darwin until the middle of the 19th century.”  My immediate thought was that if evolution is so obvious, why did it take so long for someone to postulate a theory?  Evolution is not obvious.  Evolution is a theory because no one has observed the macro-processes required for it to take place.  I personally am amazed that any thoughtful person could believe that evolution explains everything including the origins of the material universe.  Most rational human beings are deeply aware of the necessary involvement of intelligence when purposeful design is observed.  Kraus and Dawkins kept referring to “the illusion of design” in nature.  In other words, it’s overwhelmingly obvious that purpose and order point to a designer…but they call this an illusion.  Only fools (according to Dawkins and Krauss) could believe that an extremely intelligent and powerful being could have created and ordered the universe.

Dawkins explains that evolution can be summed up in one word: heredity.  He defines heredity as “high fidelity replication of coded information.”  Krauss agreed.  I find this to be fascinating and even comical.  Both Dawkins and Krauss have been guest speakers on the SETI Institute’s weekly radio program titled “Are We Alone?”  The mission of the SETI Institute (the acronym SETI stands for Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence) is to “explore, understand, and explain the origin, nature, and prevalence of life in the universe.”  One project funded by SETI is the Alien Telescope Array (ATA) which is a large number of small radio telescope dishes that are scanning the celestial skies for signals from intelligent beings.

The SETI Alien Telescope Array

In the Frequently Asked Questions section of the SETI web page researchers explain how they will know if signals are from extra terrestrial beings.  SETI researchers are listening for “narrow band signals” in the otherwise random radio static spread evenly across the frequency spectrum.  Intelligent life forms would purposely pack a lot of energy, or information, in a narrow band of “spectral space.” In other words, the purposeful packing of high amounts of orderly information into a very small space (relatively speaking) is a sign of intelligence.  Hmmmm, biologists are awed by the incredible amount of information packed into the strands of DNA that can be found in each and every cell of every living thing.  One strand of a DNA molecule is estimated to contain approximately 350 megabytes of information.  That’s a lot of information packed into something as tiny as the human cell!

So let me get this straight…if SETI researchers intercept a radio signal that is more than just static, this probably indicates that the signal was created by intelligent beings.  But the massive amount of beautifully coded  information packed into a single strand of DNA is a random occurrence caused by nothing but purposeless chance, and it’s origins can be traced back to absolutely…nothing??  The incredible contradictions in reasoning here will never cease to amaze me!  It reminds me of the verse in Romans:

Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse…their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.  Claiming to be wise they became fools…

Romans 1: 20-22

The only point of disagreement in the conversation between Krauss and Dawkins came when they discussed the question about whether there is purpose in the universe.  Krauss commented that he remains open to the idea that an accidental universe could have purpose.  Dawkins disagreed, and was somewhat flabbergasted.  He even commented that the idea of purpose in a naturalistic world view is “stupid.”  It’s the one point in the discussion where I agreed with Dawkins.  Purpose implies design and meaning.  If the natural world is a result of random causes, how could one believe that it has purpose?  Yet Krauss commented that the world is filled with the “illusion of purpose” that is so powerful that he still has not eliminated the possibility that the universe does have some sort of undefined purpose.

The “illusion” of design…the “illusion” of purpose…these guys have a lot of faith.  I guess it does take faith to believe that chance plus billions of years can produce a universe, from nothing, that is so orderly that it appears to have design and purpose.  If you reject the idea of an intelligent God who is the Creator of everything, you will believe in just about anything to explain away the obvious.

I went back to work the afternoon after the appointment.  Because I work primarily from home, on a computer, the transition back to work was stress free and welcomed by me.  The only time I really noticed any significant weakness as I ramped up to full activity was when I used my arms extensively as in heavy lifting.  This makes sense because the most pain I felt during the attack, other than in my chest, was in my arms and hands.  Evidently the part of my heart that was affected must supply blood to my upper body.  Because hang gliding is such an upper body sport, I was a bit apprehensive to take to the air again, not being too sure what to expect.

The weather and my schedule did not synchronize for a possible day of flying until 6 weeks after the heart attack.  The Ohio Flyers began to plan for a get together at a private grass strip we call Wesmar, just south of Columbus, Ohio.   The weather turned out to be beautiful on Saturday, April 18, and about a dozen pilots arrived to be towed into the air by either a ground based winch or by an ultralight powered airplane called a Dragonfly.  

The Dragonfly

This would be the first aerotow in my new glider.  I took my time as I greeted everyone and set up my wing.  The well-wishes from club members were very encouraging for me, and many offered to help me set up or carry my glider.  I thanked them but assured them all I was not a walking time bomb, and they needn’t worry about me.

Around 1:00 PM pilots started taking to the sky.  Most who towed up were “sticking,” a phrase we use to indicate that they were finding lift and able to climb and remain aloft.  Around 2:20 PM it was my turn to load up behind the tow plane.  We use a tow cart dolly upon which we set our gliders to facilitate the launch.  Foot launching is possible behind the Dragonfly, but especially in conditions where there is not much of a headwind, it would be quite a workout to run with the glider the distance necessary to gain sufficient airspeed to fly.  I got my glider situated on the tow cart, hooked into my harness and helmet, made sure the tow lines were routed correctly and not tangled, and yelled “Go, go, go!”  Frank, the tow pilot, throttled up and we were rolling down the runway into an 8 to 10 mph headwind.  After about 75 feet I lifted off the cart, and soon both Frank and I were airborne.  The empty tow cart rolled to a stop on the runway below us.

My old glider on the tow cart dolly.

Even though the air was textured (lots of updrafts and downdrafts made for a bumpy tow) I didn’t have much trouble maintaining my position behind the Dragonfly.  We climbed higher and higher as Frank flew a long gentle circle to the south.  At about 2,500 feet, Frank waved me off.  I hit the tow release, which is a contraption I made several years ago using a brake lever and cable from a bicycle and a snap shackle used in boating.  It failed.  The cable broke, but it was not a problem because glider pilots are equipped with a secondary sliding barrel release to use just in case.  And if both of these releases fail, we carry a hook knife with which we can cut the tow line.  I velcroed the hook knife on the pocket flap of the parachute I wear on my chest (aren’t you impressed with all of the safety provisions?).   The secondary release worked just fine and I was on my own.

