Not too long ago, I received a story about an aging American pilot, who, in 1967, made a spectacular low pass in his P-51 Mustang (upon invitation by the control tower) over a Canadian air field. That event moved the Canadian writer, who was twelve at the time, to write a story (more than forty years later) in which he revealed a love of America, Americans and something he hoped to see again… Below is the excerpt from the story that moved me to write what follows.
I’ve never wanted to be an American more than on that day. It was a time when many nations in the world looked to America as their big brother, a steady and even-handed beacon of security who navigated difficult political water with grace and style; not unlike the pilot who’d just flown into my memory. He was proud, not arrogant, humble, not a braggart, old and honest, projecting an aura of America at its best. That America will return one day, I know it will.
Lea MacDonald, Ontario, Canada
Four years after 1967, and for many years thereafter, I too was making “low passes”. Though I do not want, nor could you entice me, to become 23 again, I would like to live long enough to see, “That America…return…”
While the goodness that flows from Saving Grace is dependent upon nothing but God’s grace, the goodness that flows from Common Grace requires something more.
Without men and women who are ready, willing and able to turn the endless “second” chances (that Common Grace affords to Mankind) into words and deeds, the world returns to its antediluvian state. Sometimes the efforts of mere men and women are not enough—sometimes it requires a nation. Throughout my life that nation has been the United States—“…a steady and even-handed beacon of security…”
Of all the things that prayer does within the temporal realm perhaps the greatest is to move men to do what’s right regardless of the cost. Too often, however, we consider “the cost” as the loss of something, when most often it requires the possession of something—the readiness, willingness and ability to do what must be done. Such possessions are acquired by labors of heart, mind and will; they are never given.
Though God is sovereign, men appear to be the means to accomplish his ends. We no longer observe the Sea of Galilee being calmed upon command. But it can still be crossed by sailors who are competent and courageous—sailors who are guided by godly virtue.
Today, as always, we search for “sailors”, “… [who are] even-handed beacon[s] of security…” Why are we always in search of such “sailors”?
Until Christ returns, we can be certain of a few things. One certainty is this, “Until Man is redeemed he will always take a fly-rod too far back.” Though Norman Mclean, author of A River Runs Through It, wrote those words regarding casting a fly, the phrase infers something more: Until Man is redeemed he will always go too far. As long as there are men who go too far, we will need other men who will put deeds-with-teeth to God’s Common Grace.
To assume that man can be “trained” to NOT take a fly-rod too far back is the inchoate thinking of a child. Too often, the act of “going too far” begins, or is grounded upon this kind of childish thinking.
Now, after nearly three generations of training ourselves that virtue has become vice and vice has become virtue, we have far too many “children” in places where they should not be.
The mess, in which we currently find ourselves, has been in the making for a long time—three generations. Probably, sadly, it will take as long (if it can be done at all) to extract ourselves; America doesn’t need new leadership; America needs a new electorate!
If Mr. MacDonald’s desire to see that America return is realized it will require a clear understanding of what has happened. However, that will not be enough. As we are about to learn, the reshaping of a society gone wrong begins with me! The beam of inspection must first be that of introspection.