A few years before we entered the 21st century, thanks to the internet, I discovered a man, Stan Buddenbohm, in California who makes balsa model airplane kits. One of those kits is called a Scout. It is a catapult launched glider and absolutely perfect for the aviation class I was teaching at the Chautauqua Institution each summer. Although Stan and I have never met face to face, we have developed a fulfilling relationship. I still use the Scout to teach some of the basics of aerodynamics and get great joy out of watching young people of all ages build and then see their Scouts soar magnificently.
When my son, Caleb, was asked to teach an introduction to aviation to the 7th graders in Plainwell, I knew one of the planes we would use would be Stan’s Scouts. I don’t think Caleb ever built one before he started teaching the class last year. This year, due to the pandemic, he has been all on his own working with his students.
Last week, he called for his weekly check in and told me that they took their Scouts out for their first flights this Tuesday. One class of 13 and a class of 17. They could not use their regular flying field, due to construction and had to walk a little further to the football field. The wonder and excitement in his voice was great. It was snowing a bit Tuesday, but it was the first day with winds under 10 mph, so he took them out to fly. First, he supervised some hand launched trimming flights to get the final adjustments just right, then it was off to the full catapult launched flights. They all flew great! The sound of Caleb’s voice still dances in my ears. I am amazed that he is able to handle all of these 7th graders by himself.
One of the planes landed on top of the press box, on top of the stands and then one of them got caught in something and it flew away with lots of ooh’s and aah’s. It landed on top of the highest part of the high school. They have not gotten it down yet, but the girl who watched her plane fly away, was able to build another Scout during the next class. She built it all by herself, without Caleb, nor anyone else helping.
Thus, 30 seventh graders with one teacher learned a little aerodynamics, built something with their own hands, watched their creation soar like a hawk and went home feeling a true sense of accomplishment. An important day in their lives and a blessing in mine.
I sent Stan an email, telling him of the success of Caleb’s class and thanking him for his carefully crafted kits. Stan’s reply really got me to thinking: “I have been considering your email and I wonder if you understand how much credit should go to you, to Caleb, and to your school?
In California, at least for the past decade, schools do not allow outdoor airplanes. There are signs on school fences saying NO MODEL PLANE FLYING. There is no distinction about what type of model plane. It is all about liability, politicians, bureaucrats, and teachers. The idea that you teach kids to use what they need to make Scouts, that you have organized flying sessions, that Caleb was willing to have the kids fly on school grounds, that it was okay for models to fly up on top of buildings…..all of this is something I hope you are proud of! Your efforts make me smile and feel good for a time. Thanks.”
Stan’s reply sparked something in me so I sent back: “People are terribly frightened of things going wrong, so much so that they miss many things that bring wonder and abundance to life. Part of my perspective is that the church has over emphasized faith as a personal relationship with God rather than how we are meant to live with each other in such a way that we might have life and have it more abundantly. Airplanes are a big part of that abundant life for me and you have added greatly to it.”
Deuteronomy reads like it was written by those same lawyers, politicians, bureaucrats and teachers, Stan was referring to. It is full of rules and regulations about what you can and cannot do, eat, wear, and speak. It not only talks about these rules, these commandments! in great detail, it also prescribes the punishments that should follow. The 23rd chapter of Deuteronomy opens by saying one group of sexual outcasts, eunuchs, are not to be allowed into any gathering of the people. This week’s reading from the book of the Acts of the Apostles 8:26-40 talks about Philip. After watching his friend Steven being stoned to death for leading the people of God astray and saying that in Christ there is a new covenant, Philip was led out to where he meets with an unnamed man. This man is never named, but it is told that he is rich and powerful because he is riding in a chariot, and he is working for a woman, Queen Candace of Ethiopia. He is not Jewish, nor is he “white”, (definitely not one of God’s chosen) and he is a eunuch (expressly forbidden from being part of the assembly of God’s people). The Ethiopian eunuch will eventually ask Philip, “What is to prevent me from being baptized?”
This passage is one of the clearest pericopes that demonstrates the shift of the old covenant where the people of God are to be holy (different, set apart) as God is holy into the new covenant that Jesus lived out: people are to be compassionate as God is compassionate. I really do think that if the church could more often teach that we are to be compassionate, love our neighbor as ourselves, do unto others as we would …, care for the least of these because they are Christ’s presence in our world, rather than stopping with Do You Know Jesus as your Personal Lord and Savior. If the church could emphasize it is all about us and not about me, that faith is not about putting on some great armor of protection but rather being strong enough to make ourselves vulnerable and loving, then more kids could learn to fly in the school playground. We could have life and have it abundantly, and God’s kingdom would be present on Earth as it is in Heaven.
John W Fisher