My variometer, which had been steadily beeping because of our powered climb, continued its happy song even after the release.  Frank had waved me off in a “boomer” thermal, and I continued to climb as I circled to stay in the lift.  The vario indicated that my altitude gain was averaging between 350 to 400 feet per minute.  I climbed steadily through 3,000, then 4,000, then 5,000 feet.  I began to lose the lift, so I widened my circle downwind.  Soon I was back into the thermal, climbing up through 6,000 feet altitude above the ground.  I was thrilled because this represented a new personal altitude record.  It was much colder at this altitude, but  didn’t mind because I had prepared by wearing long sleeves and gloves.  And everything from my chest down was enveloped in the harness which I had zipped up into a cozy cocoon.

During the climb I had drifted a good distance downwind from the runway.  I lost the thermal again, but two other gliders were still climbing several hundred feet above me and about 500 yards downwind.  I had a decision to make.  Should I continue flying downwind hoping to find the rising air my friends were enjoying, or do I head back toward the runway and look for lift as I flew?  Because I am still a bit unfamiliar with this glider, and because I wasn’t feeling overly adventurous with this being my first flight since having a heart attack, I chose the safer route and flew back toward the runway.  I decided I’d rather not land in a field alone several miles away.

The headwind was fairly strong at this altitude.  It seemed as though I was making very slow forward progress, but before too long I crossed back over the flying field.  I had lost about half my altitude without encountering even the slightest hint of lift.  As I looked to the west past the runway I could see several puffy clouds which had formed, probably at the top of some rising air.  I decided to head for them and maybe hit some lift along the way.

When I got close to the clouds I felt some defined bumps, but nothing that generated any workable lift.  I was at about 1,800 feet by now, so I decided to turn back toward the runway and set up for a landing.  I made a gentle circle around the field, scoping out the traffic and planning for my landing approach.  When I flew over the hangars at about 800 feet, my vario started beeping.  I banked sharply and spent about 3 or 4 minutes circling in the light lift, maintaining altitude but not climbing.  Another pilot was doing the same thing about 100 yards west of me.  Soon he gave up and landed, and I followed just behind him.  I made a nice landing at almost exactly the spot where I had loaded my kite onto the cart.

Several guys offered to take my wing as I unhooked, but I was feeling good and carried my glider off to the side where it was safely out of the way.  My flight lasted for just under 40 minutes which was enough for me on my return to the skies.  This flight gave me the confidence that I was on my way back to a reasonable level of good health. I’m grateful for the opportunity and the support from my family and friends allowing me to continue to do something that is sometimes selfish but thoroughly motivating and enjoyable.

One of the boys in the air over the dirt ramps next to our house.

I think the greatest demonstration of our support for Jeff’s and Phil’s interest in ramping bikes was in our willingness to allow them to purchase and dump tons of fill dirt in our side yard so they could build jumps.  The dirt jumps grew over several years as did the crowd of teenage daredevils who spent hours forming the ramps so they had just the right shapes with perfect “lips” at the tops.  Before any of the young men (and there were a couple girls who hung out as well) could use the ramps, they and their parents had to sign a release/waiver form that Donna and I put together using borrowed “legalese” from several sources.  Fortunately, none of the boys’ friends sustained any serious injuries on our property, so we never needed to test whether the release form really protected us from being sued. Given the size of the jumps, the stunts they attempted, and the feats they achieved, it’s a miracle nothing serious happened during the years the ramps were in operation.

In addition to signing the waiver, Jeff and Phil invited all local rampers to join their extreme sports club, the “Fairfield County Crue” (I’ve never understood why it is cool to use non-traditional spelling in names like this).  The FCC didn’t have a formal constitution or meeting schedule.  But there were custom-made t-shirts, and the walls of both boys’ now vacated bedrooms still have “FCC” inscribed on them in glow in the dark paint even though they have since moved out.  I got a kick out of their club, and I wanted a t-shirt.  But Jeff and Phil insisted that my sport of hang gliding was not considered an extreme sport, so I was not permitted to join.

It really does glow!

Never mind that most of the other Crue members disagreed.  My boys thought that hanging face down while thousands of feet in the air, from an aluminum and Dacron contraption weighing only 55 pounds, was not extreme.  We had many philosophical discussions about why dirt bike jumping was extreme and hang gliding was not.  I think that it had something to do with perceived speed.  While high in the sky a hang glider looks slow.  Go figure.

Jeff, Phil, and I still jokingly banter back and forth over just what characteristics of a sport can cause it to be deemed “extreme,” but we all agree that the element of risk has something to do with it.  Pushing through the paralysis of fear, feeling the adrenaline rush, and relishing the sense of accomplishment when you have set new personal records all add to the draw of our non-traditional athletic pursuits.  Of course, the cheers from family, friends, and onlookers carry with them an addictive element as well as do the “You must be crazy!” comments frequently thrown our way.  But I think there is something more going on, a deeper longing or desire that is only partially fulfilled by being engaged in these thrilling activities.

This past Christmas, my mother gave to me (I dropped a hint or two) a book titled Explorers of the Infinite by Maria Coffey.  It’s subtitle is The Secret Spiritual Lives of Extreme Athletes – and What They Reveal About Near-Death Experiences, Psychic Communication, and Touching the Beyond. I had read a review of this book, and even though I realized it was not written from a Christian perspective, I thought it might challenge my thinking a bit and, perhaps, give me some insight into what makes us adventurers tick.  The book was filled with vignettes about extreme athletes of all kinds, especially mountain climbers, their reflections about why they engage in their particular sport, and some very unusual experiences they had encountered during their adventures.  Their stories had to do with apparitions of ghostly figures, near-death and out-of-body experiences, visions, and psychic encounters.  Intriguing reading to be sure.

In the introductory material, Coffey explains the foundational question that guided her work: “Could the state of intense ‘aliveness’ that is the allure of extreme sports for so many actually be a route to spiritual transcendence, and a portal to new realms of consciousness?”   I began to read with a high level of curiosity.  I recognized bits of my own cravings and fascinations with “extreme” living as I read the motivations and reflections of the adventurers Coffey profiles in the book.  But after only a few chapters I noticed that I was becoming weary of pressing on.  It became evident that with each strange encounter, Coffey offered only random guesses as to what was going on.  There were no substantial answers as to why mountain climbers had premonitions about climbing on a day in which they or a fellow explorer later died, or what actually caused the ghostly appearance of a deceased relative…only suspicions.  I finished the book with an empty feeling.  There were too many repetitions of phrases like “Could it be…?” and “What might have caused…?” and “Was it possible that…?”  I don’t really think that Coffey was any closer to answering her guiding question than when she started, although I do commend her for doing the research and documenting her findings.

