A Pilot Brother & Community

(May 2012)

When Andrew called us for the very first time from OCS a year ago, his voice cracked and he sounded exhausted and spent. I cried when he hung up the phone. My brother willingly chose to enter the Navy in pursuit of a dream that had grown in his heart, but it was hard to hear him sound defeated.

In watching my brother pursue his desire to be a pilot for the Navy, God is impressing on my heart so many examples of His faithfulness and abundance. Andrew's pursuit of this path has come about only in the last two years, but it is happening quickly and with a strength of desire and passion that amazes me.

Since considering the Navy, Andrew always wanted to be a jet pilot. He didn't want to fly helicopters, or work in intelligence. He wanted to fly huge airplanes that take off and land on 250 feet of moving runway on an aircraft carrier. Few people want to do something like this, so when Andrew's desire took hold of his heart, I often prayed that God would grant him that very desire. Andrew has worked hard in pursuit of this dream. He is so committed and dedicated, qualities that I deeply admire in him. He worked hard in OCS and in primary flight training. Today was the day that Andrew was called into an office where he would be told his next assignment.

In the time leading up to this, I think we were all nervous and cautiously hopeful. I prayed again and again that God would grant Andrew the desires of his heart, that God would bless Andrew's hard work and faithfulness. It is so easy for us to see God as a stingy or withholding God. Watching Andrew's path this last year reminded me again and again that God is a God who delights to give His children the desires of their heart. He doesn't give us desires just to watch them be unrealized and to bring us disappointment. Certainly, the Lord gives and the Lord takes away, but I think too often we doubt God's abundance. We don't believe that He loves to give His children desires, and then to fulfill them.

Today, Andrew was selected to fly T-45s for the Navy.

This afternoon, I realized that Andrew's story gives those around him hope. Andrew's community—his family, and his friends, and his church—can all take comfort as they see the goodness and provision of God in Andrew's life. Andrew's selection does not simply bless Andrew. It blesses the community around him. It astounds me every time I realize how big God's work is. God didn't just do this for Andrew. He did it for me, and he did it for those who know Andrew. Through this life of God-given and God-granted desires, those around Andrew can take heart, for God does indeed know their desires, and He loves to give in abundance.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
(Ephesians 3)