Flight comes soon, and so do the flight costs

Above: Missionary Aviation students at Moody Bible Institute wheel a Cessna 337 out of a hangar during their airframe maintenance training. By this summer, they should have their Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) mechanics' certificates, but many wonder how they will pay for their upcoming flight training.

July 13th, 2009.
That's the day. The day my class at Moody Aviation begins their last two years of training. That's the day we become flight students.

The men and women in my class have different stories of how they came to Moody, but the end goal is still the same: using a skill to gain access to some of the most rugged and difficult-to-reach places on earth. Their study isn't about finding a remote area where they won't be bothered by people, it's about reaching the people already in those remote areas. Their study is purposeful: reaching unreached people groups with the gospel. Many missionaries living among isolated tribes know the firsthand experience and advantage of a missionary pilot flying them their much-needed supplies and encouragement. Many tribes have heard the good news of Jesus' life and death on their behalf because missionary pilots dared against their own security to reach them. Many lives have been improved, both spiritually and physically, because someone was willing to go. From flying Bibles, translators, and natural disaster victims to cows, missionary pilots' job are about living out the gospel in real, tangible ways. These men and women in my class aim to take the torch and continue that service.



Above: Wai Wai Indians in the northern Brazilian village of Mapuera gather to greet a group of short-term missionaries just moments after they land. This particular village has been particularly well-reached by missionaries, who depend on regular flights of supplies into their remote village.

As the day for our flight training rapidly approaches, each of us is also counting the cost. Flying across rugged or remote terrain is much more time-efficient than the alternatives (especially crucial with medical emergencies), but the flight training is expensive. We're still not sure on the details, but we've heard up to $35,000 each year for the next two years of flight school. That doesn't include living expenses.

While some might see the looming bills on the horizon as an insurmountable barrier for someone that wants to go into this type of ministry, especially with our economy being as rocky as it has been, I prefer to see this as an opportunity for God to come through in ridiculous ways. Each one of my classmates is facing this obstacle, but that means each one of us is getting ready to see God do something amazing.

Would you pray a bold prayer, that God would provide for my class's upcoming expenses in this rough economic time?