I’m not claiming any special knowledge myself, although I did note that many of the strange encounters she chronicles took place at high altitudes with climbers who waived off the use of oxygen or when adventurers were nearing physical exhaustion due to sleep deprivation and over exertion.  Our brains can do bizzare things in conditions like these.  Pilots are required to use supplemental oxygen when flying above 12,500 feet for an extended period of time for exactly these reasons.  And I have premonitions (or more accurately, I get a little queasy and I have second thoughts) almost every time I go out to fly.

The most intriguing thing that has caught my attention and given me reason to ponder is simply the question “Why do we desire transcendent experiences in the first place?”  The craving for feelings of rapture, euphoria, intense aliveness, unbounded flight, and supernatural powers afflict most of us at one time or another, and probably more often than many of us care to admit.  Coffey does a nice job documenting this in her book.  Our recreational pursuits, from the benign to the extreme, are an effort, I believe, to touch this transcendence even if for a fleeting moment.  Ask yourself…why are golf courses some of the most beautiful places on earth?  Where and why do hikers hike, campers camp, and sightseers see?  What is it about height, speed, and danger that so intrigues skiers, extreme bikers, surfers, and base jumpers?  Is it not for phenomenal and transcendental adventures?

And as uncomfortable as it may be to admit, it’s a universal human characteristic that we crave approval and admiration.  Even the most humble among us wants to be accepted and loved, and we all have different ways to achieve this condition.  I don’t think it’s a shameful thing for us to desire acceptance and to feel appreciated.  It’s fun to win first place in an athletic event or to set a new local or world’s record.  The respect an athlete earns as a result is satisfying for a season.  Of course, this can get out of hand, particularly when a person or team feels the need to hurt their opponents or to break the rules to be “number one.”  Competition can be a motivating thing, but when the desire to destroy others to win becomes an end in itself it can turn ugly.

In an essay titled “The Weight of Glory,” the 20th century novelist and theologian C. S. Lewis explores the human desire for transcendence.  This is one of my favorite literary works of all time,  besides the Bible.  I’ve probably read this excellent composition nearly two dozen times in the past 5 years, and each reading yields new insights for me.  In the essay Lewis proposes that a desire for the transcendent is a universal human condition. We long for a “far off country” which “no natural happiness will satisfy.” There are moments in our experiences when we are blessed with glimpses of the beauty that we desire, yet these fleeting moments of joy or beauty are brief and are transported to us through temporal means that are vague reflections of ultimate joy or beauty.

Lewis calls this desire for the transcendent “glory.”  Glory can be thought of in 2 ways, the first being pure love and acceptance.  Our earthly cravings for attention and affection can be satisfied for a time through relationships with those we love or through the admiration we might attain when we do something well, but ultimate love and affection are only possible in eternity.  Christians look forward to a time in the future when we might hear those beautiful words from our heavenly Father, “Well done good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master.”  Only this blessed approbation will ultimately satisfy any human being now or in eternity.  C. S. Lewis frames this beautifully:

We should hardly dare to ask that any notice be taken of ourselves.  But we pine… The sense that in this universe we are treated as strangers, the longing to be acknowledged , to meet with some response, to bridge some chasm that yawns between us and reality, is part of our inconsolable secret.  And surely, from this point of view, the promise of glory, in the sense described, becomes highly relevant to our deep desire.  For glory means good report with God, acceptance by God, response, acknowledgement, and welcome into the heart of things.  The door on which we have been knocking all our lives will be open at last.

~ C. S. Lewis, “The Weight of Glory”

Lewis describes the second aspect of glory for which we crave as “brightness, splendor, luminosity.”  We don’t want to simply experience moments of unbounded freedom, we want to be unboundedly free.  We want perfect health, and even though many of us would deny it, we want unbridled power.  Not necessarily in the sense of brute strength, but we know that our physical bodies are limited, and we long to be set free from these limits.  Lewis takes these ultimate cravings even further:

We want something else which can hardly be put into words – to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become a part of it…For if we take the image of Scripture seriously, if we believe that God will one day give us the Morning Star and cause us to put on the splendour of the sun, then we may surmise that both the ancient myths and the modern poetry, so false as history, may be very near the truth as prophesy.  At the present we are on the outside of the world, the wrong side of the door.  We discern the freshness and purity of morning, but they do not make us fresh and pure.  We cannot mingle with the splendours we see.  But all the leaves of the New Testament are rustling with the rumour that it will not always be so.  Some day, God willing, we shall get in.

~ C. S. Lewis, “The Weight of Glory”

I believe that Lewis’ reflections about the universal human desire for glory is much more satisfying than those given by Maria Coffey.  She documents the craving for thrills and the unusual experiences of extreme adventurers, but Coffey does not touch on the deepest motivations that drive these athletes (and all of us) forward.  To put it simply, God has placed in each of us a desire, a longing, for things eternal.  Somehow we know there is, out there, the satisfaction of our need for love and freedom and beauty.  We can find temporary satisfaction of these cravings in this life, but the ultimate fulfillment is in a life to come. God “has placed eternity in our hearts” (Ecclesiastes 3:11), and may He give us the grace to be found good and faithful servants so that we can enter into His joy forever.

I have devoted much time in reflection and study of this topic.  Perhaps this is because I enjoy playing so much that I hope to justify the time I spend in the pursuit of recreational happiness.  But I honestly believe that God is pleased when our frolic bolsters our faith and when the end result of an afternoon of play causes us to well up in gratitude to the Lord of creation who made it all possible.   So allow me to take a crack at developing a theology of recreation that may settle into your soul, giving you reason to rejoice in the God of rest and refreshment.

Genesis recounts the story of creation which culminated in God’s crowning achievement: man who is made in His image.  When God finished creating Adam and Eve, He “blessed them and said to them ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth’”  (Genesis 1:28). This is known as the Dominion Mandate.  Most theologians agree that this mandate has not been revoked, and that mankind, more specifically redeemed mankind, is still charged with filling and subduing the earth.

