WINGS

For most of his life he had wanted to fly.  I guess his interest was sparked at a young age by meeting those who had learned the secret of flight.  He read books, listened to stories and studied hard.  He sat through many lectures where the presenter expounded on the skills of flying.  But alas, he could never quite get the hang of this flying thing.

Often he would sit and gaze into the sky, longing to be up there instead of down here.  All he could see here was dirt, trouble, problems, suffering and it wasn't fun nor productive.  If he could only fly! If he could only "slip the surly bonds of earth", get above all this clutter he then could be all that he was meant to be. But it wasn't happening. 

He tried.  Often he would climb with great difficulty to the heights of some structure and throw himself off only to find himself at the bottom, bruised and broken and in worse shape than when he started.  But he didn't give up. More reading, more studying, more listening, more practice.

One day as he sat reading and contemplating his desire to fly, the thought came to him, "What if I had the wings like the birds?  Then I could fly."  But how would he develop or construct wings? 

He begin his design and went about constructing his wings.  His wings had to be strong and sturdy.  They would have to bear him up in times when the storms were raging. They would have to enable him to sore above the problems down below.  They would have to be anchored securely to his body, his fuselage so that they could not break away.  The first wing he found was the wing of surrender. 

He understood that his ability to fly would not depend on his own strength (Lord knows, he had tried that before and failed).  He must first surrender completely to the higher power.  He would have to give up on thinking he could fly by his own might, power, or cunning.  And so he simply consecrated all that he was and all that he had and when he was finished with that wing he took a paint brush and dipped it in some red paint and wrote "SURRENDER" on the wing.

"That should do it" he though, but almost immediately realized that one wing would never lift him from his earthly prospective.  One wing will not function without the other.  Another wing must be constructed. 

So following his initial pattern he built a second wing.  It was equally as strong and stable as the first.  He attached it to his vessel and when the construction was completed he once again took the brush and wrote the word "TRUST" on the wing. 

"That WILL do it", he said. "With Surrender and Trust I will sore above the problems and troubles of this life".  And he did.  With surrender and trust securely attached to his vessel he immediately sored high above the problems of life and begin his journey toward the heavens.

Consecration, surrender is of vital importance in the life of a Christian.  Giving God my all.  The modern day marketers are not the first to use the word "bundle".  The old church called total surrender, giving God our "unknown bundle".  We may not know what will befall us in our future, we may not know what's down the road or around the bend but one thing is for sure, we have surrendered it to God. 

But without the second wing we will never get off the ground.  Trust must accompany surrender.  I have given it all into God's hands and now with all my body,mind, soul and spirit I trust Him to handle it.  Oh, I must make an effort, every effort that I can to follow Him and obey Him but ultimately, it is His battle to fight, His war to win. 

Take those two wings dear reader.  Dip the brush of your will into the red blood of Jesus and write in big letters SURRENDER on one wing and TRUST on the other and FLY, fly above your troubles, you trials, your temptations and your doubts. 

The old prophet Isaiah knew this secret.  In the 40th chapter of his book and in the 31st verse he said, "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."

As Christians we are often like an eagle in a chicken coop.  We know we can fly, we were made to fly. The wings are available to us and the sky awaits us.  We sense it in the depth of our being.  But we are grounded by our failure to surrender and our lack of trust.

So fly then little eagle.  Even the sky is not your limit.  The splinders of eternity await you.  God has plans for you to fly.  Take the wings of surrender and trust, sore above your common life and see your world from the  eagle's point of view.