September 13, 2006

The Day God Dried the Runway

Doug had loved Charlie ever since he’d first twisted Charlie’s prop. Now, each time he stroked the wood, felt the pull on his muscles, smelled the pungent fuel, and heard the sputtery roar of acceptance, Doug knew he was in love.

They had flown every bay and rock of the Oregon coast. Sometimes low enough to pick out the best agates on the stony beaches. Other times just putzing along watching for dolphins. Always happy, like two best friends testing the world for new adventures.

Sometimes they got more than they had wanted!

As Doug spun in over the bay Charlie’s engine gave a loud “crack!” and threatened to belch rivets. Doug dipped Charlie’s nose and prayed, knowing that the sound he had just heard was an engines death rattle – a broken crankshaft.

Somehow Charlie’s engine continued to turn, but each revolution sounded worse than fingernails trailing across a blackboard.

“The sand,” Doug remembered, and dove toward the waiting beach.

But the tide was in, far in, covering every grain of runway-hard sand. And right ahead, towering above the tide right where he had hoped to find a temporary landing zone, was the stump of a giant spruce.

Doug pulled back on the stick, praying out loud for God to “get involved in this crash! QUICK!”

Charlie scraped his belly on the stump and then immediately lost all ability to fly. His engine screeched as the crank ripped through pistons, and then all was silence as wheels met hard dry sand.

Doug gasped in awe. The deep tide had suddenly retreated, leaving a perfect runway of hard sand for Charlie’s wavering wheels.

They hit hard, and Charlie’s engine sputtered to life like a doomed chicken in an open barnyard. Doug guided the wounded plane up the beach and into a cleft between a couple hummocks of sea grass. Finally the wheels stuck and Charlie stopped. Safe. Dry.

Doug prayed an instant “Thank You” prayer, opened the door and jumped onto the ground. His feet landed in water, high tide Pacific Ocean water that was swirling just under the plane.

Doug knows that God answers prayers, even desperate ones above water-logged beaches. He used to trust himself on a lot of things. Now he talks to God about everything.

“Call upon me,” God says, “and you will find me.” Jeremiah 29

Dick Duerksen
Storyteller