There is every indication in Scripture that humans were created in a perfect, yet limited, state.  That is, even though Adam and Eve were created in God’s image, and their capacities had not yet been marred by sin, they did not have the attributes of omniscience, omnipotence, or omnipresence (they were not all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-present) like their Creator.  As created beings they were dependent on God. They tended the Garden of Eden, and they fellowshiped freely with God as He walked with them in the cool of the day.  Their work was equivalent to their existence.  Joy was abundant as was their sustenance.  Every physical and emotional need was met.  Adam didn’t knock off at 5:00 PM and come home to a hot meal cooked up by Eve.  Instead, his whole life and reason for living was fulfilled in the charge to tend the garden that God had given him, and it consumed he and Eve.  They didn’t feel the need to find diversions from a  mundane world of repetitious labor.  There was no dicotomy, work vs. play, in the garden.

This all changed when they chose to disobey God’s single prohibition not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which was in the midst of the garden.  Among the results of the fall was God’s cursing of the ground (Genesis 3:17-19).  Adam was removed from the garden, and he (and his offspring) would eat bread “in the sweat of your face” as God explained to him in the curse.  No longer could Adam simply tend the garden and freely eat of its fruit.  Now he, Eve, their children, and their progeny would need to work, and work hard, to stay alive.  Their pre-fall condition of carefree, joyful living was ruined.

As children of Adam and Eve, this is our condition today.  We live in a world that is waiting to be “delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21).  Through the life, death, burial, resurrection, and glorification of the Lord Jesus Christ, this delivery process has begun, and it will be consummated when God establishes a “new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13).  But for now, there exists a gap between the ideal life that will be ours in eternity and the life we live on this broken earth in the here and now.  We must work by the sweat of our brow, and only through diligence does the earth yield its fruit thereby meeting our needs.

But the pages of Scripture are filled with promises that are both now and not yet.  God promises to meet all our needs now, but they will be finally met in eternity.  He gives us joy and peace now, but we will have perfect joy and peace in the future kingdom.  He even indicates that the gift of the Holy Spirit is given to us now as a guarantee, or “down payment,” of the things that will be ours in the resurrection:

While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us.  Rather, we want to put on new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life.  God Himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee He has given us His Holy Spirit.

2 Corinthians 5: 4-5 (NLT)

I believe that God’s truth is marching on, and that His word is bearing increasingly good fruit in the world today. He expects His people to carry out the mandate to fill and subdue the earth.  Jesus will return for “a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5: 27).  In the Old Testament story of the prophet Daniel’s interpretation of King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, Daniel saw a rock that crushed a four-tiered statue (representing four kingdoms that would rule the known world in the days before Jesus).  This rock, which represented the Kingdom that would be established by the coming Messaiah, became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.  This is the same kingdom to which we belong and whose King we serve!  The complete fullness of the kingdom of heaven will be established when Jesus returns but, until then, the influence of God’s word as manifested in His people is ever increasing.

This is true in individuals as it is in culture.  The effects of the curse are being reversed as God’s word bears fruit in His followers.  As each individual Christian obeys the truth, and as he continually discovers the purposes for which he was created, he finds joy in fulfilling his part of the dominion mandate and the Great Comission to “make disciples, teaching them to observe all I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20).

I believe that another aspect of the increasing effectiveness of the gospel is that we, as a culture and as individuals, have more discretionary time than ever before.  Advances in technology that have allowed for more efficiency have been one benefit of societies where peace and order (by-products of a Judeo-Christian based morality) are the norm.  This means we have the ability to spend more time in recreational pursuits.  Rather than having the mindset that recreation is a waste of time, we should, instead, seek to redeem the time we spend in our play, seeking how to glorify God in the process.

I believe God made me for a purpose, but He also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure.

- Eric Liddell, Scottish missionary to China, and gold medalist in the 1924 summer Olympics as depicted in the 1981 film “Chariots of Fire”

As believers, we should be driven by more than simply the need to survive or by a desire to make a lot of money.  God’s purposes should become our purposes, but we have good reason to believe that God may place within us deep desires that give us joy when we have the opportunity to pursue them.  It’s not unreasonable to hope and believe that the things that bring us the deepest levels of enjoyment could also serve to compliment and bolster our work.  Or better yet, these things could become our work!  A quote by novelist James Michener I discovered recently has challenged me greatly, and I think about it often:

The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion.  He hardly knows which is which.  He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing.  To him he’s always doing both.”

- James A. Michener

God has placed within our hearts a longing for the things Adam had in the pre-fall garden and that will be ours in the new heaven and the new earth.  We crave the things of heaven.  I hope it is not too idealistic or whimsical to believe that the joy we experience in our recreational life now is a kind of preview or foretaste of the perfect joy and freedom we will experience in the life to come.  With the right attitude, taking precautions not to become selfish or narcissistic in our recreational pursuits, we too can “walk with God in the cool of the day.”  We can use our times of recreation as opportunities to worship our Creator, to glory in His magnificent creation, and to express gratitude to Him as the giver of every good gift (James 1:17).

turkey vulture - ugly but beautiful (photo by Ramona VanRiper on www.vulturesociety.homestead.com)

In spite of its somewhat unpleasant attributes, when a vulture takes to the sky it demonstrates flying skills that hang glider and sailplane pilots worship from afar.  A vulture has an unparalleled ability to find even the most elusive of thermals (bodies of rising air).  On the most marginal of days a vulture can remain aloft for hours without flapping his wings.  The mechanisms a turkey vulture uses to locate thermals so consistently remain a mystery to those who study them in their habitats.

Certainly the turkey vulture, with its widely varied array of characteristics and abilities, is a unique creature in the animal kingdom.  Humans who dream of soaring think he is beautiful in spite of his raw physical appearance.

John and me in Wheeling, West Virginia at the end of our first trip across Ohio.

One of my other recreational passions is biking.  My friend John (not the same John as John or John with whom I fly) introduced me to distance bike riding over a decade ago.  We have enjoyed many Saturday rides through the central Ohio countryside which were spiced with good conversation and great meals at restaurants along the way.  One spring day John suggested that we plan a cross-Ohio trip from west to east.  We would follow Route 40, otherwise known as the National Trail, starting just across the border in Richmond, Indiana and ending 4 days later in Wheeling, West Virginia.  We accomplished the trip that summer as planned, but not without a good bit of pain!  John and I perfected the use of Tylenol, and we would go on to do 3 more cross-Ohio trips in as many years, each averaging around 300 miles.  During one trip we did a “century,” riding 100 miles in a single day.

