Author: Ron Miller

I had a really great Sunday today! Not just because my daughter is celebrating her 31st birthday (Maybe it was 29, I had better check…). I flew my first solo flight!

Here are the details, and I know that those who know me realize that there will be life lessons contained within.

Today, July 27, 2008 was forecasted to be yet another hot and stormy July day here in the Washington DC area. I had not been able to perform my first solo on Saturday because there was too much wind coming across the runway for a rookie like me to handle. So, we scheduled the first solo for a nice calm Sunday morning starting at 6AM. I know this sounds early for most of you, but I have firmly settled into a routine of walking every morning at that time anyways.

Early in the morning you get your best shot at having calm winds and no thunderstorms to rain on your parade. So I rose up before the light and drove to the airport where I prepared the plane for its first flight of the day.

The airport I have been using is called Bay Bridge Airport and although it is small, it’s a nice place to stay out of the big jets at BWI. There is also a lot of beauty being right on the Chesapeake Bay at the base of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge on Kent Island.

My flight instructor called and said he was running a bit late and asked me to taxi the plane from the hanger to the fuel pit where he would meet me. After doing a thorough pre-flight check on the plane I hopped in and started it up. The only detail I missed being a rookie is that is not good practice to start an airplane while still in the hangar. The only damage done was to the glass on a picture frame the tipped over from the wind created by the propeller.

While I was moving the plane down the taxiway, I glanced again at the plane that was flipped over at the end of the runway in the grass. The previous day, a student and his instructor took a wild ride when the plane bounced off the runway and the student overcorrected while trying to continue the landing. Luckily nobody was hurt at all, just shaken up quite a bit. This was a danger I wanted to avoid.

The lesson and the solo went without a hitch. My first landing was arguably my best. On my third try I came down a bit faster than I wanted to, and my plane bounced. I could see the crashed plane out of the corner of my eye, and I quickly made the decision to go around. I finished a few more landings without a hitch, and my instructor granted me my certificate along with a “well done”.

I looked at my watch and decided that I still had time to make it to the 9:15 service at church, so I hit the road. About halfway, I remember that I still had the key to the hanger in my pocket! I turned around and also remembered the glass I left on the floor of the hanger. I decided that the wise thing to do would be to return to the hanger and clean up the mess I made. This would be much more important in the long run to the Kingdom of God than sitting in church.

As it turned out, I still had time to make it to the 11:15 service at the church. Mark’s topic was Proverbs 22:3:

“A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.”

This made me think of my 3rd landing where I saw the danger and took refuge. I aborted the landing attempt. If I had kept going, I may have suffered for it. I believe the other wise decision was to take the key back promptly and clean up the broken glass in the hangar.

All of this made for a truly blessed worship experience this morning.

-Ron

As I was preparing for our Friday Night Solutions meeting this week, I felt prompted to share something this week about Mothers.

I searched the scriptures for references about mothers. I found many pointing toward a strong and tenacious love that mothers have. This Sunday Mark Norman spoke from Romans 16:13 where in a middle of a list Paul says the following:

“Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who has been a mother to me, too.”(NIV)

Mark’s message was about the tenacity of a mother’s love which we certainly cannot deny. However in the sinful world in which we live, we realize that there is no such thing as the perfect mom. Many children are raised without a mom (truly a bad thing), or a mom who is not always there or not as loving as the children always need. Depression, drug abuse, anxiety, or just the “cares of this world” too often get in the way of raising children.

These children of human mothers may grow up and feel damaged by their lack of the loving security of a mom who is always there, but I would like to say that they are NOT damaged, simply that they have not yet developed all of their emotional tools. God sends in people to fill in the gaps, and we must do the work to see where we are emotionally deficient and ask God to help us to finish our development in those areas. This should become part of our 12 step process.

I had a wonderful mom as I was growing up. She always made sure that all of my physical needs were met. I do however remember many times when I just felt like I needed a hug, and so I would just cry and cry. My crying was usually met with a statement like “stop feeling sorry for yourself”, or my dad would say “stop crying or I will give you something to cry about.” I had an emotional need that went unmet for many years in my life.

More recently in my life I have discovered a psychological term called “object constancy”. This is where a child feels loved even though the parent may be temporarily absent. I feel like this object constancy was something I never developed until later in my life.

One person that God brought into my life as an adult was Sheri Meeker. Sheri is a wife to her husband Steve, and mother to her kids Randy and Holly. As a young married person my wife and I would go to their house to play cards and enjoy each other’s company. I was not a very assertive person, and many times my comments would simply go unsaid because somebody else would speak first and I would always back off and let them speak. While playing cards, Sheri noticed that I had things to say and so in those times that I would hesitate to speak out she started by asking me “Ron, what were you about to say?”. For the first time in my life, I felt like somebody cared to hear what I had to say. This did much to boost my self esteem.

Sheri is a trained and Spirit Filled counselor. To date she has touched countless lives by simply being there to listen and impart Godly wisdom to the people who came to her. She would often say that the wisdom she shared during her counseling sessions was not from her, but were words and concepts delivered to her heart from God. I believe this to be very true.

I want to celebrate Sheri’s life today because she is truly like Rufus’ mother mentioned in Romans 16. I have no doubt that if the Apostle Paul knew Sheri there would be a similar greeting to her.

We have been praying for the Meeker family for the past many years. When Carole was diagnosed with cancer Sheri was once again a source of strength and comfort to us. It was someplace she had been and her struggle filled us with hope. We did not feel so alone knowing that she had been in the same battle.

Steve and Sheri have been battling cancer for many years now, and it looks like that battle may be coming to an end. This end is far from the end that we have hoped and prayed for. We are not giving up, but simply letting God decide what is best. This world we live in is full of sin and evil. The life we are going to, where Sheri may be soon, is far beyond this sin and evil. Sheri’s battle will be over, and she will be able to say that she has won the battle because although the cancer may have taken her body, her soul and spirit belong to God. Steve and the rest of the family will need our prayers and support as they grieve the loss of a great wife and mother. For them, we pray the serenity prayer.

My prayer for you is that you will honor your mother today. Also since remembering that mom isn’t absolutely perfect, you may need to use step 4 to help identify those areas where you have room to grow. Once identified may God send a Sheri into your life to help you grow.

For more information, visit my website at http://www.recoverme.org You may read this post again in the blog (weblog) there.

God’s grace and peace to you all!

-Ron

Serenity Prayer:

God grant me the SERENITY to accept the things I cannot change
The COURAGE to change the things I can
And the WISDOM to know the difference.

Excerpt from the 12 steps:

Step 4. We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

Step 5. We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.