This is a big year for us. This year, this month, in fact, we celebrate twenty years of commercial airline life. I honestly cannot believe it has been that long. Some of the things I have been writing about seem like yesterday. Of course, other things feel like a lifetime ago. It has been cathartic to reflect on our journey from pastor to pilot. Interestingly, he still has his minister’s license. I tease him sometimes that he could perform a ceremony on a plane and then fly the couple to their honeymoon. Even though Jeff flies planes, he still has a minister’s heart for people. He prays for every flight, so if you are ever traveling while he is flying, you have been thoroughly prayed for.

Time was flying (pun intended) once we settled into small-town life. Brewton, on its proudest day, only had a handful of red lights, and I still remember the pure joy when a Walmart Supercenter came to town, and we finally had more than the Piggly Wiggly. My mother would have argued that the Pig, as we called it, was way better than Walmart. I, on the other hand, preferred Walmart because I was so busy I could hardly see straight, and having everything I needed in one place was amazing. Even more amazing was the fact that I could get there in less than five minutes. Actually, I could get almost anywhere across that small town in less than five minutes.

The kids started school, or should I say started back to school, since, if you remember, we lived with my parents for an entire school year while Jeff trained in Sanford, Florida. This time, they started in second, fifth, and seventh grades. Because everything was so close, I opted to drop them off each day, and, as luck would have it, they went to different schools. Mornings were hectic, to say the least. A lot of this craziness I did alone because Jeff was traveling so much. He was commuting, as I told you last week, and doing his best to be as involved as he could.

I always thought pilots and their families traveled the world and lived these easy, busy lives. Turns out that is not how it works. Not at the beginning anyway. Everything is based on seniority, and at first, you are just trying to keep all the plates spinning. I think many pilots train from a young age and enter the profession at a very different stage of life, so it probably looks different for them. But for us, entering this world with three kids and in our thirties, the early years were especially tough. We have never been ones to turn away from something hard, though, which brings us right back to the story.

Jeff had been flying for a few months, and it was clear we needed more income to survive. He signed up to substitute teach, which he did a few times. Then he signed up to drive a school bus for band and sports events out of town, and he did that for years. A full circle moment, since he drove a school bus in his early ministry days. Anytime he was home, and there was a trip, he said yes. But that still left him with long stretches of free time in hotel rooms all across the country. He was bored out of his mind. He is not much of a TV watcher unless it is on in the background, so he spent a lot of time praying for something he could do to make money in those long, quiet hours.

And then, right in the middle of all that exhaustion and uncertainty, something happened that changed everything.

We were talking about this just this morning, and neither of us could remember the exact day or flight, but we know it was early on, while he was at Eagle, when he flew with a pilot named Ray. For context, there are thousands of pilots, and it is rare for Jeff to fly with the same one twice, so this one-time encounter became a monumental moment in our lives. A tremendous answer to prayer.

Jeff called me while on this trip with Ray to tell me he had a long conversation and had decided to accept a work-at-home job with Ray’s company, editing manuals for air charter companies. In case you have ever wondered if pilots talk in the cockpit, the answer is yes.

He was so excited, talking a mile a minute, telling me all about it. There would be a learning curve, but he had so much spare time in hotel rooms, he knew he could do it. He was more excited than I had seen him in a while.

I, on the other hand, did not feel excited.  It all sounded too good to be true, and you know what they say. I grilled him with questions, rolled my eyes when he had the computer open on the kitchen table, trying to figure out how all the different manuals worked. I was deeply skeptical that a job would drop in his lap from flying with a pilot one time. I thought for sure Jeff would turn in his time sheet after doing a lot of work and never hear another word from Ray. I really thought it was all a scam. A waste of time.

But Jeff believed.

He had room in his heart for hope. I did not. Not then. I was too tired to believe in anything that looked easy.

He believed because he had prayed for this exact type of opportunity and had seen God answer prayers that felt too big to be answered.

I did not.

I was exhausted, and very little had turned out like I thought it would. I was working part-time at a church, subbing every day I could, pinching pennies, spending more time alone than I wanted, shuttling the kids around. I was just tired. And a bit jaded.

But then the most amazing thing happened. Ray paid Jeff for his work. It was not a scam. God had actually provided a job that worked perfectly around the crazy pilot schedule. Back then, stay-at-home jobs were unheard of, seriously, but God. I was so doubtful. I learned a life lesson from this. When you pray big, God will answer. He absolutely will. It did not look like I expected, so I did not see it as the answer at the time. But I learned to let go of expectations and trust the answer, no matter what it looks like. Of course, this is a lesson I would learn again and again over the years, and I am still learning it, to be honest.

Jeff has worked for Ray for the last twenty years.

TWENTY YEARS.

This job was exactly what we needed at the time. It made the difference so we could keep going. We still had all the different jobs, but now we had enough money to pay all the bills.

Hallelujah.

Looking back now, I can see that this one unexpected moment carried us farther than we ever imagined. And it’s still helping to carry the load twenty years later.