We had many great experiences and numerous meaningful, soul-searching conversations during our hours on the road.  One discussion remains embedded in my mind above all the others.  We were talking about our relative insignificance in the great scheme of things.  Yes, we both had some decent attainments and abilities, but there was no accomplishment in particular in either of our lives that set us apart in a unique way.  Soon we found ourselves complimenting each other about each other’s achievements – John was in the middle of a distinguished coaching career, and I had just earned an advanced university degree.  We began to realize that, even though no single accomplishment was particularly noteworthy in a Nobel Prize kind of way, it was the blend of small talents and attainments that made each of us very unique.  For example, John is a male school teacher, who is skilled in teaching mathematics to middle schoolers, who is a tournament-winning basketball coach, who plays guitar and leads worship at his church, who has ridden 100 miles on a bike in a single day.  Certainly there are very few people on the face of the earth who have this particular blend of accomplishments and characteristics.  John is unique!

The longer we talked, the more excited John and I got about the concept.  At the time, we worked together as math teachers in the local middle school.   John suggested that we could illustrate the uniqueness of each individual using a Venn diagram where the core of intersecting circles represented that special blend of talents and achievements.  John’s Venn diagram is illustrated below.

John's Venn diagram illustrating his uniqueness

At my graduation party a week or two after our trip, John gave a card to me on which he had drawn my Venn diagram.  It was one of the most meaningful gifts I’ve ever received.

Like the turkey vulture, we are all unique.  Some of our rough edges may need a little grinding and polishing, but we also have gifts with which we can benefit others.  The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Romans, gave this exhortation:

In His grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well.  So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well.  If you are a teacher, teach well.  If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging.  If it is in giving, give generously.  If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously.  And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.  Don’t just pretend to love others.  Really love them.

Romans 12:6-9a (NLT)

No one is equipped to serve others in the same exact way for which you have been crafted.  You may think you are not good enough, but God has given you the ability to soar!

A couple of hours into the flight 3 bald eagles came and played above the ridge with us. Two of the eagles were mature adults with bright white head and tail feathers. The third eagle was a juvenile, but he was as big as the adults. He flew next to me for several minutes, sometimes just ahead and sometimes just behind. It was fun following the eagles as they found strong pockets of lift. They also did some aerobatics…wingovers, steep dives, and stalls. They seemed to welcome us to their domain with no obvious signs of irritation.  The experience of flying with these majestic birds for more than 30 minutes is something I will never forget.

Most cultures hold a high level of reverence for the eagle.  Typically eagles are associated with deities – they are either worshiped as some sort of a god, or they are instruments in the hands of the gods.  The Bible makes many references to eagles through it’s pages.  The fact that the eagle is a skillful hunter, that it makes its home in high places, and that it can soar so effortlessly are spoken of most often.  In Proverbs, the wise sage Agur makes this observation:

There are three things which are too wonderful for me,

Yes, four which I do not understand:

The way of an eagle in the air,

The way of a serpent on a rock,

The way of a ship in the midst of the sea,

And the way of a man with a virgin.

- Proverbs 30: 18-19

Perhaps the most oft-quoted Biblical reference to eagles is found in the prophetic book of Isaiah. In a chapter that the publisher of my particular Bible titles “God’s People Are Comforted” Isaiah pens these beautiful words:

Have you not known?

Have you not heard?

The everlasting God, the Lord,

The Creator of the ends of the earth,

Neither faints nor is weary.

His understanding is unsearchable.

He gives power to the weak.

And to those who have no might He increases strength.

Even the youths shall faint and be weary.

And the young men shall utterly fall,

But those who wait on the Lord

Shall renew their strength;

They shall mount up with wings like eagles,

They shall run and not be weary,

They shall walk and not faint.

- Isaiah 40:28-31

As I’ve meditated on this passage, and pondered what it means when it says that “Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength,” I’ve realized that God is not promising superhuman physical strength to those who trust in Him (although there are examples of this in numerous Old Testament stories).  Obviously the meaning of “strength” refers to something beyond mere physical prowess.

An eagle spends more time with its wings outstretched, riding on the wind, than it does flapping.  Isaiah must be referring to this aspect of an eagle’s flight when metaphorically comparing this to those who wait on the Lord, because in the heart of his message is in an encouragement to cease in our striving. God is all-powerful, and we should always depend on Him and His strength.

I experienced evening "glass off" conditions while flying the Katydid site in central New York state.

Glider pilots who fly along ridges or in mountains, if they are extremely fortunate, can experience this lack of “striving” while in flight.  Ridge soaring on a windy day is a lot of work.  Frequently the pilot is thrashed about unexpectedly, and he must always be ready to take aggressive action to avoid being thrown into the trees or dumped over the back of the ridge.  But, as the afternoon turns into evening and the sun sinks lower in the sky, if the ridge is facing west, a phenomenon called a “glass-off” can occur.  I’ve experienced this twice, and it is wonderful.  The bumpiness disappears, the air becomes “baby butt” smooth, and the pilot in his glider can climb to the highest altitudes of the day.  I’ve flown hands off for long periods of time in glass-off conditions while using the opportunity to take photographs.  These conditions are caused when the eastern slope on the opposite side of the valley becomes shaded in the waning sunlight.  The air on the shaded slope cools and sinks into the valley, pushing the bulk of warm air in the valley up the western slope.

I personally have not experienced the other type of effortless soaring called “wonder winds” or “magic air.”  Pilots talk in reverential tones when telling stories of their flights when the valleys in which they were soaring “wondered.”  This occurs when the slopes on both sides of the basin cool, and the air on the slopes sinks down into the valley.  The warmer air in the valley is gently pushed upward in a large mass, and glider pilots can fly almost anywhere at will while maintaining altitude.  It’s the stuff dreams are made of.

Certainly, eagles utilize these conditions to achieve effortless flight, and this may be the source of Isaiah’s inspiration.  But no one can deny that eagles have very powerful wings.  While clutching captured prey in it’s talons an eagle can take off and fly while carrying a dinner that equals its own weight.  Perhaps the eagle can do this because he conserves energy by soaring on the winds whenever possible.

So how do we cease in our striving while trusting in the Lord?  What does this mean? After all, the writer of Ecclesiastes gives the exhortation “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might” (Ecclesiastes 9:10a).  Perhaps these words of Jesus may be instructive and encouraging:

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

- Matthew 11:28-30

He will give us rest if we take upon ourselves His yoke.  His yoke is obeying the things He taught. In another place Jesus said “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him (Jesus) whom He sent”  (John 6:29).  Obedience to Jesus, getting in the yoke with Him, brings blessings and rest.  Disobedience to the things taught by Jesus causes frustration because of the troubles that come as a result of disobedience. So through faith and obedience we can cease our strivings (doing it our way in our own strength).  It’s like the difference between scratching to say up or riding on wonder winds in glass-off conditions.

