The Cockpit or The Library?

Sometimes I glance up at the sky watching a 747 make its final approach, and I wonder, whether or not I made the right career decision. The cockpit of a Piper Warrior became my 'office' for two months as I finished my flight training. The plane I flew, "Tuna," took on special sentimental significance for me (excuse the alliteration). Sitting in Tuna's left seat for those thirty-some-odd hours was an experience that I will take with me for the rest of my life. It was wonderful, not because it was easy and "fun," although it was a blast. No, it was difficult - perhaps the greatest challenge I have faced thus far. As I have explained to several people, flying requires of me an entirely different set of skills than Semitic philology. In the library, I sit with my dictionaries and grammars where I am at leisure to take as much time as I need to solve a philological problem. I may spend half and hour or more working through just one difficult sentence. In the air, I am required to make split-second decisions, communicate with ATC, maintain situational awareness, and respond to emergency situations with quick, calm, and decisive action. All of this is is mental, but it must be translated into tactile responses through the manipulation of the flight controls. Pitch + Power = Performance, etc. The result of meeting this challenge and developing these skills is great satisfaction at achieving a monumental goal and the thrill of getting to experience the miracle of flight while being at the controls.

But I am equally thrilled when working with the languages and history of the ancient world. I find great wonder and awe in deciphering an ancient Aramaic inscription or reading the Dead Sea Scrolls. I know that I am at the University of Chicago doing what I love, and I know that my motives for doing it are not tied into some fruitless and vain desire to "understand the Bible more" by learning the Biblical languages. Orthodoxy has given me all that I could ever want or handle in that regard. That is not to say there is no connection between my faith and my studies of the ancient and medieval Near East. There is a sense that, in studying these eras, I can vicariously live in them and experience them - the very eras that gave birth to and developed the faith that I cherish. The fact that I have the privilege to study them here at the University of Chicago is a blessing that I never want to take lightly. At the end of the day, the fact that I am here, instead of Embrey Riddle Aeronautical University, confirms that I am doing the right thing.

But what about the cockpit? Where does that fit in to my life? I am not quite sure yet, but I hope and pray that it will factor in to things in some significant way. At any rate, what drives me to achieve at both of these fields of study and others is the desire to be excellent at them, to master them, to achieve. Whether it be reading ancient languages, flying airplanes, drawing portraits, or roasting coffee, I want to take the desires, talents, and gifts that God has given me, and put them to use. I suppose it is like the parable of the talents - I hope to make many returns on the blessings that have been given to me.