If I'd Have Known You Were Coming

Well, we're finally through a long, but wonderful series of guests at the "Retreat at Turtle Creek" (or the "Turtle Creek B & B" as Jill likes to call it. "Retreat sounds too much like a psych hospital," she says. "You've met our guests, right?").

Anyway, when Carol and David were visiting from Memphis, the weather was great, so Carol went with me on a flight. The Moseleys have come to a few events where we've had the balloon, but it's always been too windy to bother to open the trailer, so they questioned the veracity of our assertions that a balloon was really in there. Well, week before last Carol and I had a nice flight. David, a Methodist minister, wrote about it. His words are nicer than mine, so here!

Pastor’s Perspective

“The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” John 3:8

Greetings from Austin, Minnesota. My week-long spiritual retreat is going well. I missed being with you all on Sunday morning.

The setting for my retreat has been wonderful. There is a meandering stream that flows nearby. I have seen deer, otter, ducks, turtles, and heard tell of beaver (made me miss Kalee a little.) I have studied, prayed, got some exercise, and slept well. You know, I might be dangerous, or at least a little obnoxious, when I get home.

But it hasn’t been ‘all work and no play’. The couple we are staying with has a hot-air balloon. On Saturday afternoon, Carol got to take a ride in it. While she is not a big fan of ‘floating in space’, in the end, she described the experience as ‘excellent’.

Ballooning is a great parable of life. Jesus likened the Holy Spirit to the wind that ‘blows where it chooses.’ When the balloon lifted off, we thought it would go east. It went north. We expected the flight to last 30 minutes. It lasted almost an hour. A park was chosen for a landing zone. They landed by a big red barn off a country road outside of town. In the process, we met a wonderful lady that thoroughly enjoyed the ‘unexpected visit’, and was waving happily when we departed.

So it is with all who live by the Spirit. We work, we play, we plan..., but most of all, we react. The Spirit is always working ahead of us (we call that Prevenient Grace.) As we move into any moment, we need to be responsive, ready to react to the ‘new thing’ the Spirit is doing.

It can be frustrating. Sometimes, the Spirit’s plan is different than ours. And so, we land in a field north of town instead of the park near home. But in those moments, look for the ‘unexpected neighbor’ that joins us on our adventure and becomes part of the story.

My advice – loosen up a little. Smile more. And look for something unexpected. It may just turn out to be one of the best things you have encountered in a long time.

It’s just a thought.

Bro. David Moseley

An Evening Flight and New Crew

With the taste of Lobster fresh in my mind, I kept studying the weather in hopes of finding a good flying day. Sunday, July 15 looked like it would be a suitable evening for a flight, so I recruited Belita and Dick to crew and Gareth to fly. My new friend Bryan (who is the son of a balloonist) came out to help, too.

We got to the launch site a little early and had to wait a bit for the winds to calm enough to inflate and launch, but the weather turned out nice, and we had an uneventful inflation.

Gareth and I flew north over Riverland College, over Target and the landfill. We kept flying north until we found a nice road we could drop in on. We made an approach to land on the road, and Bryan was right there to catch us. We had only flown about 30 minutes, so I invited Gareth's daughter (and my co-worker) Selena to get in. She climbed on board, Gareth climbed out, and on we flew.

We weren't in the air long before we saw two planes approaching from the north. They split up and each started crop dusting nearby fields. I climbed provide plenty of separation while they sprayed their fields. Once past them, we descended and picked another road on which to land.

Again, Bryan (oh yeah, his brother made it there, too!) was there to catch us, so we put the balloon down on a gravel road between a corn field and a bean field. It was a great flight with new friends in my new home town!

A Flight for Lobster

Last month I saw a good weather day approaching, and I invited my friend (and board chair) Dick Schindler to join me. He said if he were to be involved, he'd have to give the passenger spot to his visiting sister-in-law. I was happy to take her for a flight over Austin, so we planned a morning flight.

Janelle, my passenger, showed up with Dick, Dick's wife (and Janelle's sister) as well as another sister, a niece, and her mother! Lots of crew for an early morning inflation.

We launched from Riverland Community College and flew east over town. When we got to the edge of the city, we dropped down and make a touch and go landing on the runway at Austin Municipal Airport! It was my first runway landing!

Then, we flew on and ultimately landed in a strip of hay running through a cornfield.

Dick offered to help pay for propane, which I refused, so he suggested that Janelle (who lives in Maine) could send some lobsters to thank me and the crew. I couldn't refuse that offer! So Janelle sent enough lobsters for quite a party! Jill and I joined Janelle's sisters and their husbands for a seafood feast. There was no way we could eat all the lobsters she sent, but we enjoyed all we could polish off, and Dick enjoyed the leftovers!

Thanks to everyone who crewed and who helped eat the lobsters, and mostly, thanks to Janelle for so generously shipping them to us!