Not in the cockpit

I had the privilege of meeting a great man in person. His name is Ravi Zacharias and I spent a few moments with him when I attended a summer course last year in Oxford University. Ravi is an author and a speaker and he has reached out to millions all over the world. He has taken on the best minds in debates and discussed apologetics and philosophy in places like Harvard, Georgetown, Yale, Princeton University, and is highly respected all over the world. But do you know that as a young man Ravi was confused about the path of his life. He had wanted to become an air-force pilot in his home country of India. Along with a friend, Ravi traveled to a distant base where he was to take the grueling tests required for entrance in the pilot program. Several hundred young men were competing for just a handful of slots. In his book Walking from East to West, Ravi explains:

After a full battery of mental, physical and endurance tests, I was overjoyed to learn that, out of the few hundred competing, I had placed third and my buddy fourth. The officers in charge seemed impressed, knowing I had good physical endurance because of all the sports I played.

That night I called home excitedly, “I’m going to make it. All that’s left is the interview with the senior officer tomorrow.”

For the first time, I could tell by my dad’s tone that he was proud. I was told there would be a big celebration party for me when I arrived home. The next morning, I sat confidently in front of the senior officer – a gruff, heavyset man – ready for anything. After many questions about my values and my hopes and dreams, he startled me with a direct statement.

“Son, I am rejecting you,” he said abruptly.

“Huh?” I thought, dumbstruck.

“You’re being turned down by the Air Force,” he repeated.

I was stunned into silence. I had a hard time believing this. Before I could ask why, he explained. “This job is about killing, and psychologically you are unfit to kill.”

What could I say to that? It hit me hard. He must have seen the tears welling up in my eyes, because he said, “I’m doing you a favor young man, believe it.”

When I step off the train in Delhi, a crowd of family and friends was waiting for me with garlands. Talk about a low point – it was absolutely humiliating! I struggled with it; but deep inside, my concern was for a reason other than another failure, “Is this God stopping my steps?”

I pondered much on this for the next few days. Finally someone suggested that I go and talk to a visiting missionary who was staying at the YWCA, a man named Russel Self from Canada. I gathered myself to go and see him, and I ended up pouring my heart to him over my disappointment.

Mr. Self sat listening and nodding his head, and I thought, “He must be thinking,” “This kid is just taking up my time.” Instead, he responded with sage counsel.

“We can be so sure of ourselves at times,” he said. “That we don’t know there are some doors that we shouldn’t be entering. God does not only open doors; he shuts them too. Sometimes very painfully.”

“This has to be one of those times,” I thought. But knowing that did not lessen my pain.

“What we often miss,” Mr. Self added, “Is that some of those shut doors reveal the most important clues as to where God wants us to go.”

Ravi wanted to be in the cockpit. The Lord wanted him to speak and write to millions. When he was a young man, he had no clue that was the plan. All he knew then was that he had suffered a grievous setback.

So are you facing a serious setback?

Maybe you’ve lost your job?

Your business turn belly up?

Your house got swept away by the floods?

Tell me about it. Maybe God is closing some doors for you in preparation for something better next time? Trust in Him because He alone knows the entire story of your life.

(Francis Kong will be the lead trainer for the Dr. John Maxwell’s “Developing the Leader Within You” leadership program this January 28-29 at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel. For further inquiries contact Inspire Leadership Consultancy Inc. 632-6872614 or 09178511115).