As hurricane Irene rides off into the sunset, we're left the day after with an incredible tale to tell.  But no, it's not about Irene.  Although she left us with 6" of rain and a yard full of tree debris, we actually missed her entire visit, having flown back home only after she was well away from our area.  It's what we were doing while we were away which is the focus of this Chronicle story.

Gail tells me that it's fun having a variety of hats to choose from, and I would have to agree with her.  While we both have multiple hats to wear, hers you can see in a mirror, while mine exist in the more figurative sense.  Thanks to our many years of work in missionary aviation, one of the hats I get to "wear" is being a board member of IAMA, the International Association of Missionary Aviation.  For nearly 40 years, annual IAMA conferences have been the "family reunions" of the missionary aviation community where pilots and mechanics from dozens of missions get together to catch up on each other's lives and news of the industry.  By default, the IAMA board has historically been a working board, sharing enough of the load to keep the conferences organized and to get the occasional newsletter out the door.  But there was a fundamental shift a few years ago when the missionary aviation community decided the time was right for IAMA to take on a far greater role in providing leadership for the association.  That culminated, in part, in IAMA sponsoring several publicity events for the association throughout the year, but more significantly, in the hiring of a CEO to actually run the day to day business of the organization.  However, to provide the CEO with the vision, support and limitations he would need to work effectively, it was high time for the IAMA board to go through the process of putting good board governance into place.  So for 4 days last week, we retreated to the mountains of east Tennessee to work our way through the process of discerning our vision and putting values-based governance into place.  The process was challenging and labor intensive (we used 85 sheets of easel pad newsprint to work our way through various lists and strategies), but well worth every moment of time and bead of sweat.  Of course, the proof will be in the pudding, to borrow the colloquialism, and the validity of our work must be borne out in the increased effectiveness of the missionary aviation community in the years ahead.  Sort of puts a different perspective on being a missionary pilot, doesn't it?

The summer hasn't been all vacation and laying on the beach (although there has been some of that) and you can read about our most recent United Methodist Aviation Ministries news in the attached newsletter.  In the meantime, Gail is working with the Change of Pace leadership team to get their community-wide Bible study ready to go for the hundred plus women who will attend that event on a weekly basis this fall.  And we're both getting ready for our next safety seminar and safety audit at Prairie Bible Institute's School of Missionary Aviation near Alberta, Canada next month.  AND, we're also making initial arrangements for our next trip to Africa in November.  Prayers are appreciated and needed for all those activities and more.  In between, there will be more than enough to do taking care of UMAM and Mission Safety International business.  These are exciting days to be about our Father's business. 

Blessings on you all!