morning encouragement

My dad emailed this to me the other morning and I was greatly encouraged by it. I hope you are as well.

These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. John 16:33

Art thou asking the reason of this, believer? Look upward to thy heavenly Father, and behold him pure and holy. Dost thou know that thou art one day to be like him? Wilt thou easily be conformed to his image? Wilt thou not require much refining in the furnace of affliction to purify thee? Will it be an easy thing to get rid of thy corruptions, and make thee perfect even as thy Father which is in heaven is perfect? Next, Christian, turn thine eye downward. Dost thou know what foes thou hast beneath thy feet? Thou wast once a servant of Satan, and no king will willingly lose his subjects. Dost thou think that Satan will let thee alone? No, he will be always at thee, for he "goeth about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." Expect trouble, therefore, Christian, when thou lookest beneath thee. Then look around thee. Where art thou? Thou art in an enemy's country, a stranger and a sojourner. The world is not thy friend. If it be, then thou art not God's friend, for he who is the friend of the world is the enemy of God. Be assured that thou shalt find foe-men everywhere. When thou sleepest, think that thou art resting on the battlefield; when thou walkest, suspect an ambush in every hedge. As mosquitoes are said to bite strangers more than natives, so will the trials of earth be sharpest to you. Lastly, look within thee, into thine own heart and observe what is there. Sin and self are still within. Ah! If thou hadst no devil to tempt thee, no enemies to fight thee, and no world to ensnare thee, thou wouldst still find in thyself evil enough to be a sore trouble to thee, for "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." Expect trouble then, but despond not on account of it, for God is with thee to help and to strengthen thee. He hath said, "I will be with thee in trouble; I will deliver thee and honour thee."

Amen.

halfway there

I'm elated to say that I am now over halfway finished with flight attendant training. Thank God! Graduation couldn't get here soon enough!

We just completed week 4. It consisted of a midterm, 5 aircraft tests, and midterm emergency management validations. Overall, it was a busy week. Our instructors have been so excited to teach the aircraft specific section of our training since the beginning, so we were all looking forward to it. But boy, were we wrong. This is what pretty much each day this week looked like (with the exception of our midterm day). The first thing we did after reporting to the training center was take a test on the aircraft we studied the previous day. Immediately following the test, we did online training on the aircraft we would be studying that day, then we go into lecture. We covered how many exits are on the aircraft, how to operate those exits, where the jumpseats are, what the minimum crew is, emergency equipment locations, etc. Every.little.detail. And let me tell you, there are a lot of minor differences. Lunch is thrown in at some point and then we went down to our 'mock-ups' in which we practiced normal and emergency operation of that aircraft's exits (windows, doors, tailcones, etc.). Each person has to pass off on the ability to operate the exits because at the end of training, we have our door proficiency day. One of the most nerve-racking days of training. We will have to go in and test off on every exit of every aircraft before graduating. You fail, you go home. I heard of a girl last year who had to retest on her doors the morning of graduation. She failed and was sent home from training. Oh, and her family had flown in from Brazil to see her graduate. No bueno. That being said, our door proficiency is critical to passing. After we all practiced exit operation, we had a review and headed home. That happened every.single.day. All in all, not my favorite week. I am looking forward to this upcoming week though! Week 5 is international week (can someone say Paris?!) so there will be lots of training on customer service, cultural sensitivity, food/beverage service standards, among other non-aircraft specific related subjects. Unfortunately, we still have 4 aircrafts left to study (with multiple variations of each aircraft), but at least we're finished with 5 of them!

19 days left friends. Just 19 days. Praise.the.Lord.

a perfectly timed pick-me-up

Getting to the halfway point in training comes with it's pros and cons. It really just depends if you're a glass is half full or half empty kind of person. For me, it changes day to day. Being away from my friends and family has been exceedingly difficult. I miss the community and accountability that comes from my small group, church, family, and friends. Thankfully though, the busyness of my schedule has only enabled me to focus on what is happening here, keeping me from dwelling on what I miss so dearly. One amazing thing about my training is that it's held in Atlanta, Georgia, a mere 2-3 hour drive from Birmingham! Some people here are 16 hours from their family and friends! Due to the short commute, I have been beyond blessed to have visits from my sweet daddy and most recently, Kelly!! Here's a rundown of 30 hours of roommate awesomeness.

