Dear family and friends,
I can’t believe that I am graduating from LeTourneau University in a mere 41 days! I am majoring in Aeronautical Science Mission Aviation and have a minor in Applied Science. This means I am walking away with a commercial multi and single engine pilot certificate with a high performance and tailwheel endorsement along with an instrument rating. In addition, I have recently passed my oral, practical, and written tests to become an aircraft airframe and powerplant mechanic. As you can imagine, these last four years have kept me very busy with managing my way through 143 credits of maintenance, flight, Bible, and general education courses. God has blessed me significantly during my time here, and I will be graduating with the honors of Magna Cum Laude on May 7th.
Besides academics, I have also been actively involved in extracurricular activities. For one, I have been on the Sting Precision Flight Team and I was also selected to help form a new campus group called LeTourneau University Mission Aviation (LUMA). When people think of LUMA, we want them to think of discipleship-based, skill-oriented, Christ-centered, Spirit-filled missionary training.
Many of you may recognize the banner at the top of this page from a letter I sent out almost two years ago on March 22nd. I sent this letter out when I was going to work with Mission Aviation Fellowship in Lesotho, Africa, in July of 2008. Well, I am not going back to Lesotho (at least at the moment), but going as far north as I possibly can and still remain in the United States. No, not Maine or Washington, but Alaska! I am going up to Alaska with Kingdom Air Corps (KAC) for a month and a half. Kingdom Air Corps’ mission is to “train up people who will carry the good news of the Gospel to places that are difficult to reach, prepare pilots and mechanics to fly and maintain aircraft in difficult places, the uttermost places, and to work and develop relationships in order to bring the message of salvation, and to bring vision and inspiration to new missionary pilots.” See this site for more information: www.kingdomaircorps.org
During my time in Alaska, I will be honing my pilot and aircraft maintenance skills. My hopes are to gain valuable mountain flying experience and missionary training. All flight training costs at KAC are for the fuel of the aircraft and not any other fees. To be able to go on the mission field permanently, most organizations look at how many flight hours you have and how much debt you are in from training. KAC not only provides inexpensive flight hours, they save time that I would otherwise have to be working to pay off debt so that I can get on the mission field permanently in the future.
More important than flying or maintenance, I have the chance to help out with a Bible camp! From July 12th through 24th our team will take a caravan of seven airplanes and fly up to the Arctic Circle to host a Bible camp. The camp reaches out to Native Americans and Eskimo children who live in villages that are in or near the Brooks Range in Alaska. These children come from some of the worst home situations imaginable. In addition, many of these young children are addicted to smoking and alcohol. My goal is to build relationships with these kids and show them the love of Christ through the Gospel message. I know 13 days is not enough time to break addictions from these kids, but it is enough time to shine a very bright light into a dark situation in order to bring hope.
After this trip is over, I plan on working for several years to pay off my college debt. I have a possible job with Dynamic Aviation in Bridgewater Virginia (where I had a maintenance internship this past summer) if a position becomes available for a pilot and mechanic. Dwayne King, the leader of KAC, has also said he could hook me up with a job working up in Alaska. After my loans are paid off, I have high hopes of working as a full time missionary pilot. Often, the hardest people to talk to about faith are the closest people to you. Our Western worldview shies away from talking about religion for fear of rejection or offense. I cannot send this letter in good conscious without talking about my faith. My faith is fundamental to everything that I do and to this trip.
The world in which we live has many warring worldviews and religions. Christianity is not all about heaven and hell, what to do and what not to do, or even living a morally upright life. Christianity is all about Jesus Christ and having a dynamic relationship with God and creator of the universe! Being able to have a relationship with God sounds weird; but it is out of God’s love for us that Jesus Christ sacrificially died (and rose again!) on the cross for our sins. Jesus is the promised Messiah and the fulfillment of the covenant that God made with David and Abraham in the Old Testament. God is perfect and holy and our sin separates us from Him. I will be the first to tell you that I am a sinner. Thankfully, grace is given in abundance to cover my faults.
The consequences of sin has many effects on humans. Sin effects out relationship with God, with other humans, the world, and our own self understanding. Sin impacts every aspect of our life and distorts the image of how God intended it to be. The Garden of Eden was the perfect example of how our relationships should be; perfect harmony with God. Sin comes in many forms and has brought sickness and pain into the world in which God created. A very real battle exists for Satan trying to lead us away from God. God wants to have a relationship with you, but you must take the first step. Romans 10:9 says “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
As one of my professors once said, “Eshatology is protology recapitulated.” In other words, the future is a remaking of the beginning. Jesus will return one day and judge mankind. This judgment is not annihilation of the world but rather restoration of the entire world for those who are in relationship with Christ. A new and renewed heavens and earth will be formed. The restoration is for the whole human life and the whole creation. Relationship with God, with fellow humans, ourselves, and the world will all be renewed. Sin’s destruction on life will be completely healed and the picture of life with God, in which the serpent twisted in the Garden of Eden, will be restored to its original state.
God loves and accepts you just the way you are. I am not perfect. In fact, I live a pretty messed up life at times. The only way I find hope in this world, peace, and joy, is through Jesus Christ. His grace covers all my mistakes, and He freely gives this grace to you as well if you believe and accept what He has done for you. Christ freely sacrificed His life on the cross to save us.
I encourage you to check out my blog at www.vulken.blogspot.com On this site, I talk a lot about my faith and very real issues that I struggle with in life in regards to what it means to be a Christian. If you look under the blog archive on the right hand side of the page under December 2010, you will see two blogs that I wrote about my call to ministry as well as a very short summary of the Bible and how the major events in the Bible all connect together to ultimately what Jesus’ life meant. I also plan on posting updates to my Alaska trip on this site as well.
If you feel called to help support me financially, that would be awesome! I need to raise approximately $3,000. Please see the attached sheet for details.
Peace, Love, Joy,
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