THE KINGDOM,
THE POWER, AND THE GLORY
by Dave Wilkerson
Sky, Jet and Sunrise Often Spur Meditation.
We in aviation are often blessed beyond belief. Simple, common events like a business jet taxiing through sunrise haze can evoke our deepest thoughts.
Knowing local history can render astounding insight when coupled with scriptures even as familiar as the Lord’s prayer. This photo, for example, revealed that to me one sunrise. Behind the jet is just another tall building to most people, but to many in Tulsa, Oklahoma, it will always be known by its original name, the “City of Faith.” The City of Faith came into being in the 1980s, conceived as a medical hospital addressing each patient as an amalgam of body, mind and spirit. Some Tulsans, seeing this building gleam in the sunlight, think for a swift moment about its spiritual connection and implications.
The airport from which this image comes is Oklahoma’s busiest, and is a training base. Fixed Base Operators have flight schools there, as America’s second-oldest flight school continues flying from this field. Privately owned airplanes fill hangars that sandwich two runways into a training hotbed. On this field, students accustomed to anemic single engine-trainers sputtering reluctantly skyward, turn their heads and crave the power of each jet that lands or departs sunrise, sunset, day or night.
And while sunsets anywhere on Earth can be of astounding beauty, true glory nearly always escorts a prairie sunrise. Early morning air has a freshness about it that defies explanation. Perhaps morning’s dew prevents dust and allergens from rising to wreak their havoc. Perhaps the winds of the dying darkness are too weak to suspend particulates that, during day’s drudgery, strive to convince each of us that we are but parts of a vast machine, easily replaced and with no purpose greater than that of dust in the wind. Whatever. Sunsets announce evening, a slowing from the day’s commerce and turmoil, as daytime winds hold aloft the smoke and smog of daylight’s commotion. Sunsets promise rest to come, while sunrise crowns the rest already given. It is faith, fulfilled. Because it is so, sunrise raises also an urge to worship: to pray. In our New Testaments, we find astounding instructions regarding prayer’s structure, focus, and power.
Those who have newly become Christians often notice that those longer in the faith begin their prayers with praise and worship, even outside of normal worship time. From the New Testament we learn to begin our prayers with an acknowledgement: “Our Father, who art in heaven . . .” revealing how commonly we acknowledge the authority, power or position of those we address for a purpose. “Hello sir” or “Good morning ma’am” are standard greetings. Do we realize how often we use titles? Yet because our society is informal, we rarely expand on titles in our society, so we Americans feel slightly uncomfortable with the scripture’s second level of instruction: “Hallowed be thy name.”
Still, praying to the Most High, we must remember that God is holy, and to interact with Him touches the hallowed. This reinforces our use of title, just as an airfield sunrise reinforces within us knowledge of who truly owns the day. Logically, when we acknowledge His godhood, His lordship, or other aspect of His power, we purpose in our hearts that “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done” stays true within our lives. Certainly we want this “On earth as it is in heaven.” Sunrises like the one pictured above certainly help us focus on our attitudes, something far more important than our altitudes.
Watching this jet taxi made me think of differences in amount and reliability of income between its captain and myself. After a lifetime of flying small, propeller-driven airplanes, my actual yearly income remains irregular and often weak. I pray daily for business, for the Lord’s provision. “Give us this day our daily bread” is a prayer as regular as sunrise. But no Christian can pray this with full expectation if his heart holds anger or resentment. “And forgive us our trespass as we forgive those who trespass against us” must also be like sunrise; regular, promising a potent covering of powerful light to come. Still this alone is not powerful enough for our great safety. Life offers strong temptations: cheating somebody who cannot know that we are cheating, taking short cuts with our duties, whether those duties are refueling, maintaining, cleaning, provisioning, or flying the airplane. Profits, bonuses, praise – each of these tempt us to do less of our hidden job so we have more time to appear to go beyond our visible job. “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” What a powerful addendum to a sunrise prayer.
“For thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory” may be the words we use to silently thank the maker of our sunrise. We may use different words but our meaning remains. Still and certainly, an aircraft taxiing through enchanting sunrise light reminds us (because we know such light is temporary, like an airplane’s position,) that our prayers must be effective “Forever and ever. Amen.” And so, Christians young in their faith often note that those older, more seasoned in the ongoing life of Christ, transcend temporary light like sunrise. One fleeting moment in time, on an airport that may survive neither decade nor century, witnessed by a pilot whose time is just as fleeting, fell awash in the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory of Him who has blessed us with what we do. And who we are. New every morning.
Photo and Text © David R. Wilkerson, 2004
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