It began with what can only be described as a breathtaking, jaw dropping, she-knows-me-too-well surprise. Gluten free chocolate chip banana bread. Feel free to take a moment to wipe the drool from your mouth. I understand. Some might say that this banana bread is necessary to my survival. If there are two bananas in my house at any point, you can bet I will be transforming them into this bad boy.

Moving on. We made a quick trip to Target so I could grab my weekly necessities. Soup. Cereal. Bananas. Protein bars. Ahh the joys of hotel life...microwave food only. Afterwards, we went for some serious girl time and got a manicure. It was so relaxing and a nice treat considering the workload Kelly and I both have had on our plate in the recent weeks.

Next, we wanted to go somewhere that neither of us had been to that would be a fun experience in the ATL. Little did we know, we chose paradise. Trader Joe's.

This place is like a mini Whole Foods, but cheaper. A gluten free girls dream. We were excited to say the least. After perusing each aisle, we left like champions.

If you've never been to Trader Joe's before, make sure to tell the people at check out. You might leave with an extra goody and a few bells rung in your honor. Just sayin.

We had just a little time before church so we headed to one of Kelly's favorite places to shop. I had never been before so I was excited to see what the hype was all about.

Crate & Barrel was awesome! Kelly explained it perfectly. It's similar to Ikea, but better quality and you don't have to assemble everything yourself.

The next part of our day was honestly a huge disappointment. Being in Atlanta and having no car has kept me from being able to attend church these past two Sundays. I have been craving community and corporate worship so Kelly suggested we find a church to attend! Brilliant idea. We chose a well-known church in Atlanta and attended their evening service. It was terrible. There's really no better way to say it, we were shocked. The teaching was a feel good, man pleasing, Scripture lacking, motivational speech. The pastor read one verse and told personal, unrelated stories the rest of the service. It was fluff. The focus was completely misdirected. It was centered on being successful, finding your passion, and doing good. While that may sound nice, that's not the intention for the church. We glorify God by making disciples of all nations. Finding your passion as a follower of Christ is relatively easy. We seek to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth, fulfilling the great commission. I was angered by the lack of gospel-centered, Christ exalting, God honoring worship. That being said, I am committing to pray for this church for at least the duration of my training in Atlanta. That place desperately needs refocusing.

Leaving early from the service with our spirits broken, Kelly and I made our way to dinner. She mentioned hearing about a gluten free burger place in town that sounded delicious. And boy was she right. God bless Farm Burger.

This place knocked our socks off. The service exceeded expectations and the food was delectable. We each built our own burgers...mine with a gluten free bun. The spicy garlic, parmesan, herb Farm Burger fries were to-die-for. Sooo good.

But wait, there's more.

This is truly the epitome of Kelly and I in milkshake form. She ordered the salted caramel and I ordered the chocolate peanut butter. It was bliss. Bliss people. A much needed pick-me-up.

Monday, we slept in (can I get an amen?) and then headed to Ikea.

It was a fairly quick trip but Kelly knew what she was looking for which streamlined the process. Here are our spoils from the trip.

Unfortunately, this is the end of 30 hours of much needed roomie time. Kelly, you're amazing, the best roommate a girl could ask for! I love you more than you know and am so thankful you were able to come visit! I miss you already and can't wait to see you in a few short weeks!!

xoxo

first flight, first aid, and fighting bob

Week three. Almost halfway there. Thank God. This week was a little bit of a break compared to Emergency Management week. Our report times were a little later and we left a little earlier. We covered medical for two days, security for two days, an aircraft type, and then on Saturday, I had my first training flight!

My class after a session in customer service.

The medical section ranged from nausea/vomiting to life threatening medical conditions. If you know me, you know I love all.things.medical. I began on the track to nursing school last summer but due to a long series of events, God was clearly redirecting my path. So, it was nice to study medicine again, even if for a short time.

Ol' Stanley needed some serious resuscitation.

Next was security. Those two days were pretty intense. As you might expect, we discussed 9/11 and how that changed air travel in it's entirety. Reflecting on that day from the perspective of a flight attendant adds a whole new vantage point and is just truly heartbreaking. As I said last week, I pray that my class and I will never encounter any type of security related situation. On a lighter note, we briefly covered self defense. Enter: Bob. Bob is an angry passenger who has attempted to physically assault a flight attendant. Hint: don't try that. We have tricks up our freshly ironed sleeves to take you down.

