Waiting.

Not much has changed since Monday's blog post. In other words, we are still waiting. Ben will probably have a flight tomorrow and it will be a very important one. Either he passes, and they move him right along to the next flight, as though these past two weeks never happened. Or he fails, and although we don't know the whole story on what could happen then; he would be sent to a review board to see if he stays in the flight program.

His instructor on Tuesday was very encouraging and really thinks that Ben can pull out of this--he saw him as very trainable and told him that most of the flight went really well--he really wanted to pass him, but needs him to get just a couple of things down pat in the airplane before he can justifiably do that.

Its challenging to see failure as a blessing, or to see the good that God is doing through it. Its much more tempting to just measure yourself up to everyone else, the way the instructors measure you all day. Its exhausting to work so hard and to not reap the visible "reward" of passing. Its tempting to wonder, "is all this hard work I've been doing over the past year in vain?"

Those have been the struggles of this week so far, and of the last week too. We have to look for the good in this situation, we have to trust God's faithfulness & be thankful. We have to remember that God has not told Ben to leave the flight program, and we have to press on. Waiting, all the while for His plan in all this to be revealed...waiting to see how the next flight will go. Trusting, that God has had a plan in giving Ben success in flight school for the past year, and that he has a good purpose now in allowing him to fail these flights.

We are waiting...trying not to grow impatient or weary of working hard. I was very encouraged by a sermon from John Piper on Impatience & Unbelief this morning. Here is an excerpt:

"Impatience is a form of unbelief. It's what we begin to feel when we start to doubt the wisdom of God's timing or the goodness of his guidance. It springs up in our hearts when the road to success gets muddy or strewn with boulders or blocked by some fallen tree. The battle with impatience can be a little skirmish over a long wait in a checkout lane. Or it can be a major combat over a handicap or disease or circumstance that knocks out half your dreams.

The opposite of impatience is not a glib, superficial denial of frustration. The opposite of impatience is a deepening, ripening, peaceful willingness either to wait for God where you are in the place of obedience, or to persevere at the pace he allows on the road of obedience—to wait in his place, or to go at his pace."

This is what we are striving to do, to grow in a peaceful willingness to "persevere at the pace he allows on the road of obedience.."

Like I said, He hasn't called us away from flight school up to this point, so we need to persevere & trust him.

Pray for us. That as we wait, our strength & courage in Jesus would mount, and that we wouldn't crumble in exhaustion. Pray that we have a right response to every which way He leads us this week. Pray that we would not dwell in the unbelief of impatience---but believe in patience!

"Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint." Isaiah 40:31