Flying Lesson No. One
Jesus Like the North Star Is Fixed and Certain
Navigation and Course Corrections ‑ In order to get to the destination and accomplish the mission a pilot must be able to navigate. Flying back and forth across the Pacific Ocean during the Viet Nam War and before GPS equipment our navigators used a sextant to take readings from the stars. The primary star focused on was Polaris or the North Star. This is because the North Star is fixed in the heavens directly over the North Pole. Therefore, as the earth rotates on it axis the heavens appear to revolve and the sun and the moon rises and sets, but the North Star stays fixed. With this knowledge navigators for centuries have been able to measure the degree the North Star is above the horizon and determine their latitude. At the equator the North Star is on the horizon and at the North Pole it is directly overhead. It is not visible in the Southern Hemisphere.
Korean Air Flight 007 Strays Off Course and is Shot Down ‑ During the cold war a Boeing 747 full of passengers on its way from the United States to Korea strayed off course because of a navigational error and flew over a small area of hostile airspace. The Soviet Union sent fighter jets and shot the airliner down killing all on board. The Soviets justified this action by saying that the airliner was in their territory.
Lesson for Life ‑ Like the Soviets, Satan will try to destroy us if we go into his territory. The way we can be sure to stay out of Satan's territory is to follow Jesus. Like the North Star he is fixed and certain and his foundation is sure. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6). Jesus is the right way, the full truth, and the abundant life. We need to keep reorienting our lives and making course correction by asking ourselves the question, "What would Jesus do?" In doing this we will make the necessary course corrections to stay out of Satan's territory and we will arrive safely at our destination of eternal life.
Testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ - I use the following words as recorded in Helaman 5:9-12 as my testimony of the Lord. The Holy Ghost has taught me that they are true. "O remember, remember, my sons, the words which king Benjamin spake unto his people; yea, remember that there is no other way nor means whereby man can be saved, only through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, who shall come; yea, remember that he cometh to redeem the world.”
"And he hath power given unto him from the Father to redeem them from their sins because of repentance; therefore he hath sent his angels to declare the tidings of the conditions of repentance, which bringeth unto the power of the Redeemer, unto the salvation of their souls.
"And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless woe, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.”