MMS Aviation's news about Preparing People and Planes for Worldwide Mission Service
GroundCrew Issue - August 2009 - Page Four
President's Pen - Dwight Jarboe
What do you do when an engine’s oil temperature runs higher than it should, or an alternator won’t produce electricity? You determine why and correct the problem. It’s called troubleshooting, and is one of the joys of aircraft maintenance. It can be very challenging, but there is great satisfaction in discovering the cause of a malfunction and making the aircraft operate properly again. Every good mechanic looks for the lesson when confronting a faulty component or system, and he or she never stops learning. The tougher the problem, the more learned in solving it.
Not every task in aviation maintenance is as intellectually stimulating as troubleshooting. Assembling a landing gear strut or installing a propeller demands attention to detail and manual skill, but may not require extensive theoretical knowledge. Most routine maintenance is like this, yet there is another level of aircraft maintenance and a valuable lesson therein.
For example: It isn’t unusual to find areas of corrosion in older airplanes. If not cleaned and protected from further corrosion, safety is compromised. Quite often damaged skin and structural members must be replaced. A mechanic’s knowledge is certainly in play, but there is a mundane, sometimes mind-numbing, repetition in this kind of maintenance. The lesson here is perseverance. (The Cessna 206 featured on page one provided a great deal of this kind of training.)
Perseverance is an interesting virtue. Among other things, it assures that assignments are completed and not left undone. In Scripture we’re told that the testing of our faith produces it, and the result of perseverance’s work is maturity and completeness. That allows us to rejoice during lengthy airplane projects and trials of other kinds.
A couple years ago, my wife gave me a copy of Da Jesus Book, the New Testament in the Hawaiian Pidgin language. In it, Galatians 6:9 speaks of perseverance this way: “We gotta hang in dea, an no get worn out doing da good kine stuff. Cuz bumbye we goin get wat we work fo, if we no give up.”
Hanging in there and not giving up,
Dwight Jarboe
President & CEO
Prayer and Praise
Please Pray
... for For the Moody 182 and the Honduran 206 to be returned to service before year's end.
... for this month's candidate evaluation and the new candidates currently in application for service.
Praise God
... for Jeremiah and Briana Morris being accepted for apprenticeship.
... for Richard and Ashley Whittemore being accepted for apprenticeship.
... for Gertjan Kamphorst and Scott Lazaros completing service and transitioning to ministry in the field.
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