Thursday, July 19, 2012

What If...

     The Lord does not always reveal answers to questions or situations in our life.  He asks of us to live by Faith and complete Trust in His doings.  We are to hold His hand and go in the direction He leads us.  With willingness of heart, mind, and body.  So, Wes and I have returned to going back to our normal daily routines and have committed ourselves to be content in our home state.

     We want to be careful in assuming anything, but the Lord may have revealed a small answer as to why things ended after only four months of working overseas.  Almost two weeks ago, the company that Wes had been working for, had a helicopter go down in the thick jungle bush.  On board were three men.  One was his boss, one was a fellow pilot (whom he did not know), and the other was a mechanic whom he did know.  It took a week to find them due to the tall trees with thick heavy canopies.  All three died.  They were flying the same helicopter and the same job assignment that Wes was flying while there.  We were grieved with the news.

     I know its speculation to wonder if God was leading us away from eminent danger, but I am thanking the Lord for His everlasting hand of protection over my husband and our family.  I know that one should not usually ask the "what if" questions because they are useless.  But..."what if...?"

                         
     This past Fall Wes bought a cool helmet (per the requirements of the new job).  It was white with a black visor.  The price tag was painful!  But, I thought it looked pretty neat on his head.  I tried not to imagine the real use for it and instead just pictured my hubby as the pilot from the old T.V. show Airwolf.  Upon leaving and getting ready to go back to the states, his boss bought the helmet from him.  That made me happy to recoup our money.  I never imagined that the helmet would see death.

     Mankind has developed all sorts of safety devices to save a life.  I am thankful for all these devices!  What a blessing to have floats, harnesses, helmets...but, we need to remember not to place all of our trust in objects.  In the end, when safety measures have failed, it will be your heart and belief in the Lord Jesus Christ that will provide everlasting life.

     Wes is a great example for being a witness.  He finds opportunities all the time.  A few weeks ago Wes was in Dallas, Texas doing recurrent training with his favorite helicopter, the EC 135.  He got an email from his old boss in PNG that he was in Dallas too doing training.  Wes tried to arrange a meeting with him to talk with him one more time about his Salvation, but it just did not work out.  Two weeks later the man died.  Again, the question is, "what if...?"  Are you ready to meet the Lord? What if today was your accident?  What if your life saving device failed?  If you have access to a Bible you should read the Book of Romans.  There is hope for your future!  

     The plan of Salvation is simple:  Repent, Believe, and Ask.  Getting to Heaven is not filled with good works, but rather a simple decision to turn from sin and let God lead you in your life.  Wes and I made that decision many years ago.  We can go to bed at night with the sweet assurance that everything will be alright, even in the midst of chaos.  We don't have to ask, "what if...?" anymore about our future, it is all settled.
 
UPDATE:
    On different news, God has been so gracious to us.  We have recouped most of all the money spent in preparing to leave for PNG.  Our previous employer, after seven weeks of waiting, finally decided to reimburse all of our non refundable flight ticket money!  This was a huge blessing!  Then, Abeka book decided to reimburse and allow the return of four years worth of books for three kids!  They waived the 25% restocking fee as well! This answer to prayer was just finalized last week. It took 6 weeks to process the returned order, wow.  I was also able to return a majority of purchases that were unopened to help make life easier over there.  I'm thankful for saved receipts!  I was also able to sell all the building materials that I had gotten for the house...I even made a profit off all the items, sweet!! God has been good!  


     There will be a name change to the blog soon...I promise!!     



  

3 comments:

  1. Yes, I think the Lord was protecting your family! How scary that it was the same helicopter, etc. that went down. Very sad for those men's families. :-(
    That's great that you got most of your money back!:-)

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  2. You are a blessing. I am so glad Wes was saved from that. I pray that the Lord continues to show you guys what He wants you to do.
    I will be praying for the families of the lost loved ones :(

    Ashleigh

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  3. Praise God, sis!
    Two immediate thoughts crossed my mind as I heard of this tragedy sitting sitting at Grand Papua in POM awaiting my departure to the US:
    Wes (although I didn't know this was "his" choppter), and a Hevilift pilot that I witnessed to on the flight to Hagen. My heart sank for the second.He told me that he would prepare for eternity "one day". He was from AU and I want to say his name was Sean or Gre; I do not recall (too much has happened since). I prayed that if it were the man I witnessed to that he had made that right before God before hand. At the time they did not disclose the names of the individuals. I did ask the man if he knew Wes, and he told me he didn't recall such a name.
    I am thankful for Gods protection. He is so good to us!

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