“Everyone has oceans to fly, if they
have the heart to do it. Is it reckless? Maybe. But what do dreams know of
boundaries?”
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| Amelia Earhart (Saturday, 7.24.1897- Disappeared Friday, 7.2.1937) |
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| March 1937 |
If you are unfamiliar with Amelia, she
was the first aviatrix to make a nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean
on May 20-21, 1932 and a recipient of the United States Flying Cross for such
a courageous feat, one of many accolades in her nearly forty short years of life.
She was also the first woman to fly solo from the Pacific Ocean, Honolulu to
California on January 11-12, 1935. This Kansas girl was driven and possessed an undeniable
passion for flying; she devoted her very life to it.
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| Earhart & Noonan Darwin, Australia 6.28.1937 Dead 4 days later? |
She made an ill-fated attempt in the
summer of 1937 to circumnavigate the globe in her Lockheed Model 10-E Electra,
along with her navigator, Fred Noonan. They disappeared somewhere over the Pacific Ocean in the vicinity of the Howland Island, but to this day, no one
knows for sure where Amelia and her navigator went down but God. Concerning God,
it was said that she had “little interest in religion as an adult, as a child
she was baptized in and attended the Episcopal church.”1
We know that baptism and attending church is not a part of spiritual regeneration (Rom 5:8-9; Gal 2:16). These
two activities are linked with religion; I do not mean by that to denigrate
baptism or attending church in any way. Baptism for a new believer is the first
step of public obedience to God after placing faith in Jesus Christ (Acts
2:38, 41; 16:29-34) and attending public worship in a church that
provides sound biblical teaching and opportunities for spiritual growth,
worship and service (cf. Col 1:18; Heb 10:25).
Putting that aside for a moment, even if
Amelia did or did not know Yahweh personally, it doesn’t invalidate what she said
was true. No one has a patent on the truth. Her life literally reflected a faith
in something very dear to her, a love for flying; it was in her blood,
constantly on her mind, pushing the envelope of her dreams, and she died in the
loving and doing it!
Though I am not familiar with the context surrounding Amelia saying those words, but taken at face value, I revel
in them, for it spoke of a woman who knew that her dreams were, indeed, not
maybe, reckless and boundless, but that she had the heart to do it and to fly
over the oceans regardless. It was her very words that snagged my attention, causing
me to ask myself a haunting question from a spiritual point of view. It was as
if the Holy Spirit was challenging me to a spiritual quest,
“Michael has oceans in God’s will to
fly, if he has the heart to do it. Is it reckless? Maybe. But what does true
faith know of boundaries?”
And now, I say to you,
You have oceans in God’s will to fly, if
you have the heart to do it. Is it reckless? Maybe. But what does true faith know
of boundaries?
Do you know that you and I can go as far
as our hearts desire in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ? There
is a danger, to be sure, crossing over the vast ocean of God’s will, but what
does true faith know of boundaries? God’s will for us is not optional. These
oceans were meant to be crossed. What love (agape) for God says, “No,”
to His Word (Jn 14:15)?
Our dreams are only bound by a lack of
faith or denied because they are outside of the will of God for our lives. For
a time, I had quit dreaming, and my world became still. I was a man most miserable
for I was as if in a rocking chair, going through the motions and going nowhere like soldiers
marking time or marching in place. I wanted the energy of my life to be expended in more than simply marking time in the temporal ventures of life. I wanted to be all in, being invested in the will of God that would have eternity all over it rather than dissipating my life’s energy in the temporal things of this world.
Do you ever dream of going to heaven? Do
you ever dream of seeing Jesus and being with him forever? Do you ever dream of
seeing your loved ones in heaven? Do you ever dream of being forever rid of our sinful nature in glory? Do you ever dream of having a glorified body free of
sickness and decay? Do you ever dream of never again being in the midst of
death, decay, or destruction? Do you ever dream about being like Jesus Christ
in the here and now? Do you ever dream of giving Yahweh glory in every thought,
word, or deed that you can muster? Do you ever dream of loving
Yahweh unreservedly?
Do you ever dream of being a person after
God’s own heart? Do you ever dream of hiding the Word of God in your heart that
you might not sin against Him? Do you ever dream of winning as many people for Jesus as you can? Do you ever dream that you could do more for Christ and less
for yourself? Do you ever dream that your love for God was greater than the circumstances
of life? Do you ever dream of not disappointing our Lord? Do you ever dream that your faith was reckless and boundless for
something greater than personal ambition?
Some of these dreams are determined by Yahweh,
yes? But there are those dreams that could be a reality if we had the heart to
do it. Every believer has oceans to fly; it is called God’s will for your life.
I think from someone who was not
interested in religion as an adult; Amelia was onto something most of us miss who
know Yahweh! She lived life to the fullest, and so should we but for a greater purpose for His glory, not our own. A reckless, boundless faith is one that finds the oceans of God’s will to fly as if there was no tomorrow.
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| Lockheed Model 10-E Electra |
1. https://www.ameliaearhartmuseum.org/AmeliaEarhart/AEMoreStories.htm
