This is the tenth of a weekly blog series that will focus on leadership in the outdoors and how to get the most from the least. Even though the title is called, “Thoughts of a Modern-Day Mountain Man”, it will hopefully cover topics that are useful to everyone.
Chapter 10: Be the best sky pilot you can.
11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
Luke 2:11-14 New International Version (NIV)
In our modern world, pilots are usually associated with airplanes or boats. The person in the cockpit or wheelhouse is completely responsible for the machine and the people on board. Becoming a pilot takes many years of hard work, study, and dedication. Sometimes this specialized training will take place in the military or possibly by private means. The financial cost is high, and it is certainly not a calling that everyone can answer. The more experience and training a pilot has, the better they become at dealing with all of the possible issues that can possibly arise while a flight is underway. Airplane pilots measure this experience in hours, which can represent a lifetime of training and experience. Being a pilot today is a very revered profession, and rightfully so, as these men and women are highly dedicated to helping us reach our destination or accomplishing a mission of great importance.
In the mountain man’s time of yesteryear, airplanes were not yet invented and were probably not even envisioned as a possibility by even the greatest minds of the early 19th century. The word “pilot” was used during this time period by the person manning the wheel of river and ocean-going vessels, but to the mountain man, “pilot” had a different meaning. A pilot to the mountain man of yesteryear would have been a man who led his company from the front. This pilot was someone who was very experienced in the leadership of his peers and had intimate knowledge of the trail and obstacles ahead. It was possible that this experience could take years to develop through great hardship. This man would be seen as the leader and would be responsible for seeing his men through to their goal. In a later time period, these trappers and traders would leave the mountains behind as the value of beaver furs would plummet. They would become pilots of a different sort, leading the Westward expansion of the fledgling United States of America on trails that had been blazed by them in previous years. The success of many wagon trains depended upon their skills and knowledge as they served as the greatest pilots that money could hire. Today we might consider this role of a pilot as a professional guide.
In the mountain man’s time, there was also another kind of pilot, a sky pilot. To be a sky pilot meant to be a preacher or a pastor. This man would lead his fellow mountain man on the most important trail, the one to Heaven. Sky pilots may have been few and far between in the Rocky Mountain wilderness of the early 19th century, but they did exist. To most of the mountain men of yesteryear, a Christian message may have fallen on deaf ears, as most didn’t live what we would consider a biblical lifestyle. However, quite a few of the mountain men always carried a Bible with them, even if they didn’t necessarily know how to read it, as it was believed to be a proper thing to have and carry. The sky pilot was usually a revered man by his contemporaries, owing to his experience and often knowledgeable demeanor.
This time of year we celebrate the birth of the most important of all sky pilots, Jesus Christ. He was sent to earth to take on mankind’s form, suffer, die, rise from the dead, and most importantly ascend into Heaven. This was Christ’s experience on earth. He didn’t need the experience to be the greatest of all sky pilots, as his knowledge comes directly from His Father in Heaven. He came to walk the earth, to be a leader and to build His church among men. The greatest story ever told about the greatest sky pilot ever starts with the most humble of beginnings. He was born of the Virgin Mary and delivered in a simple manger among animals. This simple birth wasn’t too different than what most mountain men of yesteryear experienced in their childhood. Simple means that created hardened men. Even though Jesus beginning as a man was spartan, He changed the world through His leadership and ministering to all.
The modern-day mountain man can do well to remember this message. You don’t have to come from financial means, higher education or be connected in special ways to become a top-notch sky pilot. We have as our example Christ, who was from a very humble man’s background. In Matthew 28: 18-20, Christ calls all of us to lead, to be a sky pilot, to be a preacher and grow His kingdom on earth using His example set forth at His birth 2,000 years ago. Go out and become the best sky pilot you can be, no experience necessary. Merry Christmas.
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