Have you ever seen pictures or video of old, rusty, hollowed out WW2 airplanes found years after the war was over? It’s not too common, but it’s not an unheard of thing to find one these days, 80 years later, alone and forgotten under a canopy of jungle greenery.
What’s rarer still, but again, not unheard of, is the airplane that is found having crashed many decades ago being restored and flown again. Some, like the Lockheed P-38 Lightning that was found in Greenland under 350 feet of snow. It was part of the “Lost Squadron” of 6 fighter planes and a bomber or two that had to make an emergency landing during a blizzard.
This particular fighter airplane was recovered and restored to flight worthiness with the new name “Glacier Girl.”
Another fantastic example was a German Focke-Wulf fw190A that had crashed in a forest near Leningrad, Russia. It was dug out of the forest in 1991 and later sold to some Americans who restored it and flew it!
So what’s the point of all this history stuff? Why am I writing about it?
Today, as I was praying before doing some study, it came to me that I feel a lot like one of those crashed fighter planes. And if history proves true, I’m not the only one who feels it.
I don’t know if it was my pride or objective truth speaking, but there used to be a day when I was a little less intimidated of other Christians, particularly those mighty preachers I gravitated towards as a younger pastor. I knew I wasn’t on their level, but I sure did feel a lot more confident of my spirituality back then. I knew I wasn’t the best I could be, but I felt like I was in the best shape I was capable of being at that time.
Maybe I was. Maybe I wasn’t. Maybe I had a big head. Maybe it was the hair I used to have.
Regardless, I was a fighter, more so than I am now. Then again, maybe I was fighting different battles and don’t need to fly around in aerial mortal combat anymore. All I know is that I feel I am capable of more than I am doing. And these days I’m not intimidated by my would-be peers; I’m just disgusted with myself.
But there is an encouraging part to this story! You see, when those antique planes from the 1940s were recovered and flown again, their need was long gone. Even if there had been a conflict to which they could have been committed, their capabilities and armament would have been woefully obsolete.
However, much to the contrary can be said of folk like me! Even if I had been lost amidst the jungle branches and rusted nearly beyond recognition, the conflict still rages, the enemy is still the same, and the weapons of war have never changed! It’s not even necessary for me to be “repurposed,” for God’s plan for my life has not changed!
Even my “crash-landing” in the Forgotten Forest was part of His overall strategy. What the Enemy thought was an eliminated weapon; God will restore and refurbish for future victory in enemy territory.
So, let’s start knocking of this rust, shall we?
The Recovering Legalist 