Following the flight plan....

What little the hairdresser left we want to rip out now. Frustration over our Science Olympiad Helicopters has reached an almost unbearable peak. After approximately 4,567,898 hours of research and construction, the helicopter flies about 4 seconds. Everything about the helicopter looks good. There is no reason it should not fly, but it doesn't. Se we are doing what every dedicated, hard working, serious scientist does when she faces obstacles and setbacks.

We are going snowboarding.

And we are taking a friend and an expert snowboarder. Our expert, Danielle, will trade us a lesson for Asherel in exchange for the drive to the mountains. She guarantees that she will have Asherel turning and stopping in no time.  I know that even falling and crashing  on a snowy mountain for now would be more fun for Asherel than gluing her fingers to 4 gram balsa helicopters that won't fly.

And it is not for lack of trying. I cannot with a straight face say Asherel listened to all my advice...not at first, anyway. She is now. However, she has put more hours into this helicopter than anything else she has ever attempted, including learning how to read and write. I am not certain this kind of effort for the return is worth it. She has learned less about helicopters than she has about perseverance, uphills that never end, and how to live a life with no fun or free time for a season. Maybe that is the point.Those lessons may sometimes hold her in good stead, if  say one day she is told the Messiah will come but until then, there will be wars, famines, disease, despair, and spiritual battles.She must learn to live joyfully, victoriously, expectantly even when the world around her is not at all an aviator's dream. Oh wait.....she is told that....

Maybe God is throwing an object lesson our way. Do not give up. Ever.Not on the really important things like living a holy life, sanctified to God, filled with truth and righteousness. Do not weary of doing right- others are watching. And when they see your helicopter fly out of glue stained, worn out fingers that are cramped from all those hours of tedious careful work, you just never know if their soul might be tempted to follow  your flight plan. You never know who might be flying in your draft right into the arms of the God of both Heaven and Earth.

"Have you got your helicopter ready?" I asked one of the high school division kids. He is doing the same event at a higher level than Asherel.
"We haven't even started yet, " he answered, "We're hoping to find a used one on Ebay."

And then there is that approach.

Meanwhile, we hope to return from flying down snowy mountains to flying helicopters.
Never give up.....