{"id":125,"date":"2015-08-23T04:00:37","date_gmt":"2015-08-23T09:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/imie-mark\/?p=125"},"modified":"2015-08-23T17:28:11","modified_gmt":"2015-08-23T22:28:11","slug":"head-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/imie-mark\/2015\/08\/23\/head-up\/","title":{"rendered":"“Head Up!”"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

Though it was 20 years ago, I can still hear my cross-country coach\u2019s voice booming, \u201cHead up, Imie!\u201d\u00a0 Why the exhortation?\u00a0 Well, there are a lot of reasons that was sage advice.\u00a0 With every step I took, head bowed and eyes fixed squarely on the ground beneath my feet, all that was about & before me quickly faded away.\u00a0 My field of vision narrowed to exclude anything beyond my next step.\u00a0 My ears tuned out the sound of the thunderous cheers from those lining the race course.\u00a0 My shoulders slumped and my mind drifted to that twinge of pain in my legs and mulled over how tired I was.\u00a0 As all that played out my pace progressively slowed.\u00a0 Freeze that scene for a minute, we\u2019ll come back to it.<\/p>\n

Fast forward with me 18 years (or just rewind 2 years from this week if that\u2019s easier).\u00a0 I\u2019d jumped in the car with Mary Kate & Imie IV (Amy was at a conference) and we struck out for Smoketown, PA on what I thought was a bit of a whim.\u00a0 It was 17 Aug 2013 and just the night before I\u2019d seen a Facebook post about the annual Mission Aviation Fair<\/a> being held there that weekend and figured why not go check it out?<\/p>\n

\"Sign<\/a>
Smoketown 2013 – Eagerly awaiting our turn for a ride.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

JAARS <\/a>was giving helicopter rides and the kids really wanted to go up (okay, so maybe I really<\/em> wanted to go too).\u00a0 Serving as the safety briefer and line organizer extraordinaire was one each, Andy Gudeman.\u00a0 Between the obligatory safety spiel and the return of the helo for our ride a conversation ensued which began with nondescript small-talk but ended with a life altering challenge. \u00a0We\u2019d come to that natural lull in the conversation where you just stare uneasily at the person across from you.\u00a0 Andy broke the silence, though, with a pretty bold statement, \u201cImie, from what you\u2019ve shared with me I really think the Lord is calling you to act on the commitment you made to serve Him through mission aviation.\u00a0 The time to pursue it is now.\u201d\u00a0 How could he say such a thing?\u00a0 Who was he<\/em> anyways?<\/p>\n

This is where the two stories merge.\u00a0 See, when I heeded my coach\u2019s words in the cross-country races many years before some amazing things happened.\u00a0 As my head came up my thoughts snapped back to race and my deadened senses sprung alive again.\u00a0 As my gaze shifted forward to what lay ahead I began to see and hear people cheering for me along the way, spurring me onward.\u00a0 I also\u00a0began to see teammates around me.\u00a0 Pulling alongside them I offered encouragement and issued a challenge, \u201dcome on, go with me!\u201d<\/p>\n

So who is<\/em> Andy?\u00a0 He’s a brother in Christ and a dear teammate in this race of life.\u00a0 He was running the race set before him, pursuing full-time ministry through mission aviation, himself compelled by God just the year previous at that same event.\u00a0 Andy was running with his head up, ears tuned to the voice of the Master, eyes fixed forward.\u00a0 As he pulled alongside me that day he gave the call, \u201ccome on, go with me!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
A Divine appointment – Dinner with the Gudemans.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Andy introduced me to Mr. Dwight Jarboe<\/a>, CEO of MMS Aviation<\/a> and through the ensuing discussion I saw for the first time a clear path forward from where I was in my career to where I knew the Lord was ultimately leading our family in mission aviation. \u00a0Other than a brief e-mail exchange a few days later, though, I never heard from Andy after that.\u00a0 That is, until just a few weeks ago when I had the privilege of meeting the rest of his family as we sat down and caught up over dinner.\u00a0 For the remarkable story on how the Lord crossed our paths again check out their blog post, \u201cMeeting Mr. Mark<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

I sit here today in Coshocton, OH (MMS Aviation’s center of operations)\u00a0just 2 years after that Saturday in Smoketown: \u00a0Missionary Training Center <\/a>course finished, NTM membership official, FAA maintenance technician certification \u00be complete.\u00a0 It’s largely\u00a0because one man was content to not merely run his own race but sought to encourage others to join him along the way.<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s all that to you, you ask?\u00a0 I don\u2019t know\u2026<\/p>\n