DAY 7

Learning to Fly

Flying has always been a favorite hobby for Peter Vandenberg. Put in his own words, "Anyone who knows me for longer than five minutes knows that I love to fly. Flying one thing or another has been the abiding personal passion of my life, a pastime that makes me feel that I am directly in contact with God and with the beautiful world He has made for us. It’s a passion that has made its way into my ministry in numerous ways."

He remembers his first time off the ground, piloting a hang glider, in 1979 at the South Wales Hang Gliding Center. It began with a five-day course  on technical and aerodynamic theory, how to assemble and disassemble the machine, and then how to run... On the fourth day, it was time to fly.

Peter recalls the experience, "...As I [ran], I felt the glider being transformed from a lifeless construction of aluminum tubing and Dacron fabric into a living moving creature that began to tug with energy at my harness straps... my glider had come alive, and I felt the insistent pull on my harness win the battle over gravity as it lifted me into the air and the ground fell away below. I was airborne. It worked! 

I couldn’t help but think that this first high flight was so similar in many respects to a ‘leap of faith,’ of which by this time we had made many. There was the extended time of learning why and how a hang glider could carry you through the air. There were instructions on how to do it correctly with examples from others who had already done it. And best of all, we had been witnesses to others flying free above our heads, soaring and diving through the air.

It had been just the same with our search for the call of God and faith to seize it." 

Questions: 

1. Hebrews 11:1-31 begins with a definition of faith and includes a whole host of examples of it in action. What are some examples from Peter's story that would fit on a "list of faith"? What are some examples from your own story?
2. Based on the definition of faith offered in Hebrews 11:1, how do you think that Peter's first experience with flight was similar to a 'leap of faith' that he and his family had taken many times?
3. Faith is demonstrated by action. James 2:14-26 exemplifies how stepping out in faith is the real evidence that faith is alive. How do you think Peter's belief in his ability to fly a hang glider was different on the first day of his flying class versus his last?
4. James 2:14-26 sheds some light on what faith is not. Have you ever been in a situation where you did not step out in faith and you wished you had? How does Peter's story give you courage to take a leap of faith?