My flight from Albuquerque landed at Baltimore-Washington Airport last Saturday at 11:30 a.m. I grabbed my suitcase, took the escalator upstairs, and hurried outside to find Spirit Airlines, hoping to catch Dwayne as he dropped Gary, his amazing driver, off to fly to his home in Florida. The very second I arrived, Dwayne pulled up to the curb—we were all delighted with God’s perfect timing in arranging our reunion! Three and a half weeks was a long time to be apart!
Dwayne and I stopped for lunch along the way, then drove home to Pennsylvania, repacked our suitcases, and by 4:00 were headed north to Vestal, New York where he preached twice at CalTab (Calvary Tabernacle) on Sunday. If he was tired, he didn’t show it. His love for the congregation of CalTab was palpable. He was moved to emotion more than once. You see, this was the church that laid hands on Dwayne and Caroline nearly 60 years ago—he pointed to the exact place in the auditorium—and sent them out as missionaries to Alaska. This was the church that even before that, helped Dwayne go to Bible school. And before that, as a 12-year-old, this church was where he first professed his faith in Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord. And so, though the faces are now different, except for a few old-timers, he told the stories of his life through the lens of this wonderful, warm, supporting church who has bought his lunch for 60 years. What a legacy for both the church and their missionary! Speaking of lunch, we are grateful for the delicious food and encouraging time we had with Roy and Kim and their daughter, Sierra, after church.
Sunday evening and Monday morning gave us two opportunities to visit with long-time friends. Don and Ann Lewis have graciously hosted Dwayne for decades when his travels brought him to the area and we enjoyed a warm evening with them. Don was one of Dwayne’s Best Men at our wedding four and a half years ago. It’s always amazing how good friends don’t need to warm up to meaningful conversations—they just jump in, picking up wherever they last left off. On Monday morning, Dwayne rounded up a half dozen local friends for an early breakfast and a time to catch up with each other—a tradition he keeps each time he visits.
This week is filled with reuniting with our hard-working team at Rock Top airport. Much flight training and aviation maintenance have been completed here in the months Dwayne and I have been serving in Alaska. We are grateful for this group of people who are united in spirit and purpose to serve the Lord in this Pennsylvania location. God’s blessing on their work is obvious. Most of our airport team are volunteers—not full-time missionaries—just people who love to support the ministry with the gifts God has given them. Some are aircraft mechanics, others serve by fixing, building, mowing, or encouraging. Together they have built an effective missionary flight training base at a private airport that was desolate a few years ago.
We are grateful for each of our volunteers who serve both in Pennsylvania and in Alaska, and for others across the country who support us with prayer and service from wherever they live in a myriad of ways. This is a great picture of the body of Christ. Ephesians 4:15-16 says, “…Speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”