Density Altitude & Life……….

11 years ago 14

What you are observing in the image above is heated air rising from the runway and super heated air disturbed by the heated exhaust from the two jet’s engines above.  This is a condition pilots call, “Density Altitude”.  The density of the air is affected by the temperature and the altitude of the airfield.  On a hot day at any given altitude the less dense air will make take-offs longer , and climb rates, (the rate at which and airplane gains altitude), take longer as well.  As a pilot you must be very mindful of how density altitude will affect the performance of your airplane in taking off, and in your rate of climb.  While it affects all airplanes, the bigger, faster, and heavier your airplane, the more it will affect it’s performance.  When  I flew several different kinds of ultralights, all of which had great climb rates, and short take off runs,  I was less worried about density altitude, than say the pilot of a commercial airplane would be.  Never-the-less, it is a factor that will affect your flight performance, and has to be accounted for!

 

In life we also have and equivalent condition I will call it “Density Attitude”!  How many issues are bring forces to bare on you today?  Fatigue, illness, weakness, fear, anxiety, emotional pressures, financial concerns, family problems, loneliness, hopelessness?  Unfortunately that list could, and often does, go on and on!  The chances of your climbing up, above, your concerns is a factor of your faith.  Please let me draw an illustration.  Have you ever taken off in a commercial flight and experienced a lot of shaking, bumps, and sensations of being pushed around the sky?   That is called turbulence and it is most often caused by unstable moving, air pockets and wind shifts.  It usually dissipates when you climb above the clouds, but not always. When it does smooth out it means you’ve climbed to an altitude where the air is more stable.  In life God desires for you to fly (live) at an altitude (attitude) that is stable.  This is where faith comes in.  Life, no one’s life, is without turbulence, we all have fears, concerns, and problems to deal with.  The faith walk is when we recognize what we are dealing with, make what ever corrective actions we can, and then put our plane, (lives) in autopilot, (trusting God with what we can not fix ourselves.)!  Sometimes, we can deal with small problems and daily frustrations by simply remembering what He has taught us through the word, sometimes we can clearly see that a problem is bigger than we can deal with.  That is when He wants us to let go of the controls and trust Him!

 

When I was being trained to fly ultra-light airplanes, my instructor observed one day that I was gripping the control bar with a white knuckle intensity.  He reached forward and removed my hands from the controls.  He told me over the intercom, “trust the plane.”  The kind of plane I was flying was stable even with your hands off the control bar, in fact it was in calm circumstances, more stable without my control inputs. I was several thousand feet above the ground with a single seat belt on and could look straight down between my legs, it was scary, but over time I learned that I could trust the plane!   Over time we also come to know we can trust in Him.  When He promised us that He would never leave us, or forsake us, He meant it!  He won’t forget or get to busy to keep that promise.  He always knows where you are, what you are facing, and what the answer is for your circumstances, and He’s already working it out!!!!  That’s if you are trusting in Him.  He can’t (won’t) take over until you let go!!!

 

Give your life a break and the chance to be a wonderful flight, develop the right Density Attitude, Trust in Him! He’s more than up to the challenge!!!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

14 Responses

  1. You have been led so wonderfully and so lovingly to this lesson for all of us. It truly is His Light that guides your ministry and workshops. We never should allow living to get in the way of Life.

    • admin says:

      Thanks Jim, a little inside story, these are things I rarely share, but for you, my brother, here goes! I woke up at 5:30 a.m. this morning and looked at the clock, knowing my wakeup all and iPhone were set for 7:00. Pulled my sleeping bag over my head and enjoyed the warmth!!! Yes, I’m in Florida, but I turn the air way down in my hotel rooms and then hold off the cold with a summer weight goose down Marmot bag!! Anyway, more information than anyone needed, right!! So I close my eyes and the shot above pops into my head, and the Holy Spirit starts “dictating” what was written above. I literally said, God, can we do this at 6:45???!!! He said roll out big boy you’ve got a blog entry to copy down! That’s how it happened! You can’t make this kind of stuff up……..

  2. Jerry says:

    I love the way you compared flying with life’s situations. Even though I’ve been through the same flight training I never really tied the two together but it definitely makes a lot of sense. Made me stop and think. Thanks for sharing what the Holy Spirit led you to, even at that early hour.

    • admin says:

      Thanks Jerry, t
      The Holy Spirit comes up with some great things!!!!!

    • Jhastine says:

      You can buy paid tools like market saruami but you certainly don’t have to in order to get great results. In fact, I use the following system that works very well: First, I find a seed keyword using shopping sites, especially their site maps. Next, I do a fast competitive analysis to check the top results in Google to see who is ranking for my keywords. Next, I check out adwords keyword tool to make sure that the words get enough searches to make them worth my time. Next, I visit godaddy or namecheap to make sure that the exact domain name is available. Afterwards, I evaluate everything once again and boom I’m ready to go.

    • Ah yes, nicely put, everyone.

  3. Amazing incredible illustration and lesson on faith. I loved it – faith was my word for the year last year and I’m still learning so much about faith. I’ll never forget what you’ve written here. Beautiful – And thanks for sharing the story behind the story in the Comments – definitely from the Lord. Blessings to you!!

  4. hi, Bill! 🙂

    i just want to say thank you for writing this entry. Praise God for those wonderful words through you. it’s so encouraging especially to me.

    as of writing, me and my family is going through a “density altitude” situation due to the sickness of my nephew. we are still in the “unstable moving, air pockets and wind shifts” stage but it is slowly dissipating because the water in his brain has been detected at a very early stage. Praise God!
    i know in God’s time we will reach in an “altitude where the air is more stable” for ALL of us because He is the maker of the “plane” (allowed the sickness) and He is the true Pilot. He is in control. He is trustworthy. He is faithful. 🙂

    God bless you more!

  5. admin says:

    Cherry, Please let me speak on behalf of the tower (God Control): “Bathan 3:16 – we’ve got you on radar, we have your position, and will give vector changes, hold steady at your present altitude, and wait for further instructions. Your weather is clearing shortly…. repeat, we have you on the glide path, we will clear you to landing…..”

    I’m pretty sure that would be His instructions…….

  6. Casey says:

    This post is one of the most beautiful modern parables I have ever read. The story, with the back story, reminds me of a time when The HolynSpirit told my wife to pick up one grain of sand on the beach. He then revealed to her that ” what seems like a mountain you is only a grain of sand to Him!” He can handle the mountains and He can handle the turbulence! Thanks for reminding us all of this.