The freshly-rennovated radial ramp at Henson's Gap is one of the nicest launch ramps in the world.

Team Challenge is a hang gliding competition event sponsored and hosted by the Tennessee Tree Toppers hang gliding club based in Dunlap, Tennessee.  Their premier launch sight at Henson’s Gap is the location of the week long meet that is promoted as an event where cross-country flying novices are teamed up with more experienced pilots.  Scoring is based on a sliding scale where the distances accomplished by team members each day are multiplied by a factor determined by each pilot’s relative skill level and glider performance level.  Tom, a member of the Ohio Flyers club, had lobbied for our involvement in the meet each year, but to my knowledge no team made up of just Ohio Flyers members had ever competed.  Dad’s challenge to me to “go for it” prompted my registration for the event in the fall of 2008.  Some other Ohio Flyers registered as well.

Team Ohio, made up of Tom, Craig, Chris, Terry, John, and me, began making plans during the late summer and early fall.  We would all camp on sight, and we compared notes on the food, equipment and supplies that we’d each bring.  We also had to consider who would drive for us during the meet.  Part of the scoring involved glider retrieval (since each day’s goals were landing areas that were a good distance from the launch), and team members could earn extra points for tearing down, going back up, and launching again if the goal was not met.  Several of the vehicles that our team members would drive were capable of carrying 3 or 4 gliders at a time.  Though not part of the original plan, as it turned out Tom would do most of the driving for Team Ohio during the competition.  This was incredibly unselfish of him as he delighted in the accomplishments of the team each day, and supported us with loud and boisterous cheers and jeers through the week (you’d have to know Tom to understand).

Loaded up and ready to roll

I left for Dunlap late on a Friday afternoon, drove halfway there, and camped in my dome tent at a $5.00/night campground I found in Danville, Kentucky.  It was the initial night of a marathon 9 days straight of tent camping, a first in my life.  I arrived at around noon on Saturday, and I worked with the team members to set up Camp Ohio on site on the top of the mountain.  Enthusiasm and excitement levels were high as the competition would start the next day.  We each took a flight off the ramp to get used to the launch and the landing zone.  Another first – it was my first “cliff launch” off of a mountain.

My first launch from the mountain ramp in my new glider.

At the organizational meeting Saturday evening, Team Ohio adopted an “A pilot” named Jim Lamb to be our mentor.  Each team was required to have at least one A pilot to lead the team and guide us as we learned more about mountain and cross-country flying.  Jim has a distinguished record of competition and a strong background in piloting many different aircraft, including sailplanes.  We all appreciated his level-headed guidance through the week.

The competition started on Sunday.  Mandatory all-pilot meetings were held each morning where we were briefed on the weather, the day’s goals were specified, and rules were clarified.  In the evenings seminars were led by the experts in attendance which included Mike Barber, one of the best pilots in the world, and Dennis Pagen, the fellow who writes most of the hang gliding training manuals used by pilots as they are learning to fly. Each day the weather was a bit different with most days bringing little wind and relatively light lift potential in the valley.  Even so Team Ohio, after the first three days, was in 3rd place among 10 teams.  On Tuesday we had a fantastic day where the bulk of our team met goals.  I accomplished my longest cross-country flight to date of 8.3 miles.  Spirits were high, the food was tasty, and we Ohio flatlanders felt very good about our team’s strong 3rd place position because most of the other teams were more accustomed to mountain flying.

On Wednesday no flying took place because the winds were far too strong for safe launching.  We participated in seminars on and off during the day.  That evening, I decided to make a trip alone down the mountain to Dunlap to get ice for our coolers.  I was happy to have some time by myself to reflect and pray.  After a while I flipped on the radio.  Without adjusting the tuner a local preacher was on the air talking about the suffering of Job and the trials we encounter in life.  He said that failures, difficulties, and pain are sure to come even to devoted followers of God, and that we should expect and embrace these difficulties.  And the part that really hit me – we can ask God “Why?” if we want to, but He is not obligated to explain why we suffer the things we do.  It’s all a part of His purposes that are far bigger than ours.  I listened a minute or two.  Then I nervously flipped off the radio.  Even though the message was troubling, it seemed as if it were meant just for me.  I prayed “God, I trust you, but I do not want anything to go wrong during this week.  But I suppose, if it is necessary, Your purposes override my preferences.”

It is now Thursday of the week-long competition. Team Ohio had launched earlier in the day, but most of us had sled rides to the landing zone giving us the right to “relight” for a second attempt, earning points for going again. We had done this most days, and by Thursday I was starting to show a little wear. Conditions were fairly light most of the week, and sledders among the less experienced were not unusual. When I stepped to the ramp there was a thermal working several hundred yards down the ridge to the left (south) as indicated by half a dozen kites circling up the face of the mountain. With the encouragement of the launch ramp directors, who were very helpful and fairly aware of where the best action was happening, I decided to immediately head south down the ridge and try to catch the thermal action.

The view to the south from the launch ramp.

Each day of the competition the event director, Ollie, proclaimed the thermalling direction (left or right) that was to be used within the vicinity of the launch ramp. The day’s direction was right, or clockwise. I took off and estimated that by the time I reached the gaggle I’d be coming in at the bottom of the stack. In the thermal the kites were circling up at about 30 degrees from vertical, so the “column” of circling gliders was leaning to the left as I headed their direction. I decided to enter the gaggle at the bottom, shifted a bit to the right, picturing myself entering low and then altering my circles each time to the left as we climbed in the thermal up the face of the mountain. This decision (and the mental picture I formed) was wrong and was the cause of what happened next.

I think because I developed an aversion to getting too close to the trees (I was warned earlier in the week after my first flight that this was not Ohio, and “ridge scratching” like we use at our smaller hill was highly discouraged), so I shifted my entry point too far to the right. Remember, the circling direction was clockwise. As I neared the gaggle, a rigid wing high performance glider was coming around the backside and turning toward me as I got closer. I saw him, but I did not think much about it because he was somewhat higher than me. Well, I could feel quite a bit of turbulence as I neared the thermal, and then I hit strong lift! I instantly shot up about 50 feet, putting me on a head-on collision course with the glider. We both took evasive action, and because of this it was not a super close call. But we both were bumped out of the thermal. I did not successfully make it back into the lift, and I found out later the other pilot must not have either.

