My New Favorite Airport

This week I have been in multiple airports. Some are better than others. All are the same after awhile! In a few minutes I am landing at my new favorite airport. No, it is not the largest or most modern, but it speaks to me every time I am here.

Perhaps a story will help you understand why…

Dr. Lee Roberson was a spiritual father to one of my spiritual fathers. He was an example of faith and faithfulness in the work of the Lord. In my study I have one of his most popular books, The Faith that Moves Mountains. Anyone who heard Dr. Roberson speak would testify that faith in God was one of his hallmark themes.

One of his favorite illustrations was of Christian businessman R.G. LeTourneau, the man who literally moved a mountain. LeTourneau was an inventor and entrepreneur who led one of the largest earth moving machinery businesses in the world. More importantly, he was a dedicated Christian who invested much in the Lord’s work. LeTourneau knew that God had blessed him and determined to live on 10% of his income and give 90% to spread the message of Jesus Christ. (May God multiply his kind!)

LeTourneau’s massive earth moving equipment was used to engineer amazing projects. One of them is my favorite airport. In LeTourneau’s day it was called the Kanawha County Airport; now it is Yeager Airport. If you approach the Charleston, West Virginia airport on a clear day you can see the runway sitting 300 feet above the Elk Valley and Kanawha River Valleys below. It is an airport carved into the mountain.

Others would have thought this location for an airport impossible! Not LeTourneau. You can still find references to this project in the LeTourneau historical records for April 1946. The biography of this amazing man is called Mover of Men and Mountains. How we need such men and women of faith today!

In both physical and spiritual ways he realized the truth that Christ spoke, “For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith” (Mark 11:23). Men of faith are men of vision. They see from a heavenly perspective instead of earthly. They are not limited by man; they live in the realm of an all powerful God.

Charleston, West Virginia is not my favorite airport because of its size or facilities. It is a constant reminder of a man of faith. It is a reminder of the God who honors it. This place is just another testimony to the victories won through a life of faith.

Today is a beautiful summer day in West Virginia – you can see for miles! But by faith you can see much farther…

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). Look to God and not your mountains. Have faith in God.