Christmas Medivac Flight

My phone rang on Christmas Eve, just as we were finishing up dinner with friends.  We had just eaten bacon-wrapped chicken, crab dip, cheeseball and crackers, meatballs, and were moving on to dessert.  It's not everyday that you eat like that around here!  Later that night I and my buddies Chris and Tom would be outside setting up the trampoline we had bought the kids for Christmas, and I was pretty excited about it.  But on the phone was Steve, our program manager, telling me there was Pendeta (Pastor) Hendri, who had had a stroke earlier that afternoon, and needed to be picked up the next morning.  Several of our pilots weren't available, and I guess me being pretty low on the seniority pole, meant I was being called on to do it.  On the one hand, I wanted to do the flight, and help Hendri (who is a former MAF airstrip agent) get to the hospital in Tarakan.  But on the other hand, I selfishly wanted to just spend Christmas like I had planned it out in my head, with my family at home.  Didn't he know we weren't flying on Christmas?  Why did he have to go and have a stroke on Christmas Eve?  The battle between my flesh and spirit raged in my heart.

The next morning when we woke up Heather was sick, making the battle going on inside my heart even more difficult.  Was there seriously nobody else who could do this flight?  Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.  Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.   (John 12:24-25)  I knew this was about me dying to self, and I prayed to that effect.  That's right, even so-called "missionaries," when awesome opportunities arise to help another servant of God in need, sometimes don't want to help.  I wanted to help, but come on, this was Christmas!

Thankfully as I submitted myself to God and got flying, He changed my heart, and as I knew it would be, it was actually a lot of fun and humbling to be able to help someone so beloved by the community and church there.  I normally jump at the opportunity to do medivac flights like these, so I was ultimately happy that I was called on to do this, Christmas day or not.  

When I arrived in Mahak Baru, which is an hour-and-a-half from Tarakan, it looked like the whole village had come out to see Pendeta Hendri off:

I am thankful for people like Pendeta Hendri, who are laboring for the Gospel of Christ deep in the heart of Borneo.  He is someone MAF has known for years, and it truly is a privilege to be able to be a small part of helping build God's Kingdom.  I am also thankful that God continues to refine and shape my heart, even as my selfish flesh wages war against the Spirit working in me.  Please pray for his recovery, and that this stroke would not have any long term effects on him.