Waterfall of Peace

Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun.
Psalm 37

I write to you today from the southern tip of North Carolina, south of Charlotte in a lovely little town called Waxhaw at the JAARS campus, home base to aspiring missions pilots & support personnel responsible for the greatest adventure on earth, where they come to complete field training.

The pilots, mechanics, and administration here support the transportation of missionaries, translators, medical teams, educators etc. into the most remote places of the world. I find their faith astounding. I feel unreservedly unqualified to be amidst such brave people who are laying their lives down.

Anyway, i’d like to tell you a story…

2011. I was in the basement of a dark musky old military base in Texas on the final day of my Air Force pilot physical exam as a college senior. After struggling through a colorblind test, I was compassionately told by a one star general that I would be permanently medically disqualified as a Pilot for the military. After four years of training, my top gun dreams were dashed by a barely noticeable slightly red-green colorblindness I never knew about which put me onto the sidelines outside the cockpit.

It was in the next moments of defeat & despair, while literally blinded by another eye exam they made me do in classic military silence, I bowed my head, and prayed for the first time since childhood: “God, wherever & whoever you are, I did everything I could to get myself here, but I didn’t make myself colorblind, you did. I had no control over this, it was you. So… I’m going to trust you have a better plan for my life.”

In that moment, I experienced a vivid waterfall of peace wash over me. It as though 5 gallons of liquid love were dumped onto my head. I’d never experienced anything like it before, or since.

I left that musty place skipping, and remained full of a joy I could only describe as supernatural peace for several days. My fellow cadets could not comprehend how I was so happy, I had just received the most disappointing news of my life thus far: medically disqualified (yet perfectly healthy.) I had few words other than I knew it would all be OK, and that was enough for me.

I took an early honorable discharge a year later which is another story. But here I am, 12 years later living among another type of military - a heavenly air force carrying hope & healing to the ends of the earth. I don’t work for JAARS, but i’m surrounded by new friends preparing for careers in the Amazon rainforest, African deserts, and Papa New Guinea jungles. I didn’t try to put myself here. I didn’t effort or aim my arrow here, God put us here, and every thing is OK.

I think I learned 13 years ago blind in a basement if I trust God with unforeseen future things of my life He would grant peace for the passage along the way.

I have found that to be ever more true as I persevered through major business disappointments, Lyme disease, mental health challenges and years of adventures and even a few times I faced death.

Hard stuff didn’t stop, it kept coming. These attitudes don’t happen by accident, they are a choice. Perhaps that’s what “from faith to faith” means.

I am convinced: God responds to sincere faith & trust in Him.

Battle tested faith is won during hard seasons. But peace for the passage is available once we choose it, as these moments force us to realize our helplessness and dependence on a sovereign heavenly power. It’s not just a parable, it’s true. I’ve experienced it many times - even though sometimes it takes months to arrive there.

I hope this blessed & encouraged you today. Feel free to comment, respond, or share with others. What’s your story?

- Eric

_{Proverbs 3
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.}

_{Jeremiah 29
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.}

_{Psalm 56
In God I trust; I shall not be afraid.}

_{Romans 15
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.}