Thoughts to Stir the Mind (28)

Well this is really it. My last post as a student of W.A. After I'm done typing this up, I'll be free to do my other homework so that I can graduate. But as I have been assigned to do, I will talk about the deep concept of beginnings and endings.

As humans we have a built-in way of looking at things that involves a beginning and an ending. Every story must start, and the good ones always have an ending. School starts at 7:25 and ends at 12:30. Airplanes take off, and then they land. This earth also has a beginning and an end. It is wrapped up in the Great Controversy which is soon to end.

But if you want to get your mind wrapped up in knots, think about existing with no end. My picture of heaven starts with the last-day events which culminate in Jesus' 2nd Coming. Then the Millennium and the 3rd coming in which the New Jerusalem is brought to Earth. Then sin and sinners are finally destroyed and the Great Controversy close. Then in my mind's eye, as I see the whole universe rejoicing, the curtain falls and my conception of any existence beyond that point fades. My skewed human perspective makes it look like an old person dying happily, completely satisfied with life.

But no! That is the beginning of the endless ages of eternity. We will exist forever. There will be no more end to anything. It is impossible to comprehend. Letters on a screen cannot communicate the vastness of that idea. But it is a reality.

There will be many endings in this life. High school is almost over. We bid friends goodbye, often for good. Life ends for close loved ones. But there is hope. We can look ahead to the end of all endings. And an eternal beginning beyond.

The Time Has Come (27)

My senior year of high school is drawing to a close. Less than two weeks are left before my classmates and I march down the aisle. I have to say this year has been one of the strangest. Up until now, there were always older classes to look up to, to hang out with, and to bawl over when they left. But that was over this year. Now we are the ones on the way out.

This school year has been one full of change. It was tough, and those of us who were here the longest had it the worst. But perhaps the most memorable events of my life happened this year. We had the best men's chorus ever and we even went on tour. I was baptized. I went on my first international mission trip. And I became a pilot.

God is good. He has brought me through four years of high school, and He has been careful to mix joys into the trials. Everything has worked out in the end. The finish line is in sight. Academy is almost over. Soon I will step out into the real world. Weimar University.

Salt Point 09 (25)

This past weekend the Academy made its annual pilgrimage to the coast for its spring campout. It was my 5th time to go to Salt Point, and my 3rd time going with the Academy. And it must have been the windiest campout I've been on so far. Most people brought too few clothes, as usual, and half the time was spent huddling around the campfire. But overall, the experience was enjoyable.

As a new adult, I got to enjoy a privilege of being 18: a motorcycle ride along the California coastline. Boyd missed the bus and had to come on his red sport bike. I was pretty happy about that, because for our outings, he took me on the back of his motorcycle. It was exhilerating when we came to a rise in the road and found ourselves on the top of an immense cliff with no guardrail and nothing but the vast ocean filling our vision. That's Highway 1 for you!

That my last campout with the Academy as a high school student. Who knows, maybe they'll beg me to come along with them again next year, but as far as being a student camper, this is the end of the line. Graduation is less than 3 weeks away, and then those little assignment numbers will be disappearing from my post titles for good!

"This is your captain speaking..." (26)

Prompt 26 came just in time to let me tell you about the latest milestone in my life. As some of you know, I started flight training in January. And my checkride, the pilot's equivalent of a driving test, was scheduled for May 4 - yesterday. As we were heading into late California spring, the weather was sunshiny and clear until an unexpected storm blew in last week. The weather service predicted a chain of storms would blow across Northern California over the weekend and into the week. Each day the forecast worsened for checkride day. It looked like I would need to cancel.

May 4 dawned, gray and overcast. My instructor had insisted that I wait to reschedule until the actual day of the test. The day before I had carefully did my homework for the checkride and I tried to get enough rest. When I got up, the nearest aviation forecast for the area I would be testing in was calling for low ceilings and rain. But the current conditions were good.

My instructor said I might have a chance. The examiner said it was my call. (Thanks a lot.) I decided to give it a try. Rushing to the airport 45 minutes late, I was in the plane heading to Chico within the hour. I arrived, met the examiner and began the examination. The man was a very quiet fellow who looked like he could have been a WWII bomber pilot. He wasn't the kind of man to be easily impressed, but I had the impression that he was trying to teach me some valuable lessons.

The ground portion was completed by noon and the weather continued to hold. We went out to the plane. A brief preflight, with some rain to hurry things up, and we were off for the flight. I had never flown in such strong winds before! I performed the maneuvers and tasks he asked me to do, making a few mistakes. The airplane started to go into a spin when I did a power-on stall, and while I recovered, I didn't do it correctly. But I definitely learned a good lesson.

We were on the ground again after just an hour and fifteen minutes. I taxied back to the hangar and shut down the plane. The examiner asked to look at some piece of paper. I cringed inside as I listened to his silence and remembered how I messed up one of the maneuvers. He finished whatever he was doing, and without ceremony he turned to me and said quietly, "Well, I'd like to congratulate you. You passed."

After years of dreaming for years of this moment, I had finally made it. I had really become a pilot! Now I am truly The Flying Dutchman.