The Little Airstrip That Could

For as long as I've known John, he's been in preparatory mode.  The sole manager/employee of an airstrip dedicated to the purpose of at-the-ready-to-clean-up oil spills after oceanic disasters, he's worked and polished the hangar to a place of excellence.

The first time he actually received a call to disperse oil in the Gulf, we literally rejoiced!  Not in the problem, but in the fact that John's purpose for being had actually had an expression of need and activity.  Shortly after taking care of the problem, he returned to his regular stance of on call, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  Now, just over a year later, it appears John's due diligence in maintaining the hangar and airstrip in a state of well-being and readiness was of a certainty a very important task.

An oil rig exploded in the Gulf Coast, of which most are aware, and have followed on the national news . . . but the little known story of the behind the scenes efforts has yet to be told.  Even I do not yet know the entire story ~ but I look forward to hearing a full report from John soon.

Meanwhile, our family prays, and John mans The Little Airstrip That Could.

It's nothing special, the airstrip situated beside a large hangar in the middle of nowhere Mississippi.  Visiting the "office" results in one being very away of just how tiny they are compared to the cavernous mouth of the storage area of some very expensive and specialized equipment.  Yet for as large as this hangar is, even the untrained eye can see that it would comfortably hold two or three planes . . . and not many more.

When John briefly described the situation at the airstrip in no uncertain terms, I was moved to awe.  Four, no ~ make that five dispersal planes hard at work.  Pilots, administration, training, readiness skills employed, and so on.

As the wind beat upon the side of our home in the wee hours of the night last night, signaling the storm that surely hampered the efforts to clean the oil spill, moving it closer and closer to the shoreline, my heart went out to everyone involved in the clean up effort:  on land, in air, on sea.

May the Lord have mercy, and grant strength to those who are utilizing The Little Airstrip That Could.