The Right Way
on September 15, 2016 at 10:54 am
Any special understanding I have acquired in this mortal journey was either gained or sparked by my experiences in nature. I felt closer to God when I was on a creek bank or a river than I ever did in church.
As a barefooted little hillbilly kid growing up in the Ozarks, I could most often be found down on some creek bank with a cane pole and a can of worms. I would lie there in the summer grass as night fell, gaze up into the stars, and I would wonder about the nature of all things, and about a God who lived up there somewhere in a place where it must always be summer and there were trees and streams and golden sunsets.
Many years later, while solo-canoeing the Yukon River, I watched a rainstorm skirt across my prow, followed by the most magnificent rainbow. It formed a perfect arch from one side of the river to the other. It was like the gateway to heaven and I was about to pass through it.
I was almost 60-years-old and on the verge of setting a world’s record by making the first transcontinental flight from San Diego to St.Mary’s, Georgia, in an ultralite aircraft known as a powered parachute. The sun was just coming up and painting the earth 2,000 feet below in a soft patina of reds and yellows and early-morning blues. There was a ground fog in pastels and the mighty Mississippi River reflected back the rising sun like a highway of pure gold. Surrounded by such splendor, I prayed silently for God to show me the right way in life. If He existed. Suddenly, I just knew. . .
God had been teaching me all these years, using the outdoors as his slate. . .
“Night Fighter is a trove of true adventure from the history of the late 20th Century, which Hamilton lived, from fighter pilot in the Korean War to UDT/SEAL missions, to operative for the CIA in Vietnam, Africa, Latin America and Europe, from the Pentagon to Foggy Bottom, and from the Cuban Missile Crisis to the Reagan White House’s Star Wars. . .”
From Night Fighter: An Insider’s Story of Special Ops from Korea to SEAL Team 6, by Captain William Hamilton and Charles W. Sasser. In hardback at all bookstores on 1 November. Pre-order now in hardback or e-book on Amazon, etc.
Romans 1:20 (NIV)
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
Amen, Carol.
chuck
Very touching, Chuck. This reminds me of a wall plaque hanging in my courtyard: “The course of nature is the art of God.” (Edward Young) Another quote also comes to mind: “Do not be afraid; our fate Cannot be taken from us; it is a gift. (Dante Alighieri)
Thank you, Julie. It’s said that it takes more faith to be an atheist than it does to believe in God. See you Tuesday.
chuck
Chuck, I’ve just finished a historical fiction “Hard Times in the Heartland” based on my dad’s letter from the Depression and WW II. He had a moment of realization one night on the battlefield as you did in that parachute. Won’t tell you more–I’ll just invite you to read it! =) It’s available on Amazon.com in e-reader and paperback.
Sounds like a wonderful book, Sally. I’ll definitely put it on my reading list. Need paperback, however, as I don’t do e-readers–for a variety of reasons.
God bless, Sally.
chucksasser
Amen, Brother. If being out in nature does not bring you closer to God, you are deaf and blind or already dead inside. Hunting season is my favorite time of year whether or not I put more meat in my freezer. Being out in the brush or woods is a joy to me. If I harvest some game animal that is just a bonus.
Chuck, Flying in the open as you did, I’m sure you shared this same epiphany:
High Flight by John G.Magee, Jr. RCAF (1922-1941)
Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunwards I’ve climbed and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds – and done a thousand things
You have not dreamed of – wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hovering there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air,
Up, up the long delirious burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace,
Where never lark, or even eagle, flew;
And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of god.
Ah, yes, Jim. One of my favorite poems. I’ve read it a number of times. It fact, it’s quote at the Smithsonian in Air & Space section. Just reading it again now.
thank you, old friend. chuck sasser
Hello Mr. Sasser, I would like to review a book of yours and would love to ask you a few questions for the story. Could you email me? I write freelance book reviews and arts stories for the Pryor Daily Times. Thanks, Shaun Perkins, okiestoryteller@gmail.com
Thanks, Ms. Perkins. Am emailing you now.
chuck sasser