It was a cloudy overcast Saturday morning when my friend, Bernie, and I took off from Hutchinson, Minnesota's Butler Field. We were headed for a Civil Air Patrol Wing Conference at Grand Rapids, Minnesota. Bernie is an instrument rated pilot (IFR). However, I am not instrument rated, but rather a visual flight rules pilot (VFR). It was the first time that I was on a total IFR of such distance.

Bernie is a very good pilot. He has been flying for a long time and has spent more than 10,000 hours in the air, many of which were in heavy aircraft while in the Air Force.

We filed a IFR flight plan with flight service and got into Bernie's green and white Piper Archer and took off. The clouds were low, 1000 feet or so, and we climbed up through the clouds until we broke out at 4,000 plus feet. We decided to fly at around 5,000 feet in order to clear some of the higher tops. the bottom of the clouds were dark and black. They reminded me of sin. Even so, when we got on top they were white and fluffy - like you might imagine heaven. It was beautiful!

We were flying the IFR highways on flight service's radar. I was in God's (and also in Bernie's) hands. About forty miles from Grand Rapids, flight service radioed us to come down to 4,000 feet. We came down to find we were in solid clouds. We could hardly see past the end of the wings! We were now on total instruments.

Bernie's eyes confidently scanned the instruments. He had total trust, like we need to have in the Lord. we flew like this for about twenty minutes. Then flight service gave us a compass heading, telling us to start descent. It was colder at the lower altitude. We began to pick up rime ice on the wings. This was not good!

We put our total trust in the instruments. Like the trust we should have in the Lord's guidance. We continued down to 2000 feet - and couldn't see anything. then at 1,800 feet we began to break out of the clouds. Sure enough there, right in front of us, was the Grand Rapids runway. We landed safely and spent the day at the Civil Air Patrol Wing Conference.

Having faith in an airplane's instruments is like having faith in God. He will help you through the dark clouds of life. The Lord will be there for you. Only trust Him!