I absolutely love to fly, and I love every aspect of the experience. I don’t walk into an airport with an ounce of dread or fear. Some of you are going to think I’m a bit insane as you read this!
- I thoroughly enjoy the airport terminal experience. It’s a game for me to get luggage checked, go through the screening, then to find your gate. The bigger the airport, the better!
- The TSA experience doesn’t bother me. In fact, I traditionally get patted down or wanded even though I always wear a sweatshirt and sweatpants to ensure there is no metal. I tell them that I have two artificial hips which sends me through the “special” scanner, yet I’m most likely going to get the hands-on treatment afterwards. Okay, not a fan of this one but it doesn’t dampen my spirit about flying!
- I love the journey. Moving sidewalks, trams, and escalators just enhance the joy. I want to get into the walking lane of the moving sidewalk and see how fast I can get to the other end. Even though we have found our gate, I’ll get on the tram just to see where it takes me.
- Yes, it’s expensive to eat at an airport but how often do you do it? I want to search out the different stores, restaurants, and kiosks just for the experience. One time, we found a Sprinkles Cupcake kiosk. This is one of the most well-known brands of specialty cupcakes. I think it was $8 for one cupcake but it was delicious.
- Once we find our gate, I’ve gotten to the airport with plenty of time to spare. My wife’s ready to just sit and be calm. I want to explore. Like Lewis and Clark, I set off on the adventure. She reads while I exercise my curiosity.
- The flight – oh, it’s so hard to tell what my favorite part is! The exhilaration of take-off as the engines roar and you barrel down the runway; lifting off the ground and that momentary feeling of weightlessness; the flight itself and the hours of being untethered from cell phones; the landing as the wheels touch down on the tarmac. I even enjoy some turbulence along the ride. It’s just invisible speed bumps.
- And I love the fact that I can go coast-to-coast in a matter of hours versus having to drive all of that and split it up over days. The speed is awesome and you land feeling like you want to do something rather than feeling like you need to recover from the long drive.
Yes, if it were possible, I would fly EVERYWHERE. For a guy that doesn’t like heights, it
seems odd that I would enjoy it so much. Therefore, I can really get behind today’s National Day Calendar celebration. This is National Aviation Day. The date was chosen in 1939 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in honor of Orville Wright’s birthday, August 19, 1871. At the time of this proclamation, 68-year-old Wright was still living and would live another nine years.
Alfred Brumley was another person who loved to fly. Born in 1905, he worked on the family’s cotton farm. While picking cotton in 1929, “he was humming an old prison song. The prison song said this: “If I had the wings of an angel, over these prison walls I could fly.””1 The thought struck him that the concept of that song could be turned into something spiritual. The first verse of the song came to him rapidly, but it wouldn’t be until 1932 that the song was finished and published. We know his song well.
Some glad morning when this life is o’er
I’ll fly away
To a home on God’s celestial shore
I’ll fly away
[Chorus]
I’ll fly away, oh glory
I’ll fly away
When I die, Hallelujah, by and by
I’ll fly away.2
Without the lyrics to read, most of us can finish the other two verses of this song. It reminds us that very soon, the Lord is going to call us home and we will “fly away.” What a tremendous promise afforded to us on the basis of our faith in Jesus as Savior! And what a day, glorious day that will be!
Luke 16:22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom…
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. (14) For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. (15) For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. (16) For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: (17) Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (18) Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
1https://lukepowellministries.com/friday-classic-hymns/ill-fly-away-hymn-story
2https://genius.com/Religious-music-hymns-ill-fly-away-lyrics
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