carbonated joy

I’ve always been fascinated with airplanes and flight.

The ability to leave the earth behind captured my imagination.

Much to the chagrin of my very practical Dad, I spent a lot of time growing up with my head in the clouds. I always wanted to get on a plane and crack the clouds. But, sadly it took me a while to get my feet off the ground.

In elementary school a lot of my friends got to fly. They would come back to school and tell us how great it was…there were peanuts and window seats and turbulence and blue water in the bathroom. They had been transported to magical places like Cleveland and Omaha.

BUT, the single coolest thing was when they visited the cockpit.

They got to meet the PILOT!!! Who, it seems, was always a tall, handsome man named Captain Dan who smoked a pipe. He saluted them and welcomed them in a deep, manly voice. They saw the instruments, dials and controls.

BUT, the crowning cockpit moment was when Captain Dan gave them some super cool plastic wings!

THEY GOT WINGS!!! I couldn’t stand it!

They were part of a club that I wasn’t! The club of people with wings!

They wore those wings to school with an authoritative swagger.

The wings made a powerful statement. They said “I have left the ground, I have flown and I have the wings to prove it!”

MAN!!! I ALWAYS wanted those wings.

The problem was that the first time I ever flew I was 18. It would have been a little awkward to go into the cockpit looking for wings.

But, MAN! I wanted some wings!

Because I knew something… Wings are wonderful things.

They take us places.

There was a time when people lived their entire lives with their feet firmly planted on the ground. Then on December 17, 1903, two brothers from Ohio, with no formal engineering training, neither even had a High School diploma, defied gravity in a crazy looking flying machine over the dunes of the North Carolina outer banks.

They discovered Wings! They took off. They left the world behind.

We were born to fly. We were meant to go to unimaginable places and defy gravity.

You were born to be a charter member of the club of people with wings.

The Engineer of eternity wired us to fly and HE gives us wings.

Isaiah 40:31 says: “those who trust in the Lord will find new strength, they will soar high on wings like eagles.”

Here are our flight instructions: Trust God and get wings.

Trusting isn’t always easy, but evidently it’s necessary flight training.

Want wings? Trust God, wait on Him, listen to Him.

We need to learn to trust in God because He is our air traffic controller.

He sees things that we don’t. He creates conditions. He knows the exact right time to take off.

He gives us wings. Those wings give us the unnatural ability to defy gravity. The ability to soar above situations.

Airplane wings are strong. They hold the entire weight of the plane PLUS the stress put on them by turbulence and control forces. BUT airplane wings will eventually fail if over stressed.

The Wings that God gives us will never fail. They are spiritual and not bound by the laws of physics.

God gives us wings.

They give us the unnatural ability to soar over anything.

We have the supernatural ability to withstand any turbulence in life. That’s good because there will be turbulence, the winds will howl. Things are gonna get bumpy.

Please fasten your seatbelts and return your tray table to its full upright position… And trust your wings! They will take you places. Wings take you places that you can’t get to on foot or by car. God gives you supernatural wings that take you to unimaginable places and help you do things that you could never do in your own strength.

God gives us wings.

He is the air traffic controller AND the pilot. He gives us wings and he gives us our own unique flight pattern.

We don’t work to get our wings, we trust.

In elementary school, the only thing my flying friends had to do to get their wings from Captain Dan was walk on board! They just got to know the pilot. He gave them wings.

It’s the same with us. You can’t grow wings. They can only be given to you.

Get to know the pilot. He has a custom made set of wings for you. Wings take you places.

You were born to fly. You were designed to defy gravity. God will give you wings. You will soar above.

Don’t let anybody or anything clip your wings. We do that. We listen to the critics, to the ones who have never left the ground themselves.

The Wright brothers had a lot of people telling them that they would never fly. They didn’t allow the haters to clip their wings. They did what had never been done. You get to do the same thing.

Don’t get grounded by fear, doubt or insecurity. Don’t get grounded by comparing your flight plan to someone else’s. You were born to go to starry, faraway places…places that can only be reached if you have wings!

Wings are wonderful things!

BIG thanks to my pilot friend, Rich Wenzel, who gave me some great insight into leaving the ground behind.