With Wings As Eagles - Preface
I once heard a visiting American evangelist say that many people wish they were anyone but themselves at times, especially when they are feeling low. They may wish they had someone elses good looks, or someone elses personality, popularity, wealth or fame. I had often experienced many of these thoughts myself when I was in the depths of depression.
I have since come to realize it is only through our weaknesses that we can become open to the experience of Christ working within us. The truth of the matter is that if each of us could wish we were perfect in every way, then there would be no need for God in our lives.
In Melbourne in 1994, around the time of my born-again experience, I attended a Healing Mass. At the end of the Mass I, like many others, went up to be prayed over. There were around six or seven lay people plus the priest praying over people as they queued before them. Simply by chance I was prayed over by a lady whose name I later learned was Kath, and who just happened to be the leader of the lay group.
I was a total stranger to Kath, she only knew me by my first name and as the friend of one of the parishioners. I had my eyes closed while she prayed over me and when I opened them I saw her face streaming with tears.
Kath said, “I can sense a great power in you, Ray. I feel the Lord is going to use you in some way. I can see that God will use everything you have been through, all the suffering and heartache will be used for His glory and you will show many the way to the Father.”
At the time I was overawed by the whole experience, that this well respected church leader should sense such big plans for me in the Lord's name. It is only now, with the benefit of hindsight, that I can see all she had said coming to fruition. Previously I was able to use my God-given skills as a rescue and medical pilot to save physical lives and help relieve suffering. But now I was being called upon to work at saving spiritual lives, and to assist in the evangelization of the unreached peoples of the world.
Obviously the appeal of Rotor, for most people anyhow, was in the flying aspects of the book. But the majority who sent me feedback through letters, email, or by stopping me in the street had more to say about the personal aspects of the book, particularly my spirituality. So while I was totally unaware of it at the time of writing, Rotor in fact became my testimony.
All of a sudden the source of the compulsion behind my writing of it became quite clear. I was invited along to church groups of varying denominations to talk, with emphasis on the way the Lord had entered into and begun working in my life for the good of others.
Following a broken marriage in 1999 I suffered much pain and guilt. As a result I initially experienced some difficulty in taking this “leap of faith” and daring to evangelize to others about what the Lord had to offer them in their own lives. I soon realized that God would prefer us to evangelize in our own brokenness, than for us not to evangelize at all.
Seeking the Lord at a time of weakness is one thing, but praising His name and allowing Him to work through us for the good of others in the good times is quite another. In 1996 I took part in a Cursillo weekend in the ranges to the northwest of Townsville. The goal of the Cursillo Movement is to remake the world in Christ. At the end of the weekend we were asked to sum up our feelings and, while I am not one to whom these things come easily, I felt truly inspired as I wrote:
"As much as you may feel the presence of God in your life, unless you embody that presence, and empower it to do good for and in the lives of others, it is all in vain."
