BY JACK WARD
PASTOR, TOMAHAWK MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH
Chuck Yeager was the first man ever to break the sound barrier in an aircraft. Planes like the British Meteor jets that approached the speed of sound (760 mph at sea level, 660 mph at 40,000 feet) had encountered severe buffeting of the controls. At that time, no one knew for sure whether an airplane could exceed “Mach 1,” the speed of sound. The U.S. Army was determined to find out first.
The Army had developed a small, bullet-shaped aircraft, the Bell X-1, to challenge the sound barrier. A civilian pilot, Slick Goodlin, had taken the Bell X-1 to .7 Mach when Yeager started to fly it. He pushed the small plane up to .8, .85, and then to .9 Mach but backed off when the plane began to shake uncontrollably. The date of Oct. 14, 1947, was set for the attempt to do Mach 1.
As he approached Mach 1 that plane began to shake, rattle, and be buffeted from side to side, so much so that he was not sure that he would not explode in midair.
But on this day Chuck said, “I refuse to turn back now! If I die, I die trying, but I am not going to back down! I’ve been close before, but no matter what happens today, I am going for it!” And with that he shoved the controls forward and headed for the sonic wall!
In the account of this momentous event recorded in the book “The Right Stuff,” the author records: “The X-1 went through ‘the sonic wall’ without so much as a bump.” As the speed topped out at Mach 1.05, Yeager had the sensation of shooting straight through the top of the sky.
In our Christian lives we have many barriers to serving our Lord. We need to have the attitude of Chuck Yeager. Refuse to turn back! “If I die, I die trying, but I am not going to back down!”
We have much more at stake than just the sound barrier. We have as our goal the will of God. We have as our purpose to glorify the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. How much more should we refuse to turn back or slow down or even, God forbid, quit?
Just like Chuck Yeager made it through the sound barrier and saw the top of the sky, we shall behold our Lord one day. We shall see Him that we have served so faithfully. We shall behold His glory. The small troubles we go through here on this earth will be worth it all when we see Him! We must press on for our Lord, and He will help us to break through all our life barriers.
Philippians 3:14-15: “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
My brothers and sisters in Christ, keep pressing on. Sooner than you think, we will break through the top of the sky and then be in His glorious presence where there is joy forever and ever.
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