This summer, we had the joy of watching the Blue Angels perform at their home base of Pensacola, Florida. It was a great experience. What made this so much more special was that we watched from offshore aboard a ship. My favorite maneuver is when the jets turn straight up. A normal plane can’t make that the maneuver. The plane will “stall” and literally fall from the sky. To watch fighter pilots fly toward the heavens simply amazes me.

We also saw the Blue Angels two years ago and decided on the spot that we wanted to come back and bring more of the family with us. Anna and our grandsons accompanied us. It was a unique experience. We stayed at the beach for a couple of days and took Jake and Chase to the museum on base in Pensacola. It’s a cool place.

In the museum we saw an Imax film about the training of the Blue Angels. Precision flying is an art performed only by the very best and the very best trained. The Blue Angels have their own special training. One of amazing facts that we learned is that pilots have to strain to stay oriented in their flying.  The G-forces can disorient.

Not long after returning from the performance, I read of a pilot flying a similar fighter plane that crashed. Here’s what happened. The pilot was practicing high-speed maneuvers. The pilot turned the controls for what she thought was a steep ascent and flew straight into the ground. She became disoriented and didn’t know that she had been flying upside down.

Life is so much that way. There is a way that seems right to us, but in fact we are flying upside down. No wonder that life is so difficult. Only when we seek God and His way can we really live. Until then, we are the spiritual equivalent of being disoriented and flying upside down.