My oldest son received a super "toy" from his grandfather for Christmas in 2004- an Avistar RC airplane! Last year he learned to fly it and earned his “wings” from the local Aeromodelers club which he joined. I figured that this club would be a nice opportunity for him to make some new friends who also enjoyed pursuing this rewarding hobby. He did meet lots of wonderful new friends, surprisingly though, most of them are 3 to 4 times his age! Most are retired grandpas. I believe that he is the youngest member in the club! We typically go to the flying field on Sunday after church, since it is so far from home, but close to our church. I pack a picnic lunch and it makes for a nice afternoon watching the “boys” fly their planes.

 One of their annual events is the New Year’s Day “Frozen Finger Fly-In.” This past New Year’s Day was unseasonably warm and happened to fall on a Sunday, so at the last minute I encouraged him to pack up his plane and participate in the annual event. He didn’t have time to charge his plane’s battery, so he used another pilot’s field charger. He made several successful flights, but he wanted to fly just one more time before leaving. This was his fatal mistake! Upon coming in for a landing, the battery died and the plane went out of his control, nose-diving into a metal-roofed barn at the fair grounds. Praise God that the innocent by-standers beside the barn were not hurt! It was a very memorable crash! He is certain that he will be awarded the “Aircraft Demolisher” patch at the next awards banquet.  The plane was in splinters and all that was intact was the very tail protruding from the hole in the top of the barn. I was proud of how well he handled the disappointment. I think he somehow felt that a crash is inevitable for everyone at some point.

The rest of the club members really felt sorry for him and a couple of them got together and set him up with another plane. I couldn’t get over their generosity. There was no way we could afford to buy a new plane and we just don’t have the time nor expertise to build one from scratch. God’s provision is amazing!

           Yesterday, we went out to the airfield after church and he got to try out his new plane for the first time. He didn’t feel confident to fly it solo, but used the buddy-box and flew it along with Chuck, his trainer and club president. The plane might need a little tweeking, but that’s part of the fun of it all, I’ve observed. I’m glad that he’s back in the air and back in fellowship with such a neat group of “pilots!”