Important Notice!  We do not support or agree with the the banner ad above or the Tripod advertisements that automatically appear without our consent on our website!

Dear Friends and family,

I was just breathing a sigh of relief as our DC-10 broke through the thick turbulent rain clouds on its approach to landing at Ujung Pandang airport, when I heard the high pitched whine of the jet engines increase to full power and felt the G-forces once again pull me back into my seat. The nose of the plane was lifting once more to the clouds and as strange as it may seem I was getting that sinking feeling again.  The last thing that could be seen before entering the white-out conditions of the clouds were the lights of Ujung Pandang airport heading off in a different direction that the one we had been heading in.  (Good call by the pilot I guess!)  Then for ten minutes, nothing but the weird vertigo of not knowing whether you are going up or down, rising or falling, out of control or everything going according to plan.

I have been in situations like this before and true to form I found myself praying, trying to commit everything to the Lord, and desperately trying to find peace in the storm.  Often if the truth were to be known I find myself praying for just one more second; one more breath.  These prayers can get rather lengthy due to the long periods of time between breaths.  But nevertheless, I found myself doing it again.  We finally broke through the clouds again, this time above them and on our way to a different airport.  Eventually my heart and breathing rate were able to return to normal.

There was an elderly Indonesian lady sitting in front of me who invited me to come up and sit across the aisle from her so that we could talk.  I told her who I was and what I was doing in Indonesia.  She was very interested and we talked non-stop except for any time when we would enter turbulence.  Then she would place her hand on my arm and say, "Let us both just talk to God for a minute and commit things into his hands.  He loves us so much and we can have peace knowing that nothing will happen to us outside of His will."  Her love for the Lord at that moment was such an encouragement to me.  She just radiated the reality of how real, how powerful, and how loving our God is.

Later that night, Garuda Airlines had put us, Ron Baird and I, up in a nice hotel in Bali (talk about suffering), we had the opportunity to talk for almost 2 hours with a Muslim Bank manager about our faith.  Half way through the conversation I realized that the bad weather was not an unfortunate incident; some annoying detour postponing God's plan to get me to Ujung Pandang.  The fact of the matter is that God never intended for us to land in Ujung Pandang that night in the first place.  There was something else, something better, that He had in mind;  the vision of Christ through the cheerful disposition of an Indonesian lady -- the planting of a seed in someone's heart.

The next day flying into Ujung Pandang, the weather was no better.  In someway it even seemed worse than the night before.  However, this time God wanted us to land in Ujung Pandang.  At least this was what I was hoping when I realized that the pilot was really going to go for it.  The plane seemed to be swinging back and forth.  And when we finally touched down, it was on the back right wheel only.  We bounced up in the air, did some dipping and swinging, landed firmly once again, full reverse thrust, and slowed to a stop.  The Indonesian guy sitting by us said, "That is a really good pilot.  He is very brave."  Those weren't the exact thoughts running through my mind, but I let it drop.

The rest of the trip home from the week of meetings in Manado was pretty much uneventful in comparison.  I hope that I never forget the lessons the Lord taught me through those circumstances.  1)  Why wait till a tense moment to start depending on God for your next breath;  your next moment of life?  God wants and deserves that total dependence upon Him at all times.  Surely our next breath is in His hands -- to give or to keep for His glory.  2)  The detours of life are only detours to OUR plans not GOD's.  "God never intended us to go there."  Right now we are still in Sentani involved in administration and helping the new families get settled.  We thought we would already be in the X-ray (Maniwo) working with remote tribal people.  It looks like we may still be needed here for a while yet.  Not a detour -- just God's perfect will

Thank you for all of you that prayed for Carolyn and the girls while I was away.  The Lord kept them safe and busy.  I thought the girls were really excited to see me until the truth slipped out when one of them asked which one of my bags had the presents in it.  Speaking of presents, Carolyn just had her 30th birthday.  The day came and went.  She seems to be handling the trauma of leaving the 20's behind quite well.

Please pray for us that we will be faithful to the task God has set before us.  And thank you for your prayers that have carried us through to this day.  We love and appreciate you so much!

Your brother in Christ,

Stephen Crockett for Carolyn and the girls.