Camping! ...Kinda...

So as most of my regular readers ought to know by now is that I’m an aviation student. As I’ve said before, safety is our top priority, however we recognize that things happen.

That’s why we have a survival course. That way if the worse happens, we can hopefully still stay alive. We leave on this adventure tomorrow.

We spend a day and a bit learning all about how to survive (Making fires, shelters etc…), then monday we leave for our survival trip. We go way out into the middle of nowhere, get split into teams, then are left to survive for several days. Come Friday, they pick us up and we go home.

Oh and did I mention that we’re only allowed one change of clothes, a sleeping bag, thermarest, a water bottle, a knife, a Bible, and a headlamp per person, and each group of four or five is given enough food for one person for one day, and a small pot? That’s it.

We leave tomorrow.

We’ll be miserable, hungry, cold, and bored. I can’t wait.

Repetition

Have you ever repeated a word over and over again to the point that it becomes completely meaningless? It’s an interesting experience.

I’ve recently decided to start reading 3rd John at least twice a day. You’d think based of what I just said that it’s losing it’s meaning, but actually I’m finding it has more and more meaning.

I’m finding that I disagree with many people who seem to think that it was written later, probably in the 90s, because it talks about not receiving help from the Gentiles.

The writer writes about how the missionaries went out not accepting aid from the Gentiles, which obviously implies that the writer thinks that Gentiles are not to be dealt with if it can be helped, however Peter made it very obvious in Acts 10 that non-Jewish converts were equal to Jewish converts in the eyes of God. This happened earlier than the 90s, probably about half way through the century. If I’m correct (and I admit that I might be wrong, there are many holes in this idea), 3 John is a very early manuscript.

That being said, Gaius is not a Jewish name, so he was most likely a non-Jewish convert himself.

The rest of the book is almost entirely devoted to instructions on hospitality. It is a challenging letter because the writer instructs Gaius to do things that simply aren’t done in our culture. Then again, when does the Bible not?

Biking in the cold

I wrote about biking to the airport before, most people didn’t seem to understand that I was serious.

I was.

I don’t ride everyday, but I ride often.

I enjoy the exercise, but sometimes it’s not very fun…

Somedays it’s unbelievably cold and windy. The cold isn’t that bad since the oil in my chain usually thickens meaning I have to work harder and thus stay warm, but the wind can be brutal!

I have had to tilt about fifteen degrees over to compensate for a cross-wind. That doesn’t seem like much, but trust me, it is.

Warm days are annoying too if I’m not expecting it, I bike to the airport all bundled up, and when I arrive, I’m drenched in sweat!

But worst of all, is the ice.

You see, in Three Hills they don’t seem to believe in using salt or sanding the roads. The just cars pack the snow down. This turns the roads into ice rinks. I have crashed multiple times because I tried to turn, and my tires just slid everywhere and I fell over. (I haven’t gotten around to studding my tires yet) Fortunately, I can usually see it coming and have time to jump off my bike.

All that being said I still do enjoy the ride...

Safety

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about safety. Particularly the need for helmets.

Safety is something that I also have to consider in aviation.

What a lot of people don’t realise, is that safety in a flight is more that just making sure that your plane isn’t too heavy. Weight is a factor, but we also have to make sure that the weight is in the right place.

If it’s not, then our center of gravity could be in the wrong place, and we might not be able to get out of an emergency.

We also have to think about what to do if an engine fails, or a deer suddenly runs out on the runway in front of us. What if I hit some unexpected clouds?

You get the idea. There’s a lot of safety things to think about.

I’ve been thinking a lot about safety as a result, and I’ve come to the realisation that I can only do so much. I have to trust the mechanics that they did their job right, I have to trust the company that made my plane that they calculated where the center of gravity envelope is correctly…

You get the idea.

Ultimately, I guess that I have to trust God. He always provides. All we have to do, and all we can do, is pray.

Though sometimes He doesn’t answer prayer the way we like.

People  need to remember that God often answers our prayers by seemingly doing the opposite of what we want Him to do. Particularly when it comes to safety.

I have found that God often lets (or causes, I’m not one to say) accidents to happen. When that happens, we tend to either say “Why God?” or “Thank-you God that no one got hurt”. What I think is really happening there is God is saying, “You want me to keep you safe? Alright, but you’re gunna have to at least try!” so when those accidents happen, I think God is trying to tell us that we’re not holding our end of the bargain.

In the end, practice safety. And ALWAYS look for a way to improve.

Providence?

I’m not used to living in college. I’ve never spent this much time with so many people before.

Unsurprisingly, it has been taking its toll on my body. I don’t feel as rested, even when I go to bed really early, and my immune system can’t seem to keep up.

Then the other day, someone who obviously has a lot of money bought three months worth of multivitamins/multiminerals, fish oil, and concentrated fruit and vegetable pills for every student here.

That’s a lot of pills.

I figured, it won’t help me sleep, but at least everything else should do well…

I guess God does provide in some strange ways. I’ll let you know if I feel a difference.

FLIGHT!

So I flew for the first time on thursday. For those of you who have been dreading this, LOOK OUT BELOW!

For those of you in the loop, I’ve been looking forward to that day for years. The best part is that it isn’t a once-in-a-lifetime thing. This is a I’ll-be-doing-this-almost-every-day-for-the-better-part-of-the-rest-of-my-life thing.

I’m excited. For those of you wondering, it went fantastic! My takeoff was a bit bumpy, but the rest went well.

I read a quote once “You haven’t seen a tree until you’ve seen its shadow from the sky”.  It’s true. It’s crazy.

Near here, there is a river, the Red Deer river. It’s cool because it has carved a decent sized valley into the landscape. when you’re driving, you can’t see it coming because it drops straight down. From the sky, it’s a massive rift that runs from north to south for as far as the eye can see. (The valley in the picture is the Red Deer River Valley)

God’s earth is beautiful.