I jumped out of a perfectly good airplane...

Ffor my 50^th birthday my family gave me a gift certificate to tandem skydive. Saturday the 26^th I used it. All I can say is OUTRAGEOUS! We jumped at a little airfield in St. Mary’s, GA. The plane takes you to 11,500 feet. On the way up you can see Kings Bay Naval Base, Cumberland Island, Fernandina, FL, the Atlantic Ocean and numerous rivers as they dump into the Atlantic. The view from 5,000 and 8,000 and 10,000 feet is breath taking. It is also much cooler up there than the mid 90’s on the ground.

Speaking of the ground, Barbara, Carolyn, her boyfriend Garrison and my Mom and Dad watched from the ground as Elizabeth, my brother Karl and I jumped out of a perfectly good airplane. As an aside an aviation industry insider let me know there is no such thing as a perfectly good airplane all of them have something wrong with them. I guess you hope and pray it is minor. I had been watching people jump before us and while they are in freefall they are but specks in the big blue sky. Most of the time invisible to my eye until that moment when the chute deploys and then they appear for the first time floating gently and quietly to the earth (unless they are screaming). I never did see the jumpers until their chutes opened others more practiced said they did.

The plane is small and cramped going to altitude and then it was time to exit. I had to place both feet on a small step outside the door as the wind rushed by resting in the door way looking at the ground far below. For just a split second I wondered what was I doing then came one, two, and three as we sailed out the door tumbling end over end (at my request) until my instructor stabled our descent and we flew. To let you know, it felt like standing in the back of a truck with the wind rushing by your face. The wind was the only way I knew we were moving and even then it felt like the wind was moving not me. I was then a speck in the great big blue sky just like the others before me whom I had looked so hard to see.

In the plane as the view widened and the beauty surrounded me I was overwhelmed by the majestic grandeur of the sight. The water, the shore, the vast expanse of God’s creation and this was but a little piece of the coastline visible from 10,000 feet. God had created this amazing wonder and for but a few minutes I could see it laid out before me as the heavens are laid out before God.

Isaiah 40:22
He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. NIV 1984

Now I was outside of the plane with the wind rushing by and I could see it all with not plane and I was incredibly small, not even visible from the ground and the family that loved me. Oh, but the God who created this grandeur knows me by name and can see me in the vast expanse of His creation. I was not alone. Well, there was this guy connected to my back at five points with a parachute. We were not alone. I was at first overwhelmed by the vastness of my view and then by my insignificance in that scene. Then I thought of God the creator of both. He made both and keeps up with both.

I liked the freefall and wanted it to last longer when the chute deployed and it became so quiet and peaceful. We did some spirals first to the right and then to the left. That was good and the view was amazing (did I say that already?) well it was. The landing was not perfect but fine as I ended up face-planting in the St. Mary’s grass. It was all good no grass was injured in the making of this storied landing.

Are you feeling small like a speck in the world? Well, you are! But you are known and loved by the creator of the vast expanse! You are not alone! I think the perspective of our smallness and God’s greatness sets us on course again. I am but a speck and He is most certainly not!        

In HIS Service and Yours,

The Rev

P.S. We made some video. It should be up on you-tube soon at the Crossroads Church Channel.