Ollie, the meet director, and his rigid wing glider I almost trashed.

At the all-pilot meeting the next morning, the meet director, with much irritation in his voice, told about a near miss he had with “a small glider with red leading edge and a yellow streamer on the king post.” Immediately I knew it was me! No other glider at the meet fit that description.  My whole hang-gliding life flashed in front of me and, before I knew it, I shot up my hand and said “Ollie, that was me!” I apologized to him publicly and recounted my thought processes and actions that led to the incident. I asked for clarification and guidance.

At that moment I felt like Jonathan Livingston Seagull must have felt when he was called before the Council Gathering of Elders immediately after he accidentally zoomed through the Breakfast Flock while pulling out of a high speed dive at 212 miles per hour.  He had not hurt anyone, but his exuberance could have caused much damage.  Even though Jonathan tried to explain to the Elders that he had just discovered the secrets to high speed flight, the Flock was like stone.  They banned him from the Brotherhood of the Flock forever.  Fortunately for me, the meet elders in my situation were much more forgiving.

I learned that it was wrong of me to shift my entry point so far to the right as I entered the thermal for exactly the reasons I explained above. When entering a gaggle, a pilot must plan on the potential that he will be kicked upwards when encountering the lift. I should have timed my entry so that I would maintain proper horizontal and vertical spacing with the other gliders no matter what happened. Ollie and the other experienced pilots (including Dennis Pagen and Mike Barber – talk about being humbled!) said we were not as close to the trees as I thought, and the trees should not have been a consideration.

Ollie told me later that he saw me coming a long time before I got there, and it wasn’t as close a call as he made it sound in front of the group. But he needed to use it as an example. Ollie also told me that he heard of quite a few close calls during the first several days of the competition.  Two pilots had even bumped their wings while circling in a thermal earlier that day! We all should know the ridge and thermalling right-of-way rules, but the unfamiliar circumstance (for me) of circling in a gaggle up the face of a mountain put me in a situation that I did not anticipate.

It went from bad to worse that day. After the meeting, as I was setting up my wing, a hippie guy in a wheelchair rolled up and said “Man, where did you get that girlie glider? That thing is puny.” I wanted to roll his wheelchair, with him in it, right off the end of the ramp. Instead I educated him a bit about how the glider was exactly the right size for my hook-in weight, and he should talk to Wills Wing (the kite’s manufacturer) about his concerns. The first flight on Friday was a sledder for most of our team, and by the time Tom got us back on top, we were hurrying to get off before the launch deadline closed. John helped me set up, and I did a very quick pre-flight inspection. I got up to the ramp, and as I was doing my final hang check, John (who is now way in the back of the set-up area) yelled “Mark Thogmartin, your right undersurface zipper is open!” The whole set-up area went quiet, and the hang check man said “You didn’t do a thorough pre-flight, did you?” I said “Obviously not sir” and I backed off and zipped up.

Even though I was not at all rejected by my team and the rest of the pilots in the competition, I felt incompetent and very lonely.  I remembered the words of the preacher I heard on the radio Wednesday evening – that sometimes God allows us to experience painful and humbling circumstances, and we must trust Him in the middle of the pain.  That night, alone in my tent, the words of the song “Lonely Looking Sky” from the soundtrack of the movie Jonathan Livingston Seagull comforted me as they played in my head:

Lonely Looking Sky

Lonely looking sky
Lonely sky, lonely looking sky
And bein’ lonely
Makes you wonder why
Makes you wonder why
Lonely looking sky
Lonely looking sky
Lonely looking sky

Lonely looking night
Lonely night, lonely looking night
And bein’ lonely
Never made it right
Never made it right
Lonely looking night
Lonely looking night
Lonely looking night

Sleep, we sleep
For we may dream
While we may
Dream, we dream
For we may wake
One more day
One more day

Glory looking day
Glory day, glory looking day
In all it’s glory
Told a simple way
Behold it if you may
Glory looking day
Glory looking day
Lonely looking night

- Neil Diamond

I (and the other members of Team Ohio) could tell you a few more stories about how we all were humbled that week. Even so, the competition was one of the best experiences of my life, and Team Ohio ended up in a very respectable second place!  It was well worth the pain.

Team Ohio - Jim, Tom, Chris, Craig, John, Mark, and Terry

Aviation of one form or another has been a part of our family life from my earliest recollections.  Gas-powered control line and RC model airplanes pacified our interests until my brother’s desire to learn to fly launched him, Dad, and me into the world of full-scale aviation.  We all earned our pilots’ licenses while I was in Jr. High and High School.  I could legally fly an airplane by myself before I could drive a car by myself.  My brother went to technical school after graduation where he earned his airframe and powerplant mechanic’s license.  He’s now the chief mechanic and inspector for a jet charter service in Columbus.  Dad owned several different small airplanes during the time that we were actively flying.  At this present time, none of us has a current license to fly an airplane.

So, my father has been the primary inspiration in my aviation aspirations.  He has followed my involvement in hang gliding with great interest, wishing he could take part himself, but restricted because of health reasons in doing so.  I’d love to see Dad take a tandem hang glider flight with our club instructor – we’ll see if that ever transpires.

I belong to an international hang gliding online discussion board, hanggliding.org, which can be accessed from the sidebar menu on this blog.  Many of the active members on the board shoot videos of their flights and share them with the rest of the board members.  These are fascinating to watch because the viewer can experience, vicariously, what it is like to fly some of the legendary hanggliding sites in the United States and around the world.  One afternoon in the early spring of 2008 I was watching a video produced by David Aldrich (screen name designbydave) which documented a weekend of flying that he and some buddies enjoyed at Big Sur State Park on the central California coast in February, 2008.  It was a fantastic video shot with multiple cameras mounted on several gliders. Dave chose wonderful music to accompany the skillfully edited 31 minute long video which you can view by clicking here and choosing the icon on the bottom of the screen titled “Big Sur California February 2008.”

