In a former life, I was a helicopter pilot in the army. All army aircraft have two pilots and two sets of flight controls. In most, the pilots sit beside each other and can see each other. In the helicopter I flew, the pilots were separated from each other and could only see the other pilot via a small mirror.
My first duty assignment after flight school was in Korea. One night I was flying with another pilot who was much more experienced than I — he was the pilot-in-command and I was the co-pilot. During a rather routine flight, we experienced a condition known as inadvertent instrument meteorological conditions. This is a situation in which you are flying in good weather and clear visibility and suddenly, without warning, you “punch in” to clouds. In an instant, we went from flying using our vision as our primary reference point to having zero visibility. It can be a very harrowing experience, but it doesn’t have to be. You are trained in flight school to be able to fly with zero visibility, using only the electronic navigation equipment in the aircraft to fly safely and maintain your bearing, know your exact location, etc.
“Flying instruments” is not that hard — both the other pilot and I had to learn how to do it proficiently while in flight school. However, flying instruments is not nearly as daunting in a training environment when you know what you are facing, as when you punch in to clouds, especially at night. Most people probably don’t realize this, but your primary means of keeping balance is your vision. When you punch in to clouds at night, it can be overwhelmingly disorienting.
That is what happened to us that night. The other pilot was flying the aircraft when we punched in. He could not transition to flying with the aid of instrument navigation because he became instantly disoriented. I had to take the controls, immediately initiate a climb (we were flying in mountainous terrain) and transmit a radio call on an emergency frequency to alert air traffic control that we were in the clouds.
It took us longer than it should have to get a response on the emergency frequency from air traffic control. To make matters worse, we were getting low on fuel. It was not a desirable situation. Fortunately, we eventually made contact with air traffic control and they gave us instructions for an altitude and heading that would allow us to steer clear of the mountains and other aircraft.
After the situation stabilized, the other (senior) pilot regained his orientation and was able to resume control of the aircraft. By that time, we were safely headed back to our home base and we eventually came down out of the clouds and the rest of the flight was as uneventful as it was in the beginning.
That wasn’t the only time in my life that I have “punched in” to a situation in which complete disorientation was an issue. As a matter of fact, this happened to me very recently. I have never been diagnosed with depression in the clinical sense, but, at times I find myself struggling just to make it through the day, or sometimes to even get out of bed.
One day I was in such distress I didn’t feel like I could even leave the house. I did not know what to do, so I put out a call on an emergency frequency (one of my Sunday School class’s communication apps). Very soon after that, a fellow believer contacted me and offered instructions for an altitude and heading to guide me to safety, which in this case was lunch (at the church) with someone who was simply willing to listen and pray with me.
My fellow-believer friend couldn’t heal me, couldn’t solve all of my problems, but he got me out of the mental airspace of spiritual, emotional and mental disorientation. One other interesting fact about this situation is that my fellow believer friend is not an older mentor; he is younger than me. When I left my house to meet my friend, I told my wife it felt awkward because it would just seem more natural if the older believer was offering support to the younger believer. I’m glad that I had the situational awareness to realize that I needed to let someone younger than me, less experienced in life than me, take the controls and help guide me to a better place. That is exactly what happened.
“When I was in distress, I sought the Lord” by seeking help from His Church, one of His local body of believers. It wasn’t a Sunday, but, “I rejoiced [when my friend said to me], ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord’” and have lunch, talk and pray.
When you set out on a flight with good weather and clear visibility, you don’t expect to punch in to clouds. You expect that you will be able to see clearly in order to fly safely and avoid hazards. The same is true in life: sometimes you encounter circumstances that you don’t expect, and it can be extremely disorienting. As a believer, we have the option to make emergency calls to the Lord and His people — sometimes to people we might not otherwise consider because of differences in age, life experience, circumstances, etc. The important thing to remember is to reach out when your own spiritual, emotional and mental vision is shrouded by the clouds of life.
“Reaching is the proof of passion; reaching is the proof of humility.” Author unknown