My roommate with an unhappy Bob.

Friday, we covered three aircraft types. It was a long, stressful, 12 hour day. By the time I got home, I only had a few hours to study and prepare for my flight the following day. I was scheduled for a quick turn from Atlanta to St. Louis and back. This training flight is referred to as the OE flight. Essentially, it is required for all flight attendants to have an OE before the FAA approves you to become a flight attentant. It's huge. If you didn't pass Saturday, you were given a second attempt on Monday. If you failed again, you're sent home. On the flight, you sit with an instructor and go through a list of questions concerning door operation, emergency equipment, preflight checks, emergency situations, etc. You're really just proving to them that you know your stuff. After you finish, you're able to go and help out the crew with beverage service or whatever they needed. I was the first to sit with the instructor out of the two other girls in training with me and I'm happy to say, I passed!! It honestly wasn't as bad as I was anticipating, the stress of it all though was just incredibly overwhelming.

My OE instructor and the girls.

Being that our class flew on Saturday at different times throughout the day, we didn't have class afterwards. And my flight arrived back in ATL at 12:30pm! So I had the rest of the day to relax!! Woo hoo! They also gave us Monday off to prepare for our midterm on Tuesday. Not looking forward to that.

Overall, I'm grateful to have the flight done and can now move forward to the last half of training. 25 days to go!

*Sorry that my pictures have terrible quality! I used my phone for most of them and let's face it, my Droid has a crummy camera. 

emergency management

Afraid of flying? Yeah, well so am I after a good dose of Emergency Management week. Kidding, kidding. I still love flying, but I am now capable of evacuating an aircraft in under 90 seconds. (Can I have my wings now??) Emergency Management week is the hardest of all 7 weeks of training. It consisted of 5 tests and 2 practical exams. 6 days of at least 11 hours a day spent at the training center. Think you can rest when you get home? Think again. It's study time. And if you fail to maintain a 90% average, it's termination boulevard for you friend. Praise God, I can say I passed and am still here studying my little heart away.

We began the week going over the emergency equipment on each flight. Be not afraid of crashing in the Arctic...we have polar gear. Next, we covered water evacuations and different types of flotation we have available for passengers. Then turbulence—don't play. Smoke and fire emergencies—no smoking in the lavatories. Decompression—don your masks. Land evacuations—jump and slide. Emergency exits—arm those exits. Sea survival—uhh...good luck.

The fun stuff? We got to evacuate out of a training aircraft, down the slide! The slide is huge, and it looks higher from the aircraft door. Jump and slide, jump and slide. We also experienced a 'decompression' (there was no loss of cabin pressure thankfully) in the motion simulator. And we experienced smoke and fire emergencies in our mock ups. Saturday, we had our pool day. We evacuated into the water and deployed our rafts, climbed in, practiced drills, among other water sports (not really. I wish).

We also talked through different airline disasters such as the Tenerife airport disaster and the Miracle on the Hudson...and how to respond to and/or prevent these types of disasters in the future.

U.S. Airways Flight 1549

Disaster at Tenerife

These discussions really brought to life the seriousness and potential dangers of our job. I've heard of flight attendants being called 'waitresses in the sky' but when that plane is going down, you're going to be glad we were there. Our commands and evacuation plans are drilled into our heads so there's no question as to what to do in that situation. We got this. My prayer is that my class and I will never have to utilize the things we learned in Emergency Management week.

Hmm...how to end a post filled with pictures of plane crashes? Umm...trust your flight attendants. Listen to your flight attendants. And remember that smoking is not allowed on any aircraft. Federal law prohibits tampering with, disabling, or destroying a lavatory smoke detector. Trust me, just say no.

delayed arrival

The airline industry can easily be a place filled with stress and chocked-full of confusion. This seems to be a good depiction of my life these past two and a half weeks. Flight attendant training is no joke people. I fully intended to publish blogs weekly (hence the reason for this blog) but there has been absolutely no time. So, to catch you up, here's an overview of the first week of training.