As I was enjoying the video on my new, large flat screen computer monitor, Dad came in.  A segment of the video which commences at at 13 minutes 20 seconds, titled “David and John Dream Flight,” was just starting to play.  Dad pulled up a chair and watched it with me.  Dave and John launch at the same time and fly in formation to the landing zone near the ocean.  The scenery, the in-air sequences, the sound of the wind and the music were mesmerizing.  All Dad and I could do was to make comments like “Gorgeous! What would that be like?”  I said “I’ve got to do that some day!  I hope to have a chance to fly some of these epic sites before my hang gliding career is over.”

At the end of the segment, Dave lands and chuckles over and over again with glee at what he just experienced.  I know it sounds corny, but I got tears in my eyes knowing just a bit the joy Dave was experiencing.  I think it impacted Dad the same way because he issued a fatherly mandate to me that has embedded itself in my consciousness.  He said “Kid, don’t do like I did. Don’t let your life go by without taking time to go places and have these kinds of experiences.  You can do it and you should.”

Scott and his faithful dog Lowbie

My father has spoken.  And in 2008 I started heeding his advice.  That summer, Donna and I took a week long RV camping vacation to Niagra Falls (no hang gliding there, but what a magnificent sight!) and then to the Finger Lakes region of central New York state.  I connected with another pilot on hanggliding.org, Scott Wise (screen name Wingspan34), who graciously acted as our “tour guide” during the time we were there.  We stayed at an RV park that was 3 minutes from Scott’s home.  Only one day was suitable for flying, but Scott and I got in a fantastic, 90 minute long, late afternoon flight at a site called “Katydid,”  not far from Elmira.  It was a great experience which I plan on doing again (lest you feel sorry for Donna, she stayed at the campground that afternoon where she enjoyed an hour long hot stone massage!).

Scott over the New York countryside as seen from my glider

I deeply appreciate and understand Dad’s desire for me to experience those dreams that he has not accessed during his life.  I will do the same for my sons.  I have found myself speaking more directly to them in “fanning the flames” of their deep motivations whenever possible.  This, to a degree, illustrates the truth in the biblical Proverb that states “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6).  My dad’s love for flying of any kind embedded deeply in me during my childhood.  This embedding happens in ways other than passion for recreational pursuits.  Character qualities like kindness and honesty are also planted deeply in a child’s heart from day one, and we can take comfort in knowing that our children, with God’s mercy and grace, will not depart from the timeless truths we strive to instill in them from birth.

In the soundtrack from Jonathan Livingston Seagull is a simple song called “Dear Father,” the words of which are:

Dear Father

Dear Father
We dream
We dream
We dream
While we may
Who are we to need
We need
We need
While we wait
While we wait

- Neil Diamond

The appropriateness of these words is evident in context.  If you click on the music video link for “Dear Father” highlighted just above, you will see a bruised and battered Jonathan as he convinces himself to pull himself together, in spite of his pain, to go back into the air and fly again after a crushing defeat.  He searches for inspiration from deep inside to do so.  Dad’s passionate mandate to me to grab for exceptional experiences while I can led me to a similar episode.  I’ll explain in Part 3 of this series.

Thanks Dad.  I love you.

Perhaps the positive “you have purpose beyond simple mundane existence” message of the book hit the scenes at the perfect time when the country was reeling from the cultural traumas and civil unrest induced by the Viet Nam war and the political turmoil of the late 60′s.  It grabbed me simply because it was about a young seagull who loved to fly.  Even though I found Bach’s philosophical/religious themes in the book (higher planes of existence, reincarnation) to be out of alignment with my recently renewed Christianity, I was able to “eat the fish and spit out the bones,” to use a uniquely appropriate metaphor my pastor frequently invokes.  I was so enamored with Jonathan that I used quotes from Seagull when writing the script for our National Honor Society induction ceremony for which I was responsible in our senior year of high school.

The movie adaptation, directed by Hall Bartlett, was released in 1973.  It featured an orchestral soundtrack written and performed by Neil Diamond.  If I liked the book, I loved the movie soundtrack.  My brother purchased the LP of the soundtrack, and I frequently would listen to it with headphones in a darkened room and imagine myself with Jonathan as he soared above the clouds and sliced the air in straight down dives at 214 miles per hour.  Years later I would purchase the CD for myself, but I never actually saw the movie until I bought the VHS tape on eBay 25 years after it was released.

Because I did not like the author’s subtle themes that contained shades of Eastern mysticism, I rewrote my own story (in my head) based on the words of the soundtrack.  It’s a story of simplicity, striving for a meaningful and fulfilling purpose, having occasional “crashes,” and redemption aided by wise mentors.  This cycle has repeated itself numerous times in my life, and each time I have found comfort in listening to Diamond’s Jonathan Livingston Seagull in quiet moments and lonely, lovely drives.

The title track, “Be,” is perhaps my perpetually favorite song of all time.  You can watch a music video of it here.  These are the words:

Be

Lost
On a painted sky
Where the clouds are hung
For the poet’s eye
You may find him
If you may find him
There
On a distant shore
By the wings of dreams
Through an open door
You may know him
If you may

Be
As a page that aches for a
Word which speaks on a theme that is timeless
While the Sun God will make for your day
Sing
As a song in search of a voice that is silent
And the one God will make for your way

And we dance
To a whispered voice
Overheard by the soul
Undertook by the heart
And you may know it
If you may know it

While the sand
Would become the stone
Which begat the spark
Turned to living bone
Holy, holy
Sanctus, sanctus

Be
As a page that aches for a word
Which speaks on a theme that is timeless
While the Sun God will make for your day
Sing
As a song in search of a voice that is silent
And the one God will make for your way

- Neil Diamond

Maybe it’s a bit tacky or spooky, but the only request I’ve made to Donna about my funeral (if I go before she does, which seems likely given the events of the past decade!) is that, somehow, the soundtrack from Seagull is used in my funeral.  At least it should be playing in the background during the viewing.

Are you like me…you are always thinking about your ultimate purpose for being here, the future, and what will come next in your life?  My view of this has shifted a bit in recent years.  Donna and I used to belong to a church that, for all of the wonderful people and things we learned and experienced there, was always talking in terms of the future.  We were always preparing, spiritually, for something that was coming.  It seemed as though we looked at life as if the real battle or ministry was out on the horizon, and everything we were experiencing now was practice for what was coming then.  Well, I’ve come to realize that every day brings opportunities for ministry, every day we can represent our Lord to those around us, and that the “battle” is now.  Lot’s of things – my daily devotions, conversations with friends and family, situations and relationships at work, various forms of media – they encourage me in my daily walk.  And the story of Jonathan has been a small part.