Squawk, Then Listen

I heard a long time ago that “old age ain’t for sissy’s”. Well, the older I get the further away from “old age” I feel, yet I can remember a time when my grandfathers, at my now age, were old men in the eyes of a youngster. I know “old age”, for me, is out there somewhere, because the gap between my able body and the age of some of my older acquaintances, with all the normal maladies of “old age”, is narrowing. Yeh, I guess you could say I’m not really looking forward to being “old”, but then again it beats the alternative. Physical and mental health is important to me, because I plan on living a good long time, God willing. So, I’m marching in as a warrior, not a “big sissy”.
I know you’ve heard of the “Serenity Prayer”. God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; Courage to change the things I can and Wisdom to know the difference. Recently I’ve come across the “Senility Prayer”. God grant me the senility to forget all the people I never liked anyway, the good fortune to run into those I do and the eyesight to tell the difference. But what is unfamiliar to most is the rest of that famous prayer which says: Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardship as the pathway to peace; Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His will; That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him in the next. Amen.
In the 70’s I worked for an aircraft manufacturer in San Antonio, Texas as a flight technician and mechanic. Part of my job was climbing into a “green” airplane, one which had never been off the ground before, and documenting all the problems observed by the test pilot, to be corrected before the next test flight. Something more about aircraft while in their test phase, there’s nothing in the interior except for a lot of wires, minimum instrumentation, a squawk & talk radio and two parachutes, which I never knew how to use anyway. Well, if you know anything about South Texas weather you know that a summer thunderstorm can appear almost like magic. The airport tower called us one day to let us know about such a storm forming and to return ASAP. With only visual navigation I’m here to tell you it’s hard to find your way home when clouds are blooming up in front of you faster than you can go around them. The squawk part of the radio sends a signal to the airport tower letting the controller know where we are in the air in relationship to other aircraft. Our ziging and zaging about the clouds sure made the controller nervous, but with his help of guidance we made it home safe and sound.
[Proverbs 3: 5-6] (NIV) Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. We’re all on a journey, a test flight, to examine ourselves and correct those things which need correcting, but unfortunately thunderstorms erupt we don’t ever expect. In light of the Virginia Tech tragedy this past week, my heart and prayers go out to all those parents and friends of the victims taken that day, those snatched from life who will never grow old, and we don’t know why. For those who remain, they will navigate around this cloud, which has obscured their focus on life, and press on. In the storms of life we squawk out a signal to God, wondering if He knows what’s happening to us. YES, God knows. Listen to Him, for He is guiding you through the storms of life.