Flight to Freedom (Flight Trilogy, Book 3) (30 page)
Thank
you
for
being
my
wings
as
we
have
journeyed
through
life
together
.
I
love
you
,
Keri
His eyes filled with tears. His lips strained. He looked at Keri. “The note.”
“Yes, the famous note.”
He put his arm around her. “Keri, have you ever imagined what might have happened if I had gone to Annapolis?”
“I think about it all the time. I remember that night like it was yesterday. I can’t explain how wonderful it felt when I looked up and saw you waltzing into my bedroom—my Prince Charming.”
He kissed her. “I love you more than you will ever know.”
“I love you, too. We were meant to be…just as I said in the note.”
From Keri’s perspective, nothing in Ryan’s
other
life had ever been a part of her reality. Her life started in Buckhead and remained in Buckhead the entire time. Trying to explain his
other
life to her would be impossible. It would always remain in his thoughts as a reminder that everything he had was only because of God’s mercy and grace.
None
of
it
ever
happened
—
he
never
went
to
the
Naval
Academy
,
he
never
met
the
crazy
Rex
Dean
,
he
never
met
or
married
the
seductive
Emily
Anderson
,
and
everything
that
had
occurred
on
that
dreadful
night
,
when
Evil
came
knocking
at
his
door
,
was
nothing
more
than
a
much
-
too
-
real
nightmare
.
It
was
all
a
dream
.
Looking at his wonderful family, he could only surmise that his dreams had been used to show him how blessed he was and what could have happened if he had made different choices throughout his life—how, so easily, it could have all slipped away.
There was no way to know what stimulated the dreams; perhaps it was the realization of how blessed he was and the horrid thought of losing it all; or perhaps it was due to his great empathy for others as he sensed their pain and suffering, mostly brought on by their bad choices.
One thing was for certain; his dreams had shown him that life was a fragile balance of choices. The only way to avoid creating regretful yesterdays was to place the highest priority on the choices he made today, for his today would soon become tomorrow’s yesterday.
THE END
AUTHOR’S NOTE
The three major themes that inspired the final book of the
Flight Trilogy
were choice, purpose, and hope.
CHOICE:
When you come to a fork in the road of life, the fork requires you to either make a decision or remain paralyzed by neutrality. One road is wide, smooth, and well-trafficked. The other is narrow, rugged, and lonely. Your choice leads to another fork a little farther down the road, and the decision you make there leads to yet another.
Choices made on the basis of our feelings alone, or on the response of others, usually cause us to regret our decision later. Part of the reason why we make the wrong choice is because we have not yet decided on our worldview—where we stand on matters of character, morality, values, godliness, and commitment to Christ.
In the opening chapter of
Flight to Freedom
, Ryan and Keri are waiting for the movers to arrive. While looking back on the past twenty-nine years of his life, Ryan feels a sense of hopeless regret and wonders what his and Keri’s lives might have been like if they had made different choices. He asked Keri, “If you could live your life over, what would you do differently?”
Life teaches us that our God-given capacity to choose is both our greatest blessing and our worst curse. Good choices fill us with satisfaction, happiness, peace, contentment, and joy—creating memories that grow sweeter with time. Bad choices burden us with regret, sadness, sorrow, and heartache—burdens that often grow heavier with time. Collectively, the choices we make throughout our lives shape our personality, form our self image, and ultimately define our future.
Sadly, we cannot go back. We can never reclaim those moments when we were possessed by rage, or lust, or cruelty, or indifference, or insensitivity, or disrespect, or hard-headed pride. We must forever live with the consequences of our words and our actions. The Scriptures warn:
“A man reaps what he sows.”
Galatians 6:7 (NIV)
PURPOSE:
Thomas Carlyle said, “The man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder—a waif, a nothing, a no man.”
People are shaped by God for a specific purpose. Contrary to what many believe, our dreams of success are not God’s purpose for us. In fact, His purpose may be the exact opposite. God’s purpose is for this very minute, not for sometime in the future. His purpose is the process itself. Knowing and living God’s purpose gives meaning and hope to life, because that is what you were created to do. It is the one thing that will fulfill you and satisfy you above all else.
Before you can discover your purpose, you must first discover the One who designed you for that purpose.
“
It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.”
Ephesians 1:11-12 (MSG)
HOPE:
A man can live approximately thirty days without food, thirty hours without water, and three minutes without air, but a man cannot live without hope. Hopelessness is the greatest problem on the planet.
When life doesn’t make sense, we lose our peace, we lose our joy, and we feel hopeless. Hope is restored when we discover God’s purpose for our life and realize that His great love for us is greater than any problem we will ever go through.
“
I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.”
Jeremiah 29:11 (MSG)
It is my observation that we journey through life on one of three paths:
1. INDEPENDENCE:
The path of absolute independence where God is viewed as an inference and theology is indefinite or inadequate, unreliable or unbelievable. On this path destiny relies solely on human intelligence, ability, and chance.
2. ACCEPTANCE:
The path of acceptance that God is the Creator of heaven and earth, the Bible is His Word, and the belief that it is only through His Son, Jesus Christ, that man can have eternal life. On this path destiny is an amalgamation of God’s love for humanity and man’s self-will.
3. SURRENDER:
The path of complete surrender to God’s sovereignty and belief that each man was created and shaped by God for a specific purpose, and that apart from God’s purpose, man is incapable of finding lasting peace and satisfying hope. On this path destiny is believed to be divinely engineered and individually designed by the One who created the heaven and the earth.
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
Genesis 1:1
God gives us the freedom to decide how we will act and the ability to make moral choices. Our personal
Flight to Freedom
depends on our ability to choose Christ, for it is in Him that real
Freedom
exists.
“
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
John 8:36 (NIV)
FLIGHT TO FREEDOM
I lay upon my back one day and looked into the sky.
I watched a wispy cloud up high go freely drifting by.
It made me think upon my life, the choices I had made.
Might things have turned out differently if only I had prayed?
I wondered if that cloud God made, had been another shape,
Would someone have missed the benefit beneath its shadowed drape?
It made me think upon my life, the years I’d frivolously spent.
If only I’d more clearly known for what purpose I was meant.
The cloud was but a vapor made of water and of air.
It drifted along God’s chosen path not a worry or a care.
It made me think upon my life, the hope that I had lost.
The weight of regret and sorrow, I’d carried at great cost.
I lay upon my back one day and looked into the sky.
I watched a wispy cloud up high go freely drifting by.
It made me think upon my life and God’s great love for me.
I suddenly came to realize, only in Him could I be free.
Mike Coe
Copyright © 2013 Mike Coe
All rights reserved.
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