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Devotional Thoughts

  Devotional Thoughts
   The Spiritual Side of Our Website

This part of the site features monthly devotional thoughts by the Association's Chaplain, with the goal of encouraging Signal Corps OCS Graduates to be exceptional in their lives and to live life at a higher level.  Our current Chaplain is of the Christian faith, so naturally, his devotionals are fashioned around his Christian beliefs. Your comments and suggestions are welcome and can be offered directly to the Chaplain by eMail at: MaxHolt@ArmySignalOCS.com


by LTC (R) Max Holt, Class 02-67

October 2011

TRADITION KILLS

LTC (R) Max Holt - TodayLTC (R) Max Holt

A Navy pilot and I were sharing stories we had experienced in aviation careers. He told me about a fellow pilot who had flown the same type of jet aircraft for years and had actually ejected from a disabled airplane several times by pulling the ejection lever located on either side of his pilot’s seat. The Navy retired the old planes and taught him to fly a new, more capable one but he constantly talked about how he wished he still had the old plane.  The new plane was faster, had better weapons and had an improved ejection system with a handle in front of the seat and one overhead, giving the pilot a better chance to reach the handle regardless of the airplane’s position.

One day the pilot was landing the new plane on an aircraft carrier when the landing cable on the deck, that grabs the hook on the plane, broke and allowed the jet to continue down the deck and plunge off the front of the aircraft carrier. When the Controller saw the cable break he radioed the pilot to EJECT, EJECT, EJECT! The pilot never ejected.  Rescuers pulled the wreckage out of the ocean with the pilot still in the cockpit; he had drowned. When they took the body out, a crewman noticed that the ejection handles had not been pulled, but the seat had been bent upwards on both sides, right where the ejection handles had been on the old airplane he loved so much. An unwillingness to change had led to the pilot’s inability to make the right choice in an emergency. 

Are you stuck in a rut? How do you react when you sense that God wants you to break out of your mold and do a new thing for Him? Maybe He wants you to change a routine that has prevented you from being available to your church group for a ministry that you’ve never done before. You must be willing to take risks and embrace the unknown if you are going to get out of your comfort zone for God. Isaiah 43: 18-19 says, "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” 

Common Sense Application

1.  Go to your spiritual leader or pastor and ask for help in discovering your spiritual gifts. There are several good tests available. I recommend the spiritual gifts assessment and the accompanying personality assessment available from Uniquely You. You can order it at the web site www.uniquelyyou.com. 

2.  Make a list of the habits (traditions) in your life which limit your availability to be a good example to those around you (be honest now!). Make a commitment to start changing them, at least one at a time. I have heard that, with concentrated effort, you can change a habit completely in 31 days. Why not start today?

3.  Volunteer to be part of an existing spiritual group that is making a real difference in peoples lives. Better yet, you start a ministry team organized to meet an identified need in lives. 

 


Prior Month Devotionals
May '11 Jun '11 Jul '11 Aug '11 Sep '11 Oct '11 Nov '11 Dec '11 Jan '12 Feb '12 Mar '12 Apr '12
May '12 Jun '12 Jul '12 Aug '12 Sep '12 Oct '12 Nov '11 Dec '11 Jan '13 Feb '13 Mar '13 Apr '13
  

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