Big Lessons From Little Airplanes

11
Special and Unique
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows full well. (Psalm 139:14)

In all the categories and classes of model airplanes that are flown, there is none as relaxing and amazing to watch as Indoor Endurance. These models are rubber band–powered and flown in gymnasiums or other large facilities. The larger of them, at around a thirty-inch wingspan, fly at a slow walk, as do many of the lighter and smaller ones. You can count the propeller rotations on the biggest and slowest versions. Flight times range from just over a minute to thirty minutes or more. Yet as beautiful as they are in flight, they are odd-looking as compared to most other model airplane types.
Oh so different.
I have one of these type planes that I have flown for sermon illustrations and summer camp teaching. Each time the model is flown for a brief flight of thirty or forty seconds. It seems like a long time when a whole room full of people are holding their breath. After the flight I ask the observers to tell me what they noted about the plane as it flew. The first answers are usually along the same lines: it flies so slowly, it flies in left-hand circles, it was so quiet, and so on. “Well, what did you notice about the airplane itself?” I ask.
The more observant begin to respond, “The wing is up real high.” “The tail is on upside down” “The tail is crooked.” Finally someone says, “One wing is longer than the other.” Yes, it has all those things wrong with it, but are they really wrong? The upside-down tail, actually the rudder, is made that way, upside down, underneath the stabilizer to help steer the plane in the circle but keep the wing level. You may remember that on your last airplane ride, every time the plane turned, it banked or leaned into the turn. It was able to do that because there was a pilot in the cockpit who could roll the plane back to level flight when the turn was completed, but the model doesn’t have a pilot on board, so the stability has to be built in. The crooked or tilted tail or stabilizer actually flies level, it is the wing that is tilted or banked. It is the tilt of the wing that makes the plane fly in a circle, much the way you lean into a turn on a bicycle. The wing being mounted up high also helps with stability since the weight of the rest of the airplane is hanging below, much like a person sitting in a swing. And the longer wing is the one on the inside of the turn. As the plane flies in a small circle, the wing on the outside is flying faster than the wing on the inside of the turn. The faster a wing flies the more lift it generates so if the wings were the same length or size, the plane would try to roll, tightening the turn and eventually spinning down. It would not fly inside the confines of an enclosed space. You see, this plane is quite different from the radio-controlled models that fly outside, doing loops and rolls in great quantities of airspace. Each is doing exactly what it was made to do.
And so it is with all of us. God has fearfully and wonderfully made each of us. We are all individuals, each one unique. There are no two of us exactly alike, not even “identical” twins. I have twin granddaughters; they look so very much alike that I still confuse them often, even though they are seventeen years old. But they only need to speak a few words for me to tell them apart because their personalities are quite different. Sometimes the differences in us are hardly noticeable in a crowd, but sometimes the differences shout rather loudly. Some of us are tall, some short; some coordinated in sports, others not; some thin, some rounder; some light-skinned, some various shades darker; some with blond hair, others with red, brown, or black; some have strong voices, but others we have to listen closely to hear. And then there are the more troubling physical differences, the ones that cause finger pointing and name calling, like a little boy with big ears or a girl with a mark on the side of her cheek or the boy who walks with a limp. These are some of the things we as younger people usually see first.
As children grow older, some can talk well and give a clear, interesting report in class, while others are scared to death to stand up in front of the class. There are some who really enjoy learning history and some who excel at math, while a few have wonderful abilities to play musical instruments. There are also the quiet ones who would prefer to sit quietly and draw or paint. As they grow, some become builders, working with their hands using wood and metal to construct the houses we live in and the places where we can shop; others work with their hands in the gooey and messy parts of our insides as doctors working to heal people. Just the person He wants them to be. And the gifts or skills and abilities, the special interests He gives, are part of our makeup, preparing us for the work He has for us to do. We are each one of us special and unique. All so very different, but each one fearfully and wonderfully made by God.