dual personalities

Daughter #2 is flying home today on Southwest Airlines. Following the news that a passenger had been killed on a Southwest flight when an engine blew, I was heartened to read about the pilot who had saved the day and landed the plane.

Tammie Jo Shults, with her flyover name and bumped up pony-tail, is my kind of gal.

She is a true pioneer in the aviation field–a woman who broke real barriers to pursue her goals and was among the first female fighter pilots for the U.S. Navy. She did not just talk the talk, as so many feminists do. She walked the walk. I mean, a fighter pilot! She flew F-18s!

The Wall Street Journal attributes her incredible calm in the face of this emergency to her military training and this is doubtless true. However, at the end of the article, she is quoted as saying to her former track coach, that sitting in the captain’s chair gives her “the opportunity to witness for Christ on almost every flight.”

This suggests another reason for her calm. Tammie Jo Shults trusts in the Lord. There is no calm like that of the true believer.

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.

(Proverbs 3:5-6)

I can say from experience that the more I have turned things over to God in my life and the more I trust in Him, the calmer I become and the more impervious to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.

Well, Tammie Jo, we’ll toast you tonight. God really is your co-pilot! And as I said, you’re my kind of gal.