I really am just an ordinary sort of fellow, really I am.
In the preamble to this biography, I mentioned there were four main purposes for writing it and the most important was to give glory and honour to the creator and upholder of the entire universe – Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. I hope you detect this, otherwise I will regard my effort as a total failure, for as John the Baptist said, “He must increase, and I must decrease.”
He is truly beyond my comprehension or circumstances. Yet, for reasons even now I am at a loss to totally understand, He reveals Himself compassionately to me as a Father, and as a Son who sticks closer than a brother. He even gave up His life for me when I stood condemned for my transgressions and, as a Spirit, he speaks deeply into my spirit when I am prepared to listen.
Throughout my long life and seemingly many catastrophic periods and episodes, He has always remained faithful to his word, endlessly pouring in peace from a storehouse of love, compassion and faithfulness.
Imagine, for a moment, a plane, fuelled and ready to take off from a bumpy grass airstrip in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. The occasion was a medical emergency, or medi-vac as we called them. Papua New Guinea is on the equator and daylight changes to total darkness within a matter of minutes and this transition was approaching so rapidly which would make take-off impossible. The nature of the condition of the patient required a flight directly to Cairns, Australia, something that had not been done before and therefore needed special customs clearance. Verbal permission was however received just before the flight was due to be aborted.
The plane was quite small and had just sufficient space to accommodate a stretcher, a doctor and a nurse. My wife was the patient and I, a definitely medically unqualified nurse. Of course, there was also a pilot, but more importantly, there was the sense of someone else – the Prince of Peace.
The flight was quite bumpy over mountain ranges which called for concentration and dexterity while replacing a drip and associated cannula and more especially so since an otherwise suitable vein had collapsed. At times like this a pause for prayer might seem appropriate, but the presence of the Prince of Peace seemed to fill the cabin rendering even this unnecessary.
The flight was becoming increasingly bumpy as the plane crossed the Australian coast, so much so that a radio call from Cairns’s flight control informed the pilot that due to high winds the airport was being closed and suggested diverting to another airport. For some reason this was not considered to be a viable option by our pilot, so he continued en route toward Cairns.
Eventually a second radio message was received informing the pilot that the airport had indeed been shut down, but we were cleared to land, and emergency services were standing by.
Our small plane when approaching the airport was tossed around like a leaf falling to the ground in an autumn breeze. But we made it. We, together with the Prince of Peace.
The following day my wife took another flight with the Australian Flying Doctor Service to a hospital for tests involving specialist medical equipment which Cairns’s hospital did not possess, while I followed by bus. Actually, this flight turned out to be a bonus for her since she had always wanted to fly with the AFDS, albeit not as a patient but as a nurse.
On another occasion I was flying ‘co-pilot’ in a single engine five-seat aeroplane across mountain ranges and dense jungle. The other occupants, other than the pilot, was the wife of a translator returning to her village home with two small children. Being the engineer that I am I was fascinated by the instrumentation directly in front of me. Suddenly, I noticed that the engine exhaust gas temperature was registering rather high. Pointing this out to the pilot he immediately radioed engineers back at our home airstrip who diagnosed a possible exhaust valve problem and advised that we immediately look out for a suitable spot to make an emergence landing. I should point out here that there are almost 400 airstrips in Papua New Guinea and almost all are simple grass strips with many being in isolated mountainous areas demanding considerable pilot skill to affect a landing even under the most favourable conditions.
Eventually we did find one with a concrete runway and made a safe landing. Later we discovered that an exhaust valve had quite a large chunk of material missing. But once again the presence of the Prince of Peace brought calm in an otherwise potentially very serious situation.
Taking off from airstrips high in mountainous areas can be stressful at the best of times. On another occasion we had been visiting an isolated village when heavy cloud descended making take-off in the normal direction far too dangerous if not impossible. Our pilot decided that the only way out was, once airborne, to immediately spiral the plane vertically upward and out of the valley formed by two towering mountains. As the plane ascended, an occasionally break in the cloud revealed a tree lined mountain side just feet away from a wing tip. But we were once again in good ‘hands,’ including those of the pilot!
Mount Wilhelm is the highest mountain peak in Papua New Guinea at 4509 metres (14,793 feet. I had joined a team taking a group of young expatriate missionary kids to climb it and experience the joy of seeing the early morning sun rise. We were returning home in our minibus when we were high jacked at gunpoint on a river crossing. This was the second time that I had experienced being ambushed at gunpoint.
And the list goes on and on and on. All a testimony to the faithfulness of the Prince of Peace who, for me, calms life’s ‘storms’.
By the way, am I always at peace regardless of the situation? Well actually, no, for the temptation to worry lurks just below the surface and all too often, I am ashamed to say, I succumb and lose my peace. It’s then I get that look of compassion, not a hint of condemnation, lovingly wooing me back into a tender embrace and a place of peace.
Over the years one thing I have discovered is that the world offers, generally at a costly premium, a policy called ‘Life Insurance’, payable on death! Reading the small print there is no mention of a guarantee against worry, anxiety, extent or quality of life.
The Prince of Peace also offers a policy – freedom from earthy worry, anxiety and a guaranteed quality of life, yes even everlasting. And the small print? Fully paid and underwritten by the Creator and Upholder of the universe, ‘The King of kings’, ‘The Lord of lords’, ‘The Prince of Peace’.