Do you ever stop and look around yourself and wonder how in the world you ended up here? Yea, I do too.
I spent my growing up years on a small (100 acre) dairy farm in central PA. Anything mechanical or anything to do with tools always had me fascinated. I enjoyed operating and maintaining the farm machinery and spending time outdoors.
I attended a one-room private school through 8th grade, and then homeschooled (with lots of help from mom!) through high-school. I had no particular reason to do high school, and after receiving the diploma, it went into a box in the attic and I found employment as a general construction worker. As you will see in a bit, this was already the first piece of the puzzle that God was putting into place.
The farm was only a few miles from the local airport so I grew up watching airplanes fly low overhead. I remember thinking how cool that must be! I had a love for model airplanes (the love part certainly outweighed the skill) and would generally be hoping for something that flew when birthdays or Christmas rolled around.
When I was 17, I met Jodilyn through a church youth group. We dated for 2 years before tying the knot a few days before I turned 20.
During our dating time, I discovered that I was somewhat red/green colorblind. It wasn't enough that it hindered me during everyday life, but it was enough that I would read the crayons in school to verify what color I was using. Nobody told me that was unusual.
Also during my teenage years, I was introduced to general aviation. I rode in the backseat of a small plane a number of times, but as I was colorblind, I was told that I would likely never be able to fly. Certainly not on a commercial level.
On January 1, 2020, Jodilyn, our 1 year old daughter, and I, took over my family’s 80 cow dairy farm. We settled in for the long haul of dairy farming. Being somewhat of a perfectionist, I threw myself into the work, determined to make every part of the farm be the best that it could be.
About a year into the farming life, I began to think this is not what I want to do for the next 30 years. I enjoyed the machinery and farm work but I did not enjoy working with cows. Jodilyn and I began discussing what the future might hold for us. We tried several doors but God didn't allow any of them to open.
One evening, after the little ones were in bed, I was sitting on the sofa and Jodilyn asked, “what do you really enjoy doing”? Pretty easy answer for me… “I like mechanic work, and I like airplanes.” Her question, “can you do something with that?” I pondered that a bit and started doing some research. I discovered at that time the industry was very much in need of aviation mechanics. I spoke to the local airport mechanic and he promised me a job the day I walk in with my mechanic license. Armed with that knowledge, I went on the hunt for what it takes to get the license. At this point, I discovered that many schools take 2-3 years. I dug deeper and discovered SMAT (School of Missionary Aviation Technology) in central Michigan offered a one year program. Jackpot! I also discovered at that point that a high-school diploma was required. God knew why I needed to go through high-school! We visited the school several weeks later and shortly thereafter I secured a spot in the class of 22-23.
We began the process of working through what it takes to disperse a dairy herd and prepare to move our family to Michigan for a year. The plan was to go to school for a year, then return to the farm, do cash cropping, and work at the local airport doing maintenance on a fleet of private jets.
Soon after learning about SMAT, I discovered they also have a one year flight training program. They take someone who has never flown, and get them to a commercial pilot level in one year. I had no intentions of doing the second year for my pilot license, but thought it would be interesting to try and get an FAA medical before we headed out to see if thats even an option. I scheduled an appointment with a doc, and as I expected, failed the colorblind test. I was given a 3rd class medical with several restrictions, essentially not allowing me to fly commercially. It was no surprise to me, and thus, no disappointment.
August rolled around, and we packed the house into a 20 foot box trailer. On August 24, 2022, Jodilyn, our 2 girls, and I, headed for Michigan around 2 am in the morning. It was an exciting step into a very different life. About 8 hours later, we rolled into the driveway at a 140 acre farm and began unpacking our things into an old, three bedroom farmhouse. We were very blessed with an amazing landlord who gave us liberty to explore the farm as we wished.
I started class two days after we moved to MI. It was a bit of work initially to get my mind back into being in class again after not being in school for more than 10 years, but I knocked the rust off after a week or two and really began enjoying learning again.
Soon after class started, I was introduced to missionary aviation. Something that I had no idea existed. I never dreamed that folks would fly airplanes into rainforest, jungles, and mountains. The idea seemed intriguing to me. As the weeks went by, several recruiters from different missionary aviation organizations circulated through and shared about the needs in these remote and hard to reach places. God started to work in our hearts and Jodilyn and I began discussing the possibility that God wanted us to get involved in this work somehow.
As we worked to analyse our thoughts on this, I bumped into the flight school director one day just after class. He had a question for me. Would I be interested in staying the second year and learning to fly? Well, my answer was pretty simple. I'm colorblind and have a restricted medical, so no, I didn't plan to stay. I was a bit surprised at his answer. He recommended that I go see the medical examiner in the area as he might have a different view on things. (one thing to note, there are several different colorblind tests available. I had failed the most commonly used one)
Jodilyn and I prayed about it and discussed it for a few days. We came to this conclusion. I'll go see the examiner and if God wants me to go fly, He will have to give me a 1st class medical with no restrictions. With that fleece laid out before God, I scheduled an appointment.
The day I drove an hour South to see the examiner, is the day a lot changed for us. I walked into the office fully expected the same results as the first time. After doing the color test, to my great surprise, the examiner announced to me, “there’s nothing wrong with you!” and proceeded to give me a first class medical with no restrictions. Now, I had my end of the deal to hold up.
I applied and was accepted into the next year's flight class. (class of 23-24) It was a super exciting time for me as what I had always thought would be off-limits for me became a reality. Flight school started on August 25, 2024. By Christmas that year, I was a licensed private pilot.
As I worked through flight, Jodilyn and I began discussing what our next steps would look like. We began looking at the different mission organizations that we knew about. Each org had their own requirements that needed to be met before joining. Many of them required 400-500 hours of flight time. I would graduate from flight school with just over 250 hours. We prayed and asked God to show us the way. In February of 2024, our landlord called, asking if we planned to move out at the end of the school year as another family would be interested in the house and he only rents to SMAT students. I told him that we would be gone a day or two after graduation.
We really felt directionless for two days. We committed to leaving our house with no place to go, not enough hours to join any mission org, and no idea what to do about it. God stepped in again. A friend of ours who was with JAARS, texted me, asking me to call him sometime when Jodilyn and I were both available. It was an odd request and I spent the day wondering what it might mean. After dinner, Jodilyn and I made the phone call. His words, “JAARS is starting a new program, and I think you would be a good fit”. Long story short, JAARS recognized that there are many people who would like to join the missionary aviation community but struggle to fulfill all the requirements. Their new program was built to take a handful of “green” pilots and mechanics and give them specific training and then send them overseas.
Needless to say, we spent a lot of time in prayer about this. We felt peace, and put in our application. In June of 2024, JAARS sent us a letter, offering me a spot as a JAARS pilot. The offer consisted of 2 years of training at the JAARS base in Waxhaw, followed by four years of service in one of their programs.
We chose to accept the offer, and the day after I graduated from flight class, we moved into a 3 bedroom apartment in Waxhaw NC. Jodilyn is homeschooling the girls, something we had not expected to be doing but is going well! We look forward to launching overseas in the fall of 2026. We don't know yet where we will be going, but we are excited about the possibilities.
As I look back over the last few years, I have to smile. Who knew. Milking cows to flying airplanes. It's been a trip, and we look forward to seeing what God has for us in the next mile!