Fitting into the Window

“I’ve always known,” says Brian Schaadt, “that the reason for successful flights is never due to my inherent skill or knowledge. It is the Lord who empowers and equips me for each flight I do here.”

Brian really banked on the Lord’s power as he thought through some upcoming flights.

First, he had to fly the R66 helicopter from Luzon island to another region of the Philippines. From there, he’d do some longs flights out to a small, lonely island in the middle of the ocean where church planters are preparing to teach sometime this year.

Because of schedules of various passengers, the flights were boxed into a limited window of opportunity. On top of that, it was rainy season. He’d also be over open ocean much of the time, where he couldn’t just land and wait out the storm. And refueling options would be few.

All in all, things started to feel stressful to Brian. So he sent out a plea for prayer.

God answered! In the end, it was “one of the more adventurous trips I’ve had,” said Brian. “It was every bit as difficult as I anticipated – with many unplanned stops and uncertainty of where we would sleep. But seeing how the Lord worked through it turned it into an experience I wouldn’t have traded – now that it’s over, that is.”

In one instance, he had just come off the open sea, back over land. “There was a wall of rain and white-out conditions as far as I could see,” he said. Just then, God provided a small airstrip to put down on before the worst of it hit.

When the rain stopped, Brian wanted to take off and “have a look” to assess the situation. But his fuel reserves were too low to waste on a “test” flight.

Just then, two little planes flew over, coming from the direction he wanted to go. He connected by radio and got the needed weather report!

“I could see the Lord taking good care of things every step of the way,” says Brian. Everyone got where they needed to go, with no cancellations or major changes of plans.

“All in all, I call it a success,” he says. Brian knows God worked through prayer. And he counts on your prayers. Please continue to ask God for those windows of opportunity to fly missionaries to minister God’s Word. Thank you!