A few weeks ago while returning to our home base, I made it to within seven miles of home and I could not continue any further. The rain and subsequent turbulence was simply too much for this pilot and I turned around and made a straight line for a clear section of river. Thankfully, I landed on the river just as the deluge hit and I enjoyed an hour in a “new to me” village. I was warmly invited into someone’s home and we talked and enjoyed tea while the heavens cut loose just out the front door. An hour after I landed, the skies cleared up as though nothing had happened and I took off and landed at our home base nine minutes later.

My family’s home is in the middle of Borneo.  And while the city we live in is daily improving and advancing, only a short distance from our house the Borneo jungle is still original as well as its native inhabitants. Recently, we were able to take a special boat ride, a tour of sorts, and see wild orangutans living in their natural environment. Seeing those large apes outside of the confines of a zoo was a special thing. There are not many places on earth left to see wild orangutans and we just happen to live “down the road” from them. Aside from seeing wild apes, we have had the privilege of seeing many other beautiful and exotic places around the world. It’s a blessing to not only see God’s beautiful creation but also to see Him at work in the lives of the people we serve.

In an American football context, it is often the quarterback, running back, or wide receiver that receives more of the spotlight, especially when a team is successful and winning. But any good quarterback, running back, or wide receiver knows that the success of their team does not and cannot rely on only one person. It is a team effort. Without their linemen, the quarterback, running back, and wide receiver would struggle to help their team win. They need protection, assistance, and cooperation from the whole team in order to be a success.

The same analogy can be said of missions, especially mission aviation. As pilots, we receive large amounts of glory regarding how great our jobs are, all the people we help, all the medicine we carry, and all the other ministries we support. What many people forget is that this “success” starts at home base, with the crew of national workers who are vital to our work. They help with aircraft and base maintenance, passengers, cargo, visas and other legal documentation; they continue to help us, the foreigners, understand their culture, language, and lifestyle more fully. Without wholehearted help from our national workers, we, as guests living in their country, would be rendered ineffective and our ministries would suffer.

“Thank you, Lord, for all the different members of Your body, the gifts You have given them, and the places you allow them to serve.”

After landing, I began taxiing down the middle of the river looking for a dock to use.  As I slowly made my way to the side of the river my airplane came to a gentle but unexpected stop.  I was beached on a sandbar right in the middle of the river!  Gold miners had left an unseen underwater island of sand and I was stuck on it. I shut the engine down and jumped down from the cockpit into the river. I was quickly met by several villagers that were eager to talk and they told me that I had flown too far upstream––the village I sought was the next village downstream.

Thankful for their information and assistance pushing me back into the deep part of the river, I took off again, landing in the correct village five minutes later. They were expecting me and shortly after pulling up to their dock, we were airborne again. Twenty-five minutes later we landed in PalangkaRaya where the patient was taken directly to the hospital.

Sometimes it really does take a village, or two, to get the job done. I was thankful for the help that day, and glad to be able to serve this remote area.

Dewey

When I asked him what he was up to, Dewey told me he was hoping he could catch a ride on a flight back to his home village. Not only was there a flight heading that direction, but I was the pilot and I even had an extra empty seat. I told him that we would have to make several stops before we got to his village but Dewey didn’t mind––in fact he liked the idea. While he was in Shell, where MAF is based, Dewey had found a children’s illustrated Bible. He was excited to use this simple Bible to share Gospel stories with those still living in the jungle. Better yet, for those that could not read, he could explain with pictures what God has done for them through the sacrifice of Jesus.

Shortly after we landed at our first destination, Dewey jumped out of the plane and began to share the Gospel from his new Bible. It didn’t take long for a small group to surround Dewey as he shared God’s love in a way that I could never have done as a foreigner and non-native speaker. At each of the several stops before we landed in his village, Dewey would preach the Good News to any that would listen.

I was blessed that day to realize how God’s plans are higher than mine, and that still many years later after the “tragedy” in the Amazon jungle, God was making His name famous in ways that I didn’t expect––using a man who truly understood God’s boundless grace and a simple, illustrated Bible.

On any given weekend, I might be completing a neglected project around my house, or attending church services on Sunday. Regardless of what I’m doing, I have received numerous calls on my “days off” asking for a flight to pick up a person in need of urgent medical care.

A recent call reached my teammate’s cell phone asking for a medevac from an isolated village in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. The patient, a middle-aged man with apparent lung cancer, was continuing to grow weaker and weaker and the small clinic in his village was unable to provide any long term care.

Indonesia Medical Evacuation

After confirming that this patient could not wait until the next day, Monday, we were soon on our way to the hangar to prep the airplane and fly 45 minutes north to pick him up. We had great weather that day and it was a straight line shot to his village. Soon after arriving at his village and taxiing the Cessna 185 floatplane up to the river dock, we saw the man being carried by some villagers, and we promptly helped him into the airplane. He was in poor shape, coughing blood and continually vomiting. His wife and son accompanied him, which I was grateful for.

The return leg home still included nice weather and we landed at our home base in Palangkaraya to find an ambulance already waiting to take him to the nearest hospital. Thankfully for this man, just a few hours after we got the phone call, he was sitting in a hospital receiving medical care that would not have been possible in his home village.