Arrival: Sunday, April 7th
My wonderful dad drove me to Atlanta on Sunday after a cherished time of worship at church. It was a teary goodbye between Kelly and I, but I quickly became distracted by the reality of what was to come. We arrived at my new, temporary home sooner than I expected, hauled my luggage in, and headed to Target. There, we grabbed some essentials and then sadly, he headed home. Later in the evening, I met my amazing roommate Ashley and we prepared for our first day of training! Here are some shots of the hotel :)

The first week was our Indoctrination week. Essentially, we covered Federal Aviation Regulations and what goes into a day in the life of a flight attendant. Training is 6 days a week ranging from 8-11 hours a day. The first week was intense but gave me a good idea of how to approach the coming weeks. Week two was Emergency Management week. The hardest week of training. Stay tuned for details on that ;)

Sorry again for the lack of posting. Hopefully with Emergency Management week over, I'll be able to post more frequently. Sending love from the ATL.

the profoundest of problems

As flight attendant training rapidly approaches, I'm reminded of all the ways in which the Lord has provided for me this past year. The blessing of this job is just overwhelming to me. The past year and a half has probably been one of the most difficult years of my life. With trials ranging from long-term illness to heartbreak, God was certainly refining me.

"And I will put this third into the fire,
   and refine them as one refines silver,
and test them as gold is tested.
They will call upon my name, and I will answer them.
I will say, ‘They are my people’;
and they will say, ‘The LORD is my God.’”
(Zechariah 13:9)

In years past, facing these trials, I very well may have turned from the Lord. Chosen rather to trust in myself and my friends to get me through the difficulties. I praise God for this year, He has used the hardships to establish a firm foundation in Him. And I could not be more grateful...

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." (James 1:2-4) 

Friends, nothing will fully satisfy you aside from Christ. Not your career, family, friends, school, success, money, health, etc. All of these things are guaranteed to pass away, but the love of Christ is everlasting. Hear this beloved, through our sin, we have been separated from God.

"One sin unatoned for is as sufficient to damn the soul as one leak is to sink a ship." -Olaudah Equiano

We are corrupted by sin and have rebelled against a holy God. We are a self-indulgent, self-righteous people. We have turned away from the only One who can truly satisfy our souls. "God beckons storm clouds and they come. He tells the wind to blow and the rain to fall, and they obey immediately. He speaks to the mountains, 'You go there,' and He says to the seas, 'You stop here,' and they do it. Everything in all creation responds in obedience to the Creator...until we get to you and I. We have the audacity to look God in the face and say, 'no'."

David Platt, the pastor of the church I attend, says it best with his exposition on the justice of God. "Therein lies the problem, how can we be made right before an infinitely just God? ... God himself says that if you justify the guilty, if you say the guilty are innocent, then you are an abomination to the Lord. That's not good for us. Because that begs the question, if we are guilty sinners then how can God, who is just, say we are innocent? He would be an abomination to Himself in doing that! This is where we realize, God's forgiveness of our sins is a threat to His character. To His justice and His holiness. John Stott said "forgiveness for God is the profoundest of problems". You think about it, we have got to feel this tension. If there were a judge in a courtroom in our culture today and every guilty criminal who was brought before him, he said 'innocent' over and over and over again. Kept telling guilty criminals 'you're innocent, go free'. We would have that judge off the bench in a heartbeat. Why? Because he's not a good judge. That's not a just judge. And so then, how can God, a just judge, holy, perfect, pure, say to those who are guilty 'you are innocent'? This is setting up the tension that is in the center of the Bible. How can God justify guilty sinners?"

The answer? God is gracious. He shows the guilty free and unmerited favor. 

"But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life."

(Titus 3:4-7)

"For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people"

(Titus 2:11)

He not only spares the guilty what they do deserve, but God gives the guilty what they could never deserve. God does not require anything for you to earn His favor. Praise God that the grace of God has appeared and brought salvation for all people. There is restoration in God through faith in Jesus. We can be restored to God!! Turn from your sin and yourself, confess your sinfulness, and trust in Jesus as Savior and Lord.

"if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved."

(Romans 10:9-10)

I write this post because this is the overflow of my heart. While I may write blogs about being a flight attendant or friends or traveling, that is not what makes me who I am. If all of those things were to pass away, I would still be identified with Christ. I urge you to take seriously the state of your soul. Please feel free to contact me with any questions you might have concerning what I have written. The gospel is life changing beloved. It is life giving. Give yourselves to it and I promise you, you will lack nothing.