The fellow in the plane is certain where he is headed, so is the guy in the chute. Wouldn't each of us like to be just as certain of where we're headed? 

Longing For Freedom

More and more people every day are seeking freedom. I'm not always certain what freedom is for them so I have to ask. Mostly I get the regular answers one would expect out here on the Great American Desert. I suppose it's the same as everywhere else, but I can't be sure because I haven't been "everywhere else" lately. People seem to seek a variety of avenues that are healthy, but more often than not, we are persuing unhealthy freedoms at an alarming rate. Maybe that is why the mere mention of defining their idea of freedom frightens a lot of folks. The guys in these pics have found their freedom in the air, far above the earth. A lot of people I know find it on two wheels, and many more find it in simply getting away from the day to day work world. True freedom, though, is found in the spirit that resides within each one of us. That's a lesson I learned while in the midst of working at the SD state pen. People behind bars are sometimes more free than their brothers and sisters out here running around. They have that barrier which insulates them from the evils of the world as well as keeping them from being perpetrators of evil. For some with whom I've spent a good deal of time philosophizing, their freedom for life came when they were separated from the world, cut off, isolated. Many became 100% straight and sober for the first time in their adult life. (Now I know for certain that I've opened a can of worms that cannot be dealt with in this little space.) True freedom comes with wholeness. Wholeness comes as a result of being in harmony with the tripart nature of our being. Body, mind, and spirit, we don't do well on one or two, we need all three to live wholly, to live freely. If there is that sense of something missing in your life that you can't quite put your finger on, but oftimes refer to it as freedom it may be time to take inventory. Just a quick check before jumping, to make sure that where you're headed is where you will want to be when you arrive. Look first to your health, physical and mental. If the green light is on and you still aren't sure about your directions, check that spiritual side and see if it is fulfilling that part of your being's needs. Faith is foundational. Faith is as needed for us to be whole as water is necessary for our survival. God knows this, and when we get "inside" ourselves, we know it, too! Look before you leap to that freedom that you seek. Make certain that everything is working the way it should. These sky jocks would never jump without checking on their chutes, and in that there is a lesson to be sought, over and over. God bless, Preacher.