The Wind is Not a River

"The Wind is Not a River" by Brian Payton

This book was intriguing.  It is a novel but it does tell about an actual little known battle of WWII.  John is a journalist who has lost his brother in the war and is determined to write about what is actually happening.  John leaves his wife behind and go to Alaska's Aleutian Islands and his plane is shot down.  He survives the crash only to have to survive being undettected by the enemy and surviving the elements.  His wife is determined to find out what has happened to her husband after not hearing from him for three months.  Will love be able to bring them back together?  Will she be strong enough to find her answers, no matter what they are?  This is a story of sacrifice, love and courage.  "The sacrifices made on our behalf must be known before they can be remembered, he said."  We can not be thankful to those who have sacrificed for us if we do not know what was sacrificed.  We all have a story to tell and as I get older I am wishing more and more that I had heard the stories of those who went before me.  "We're walking through life in the present, changing along the way.  The past is something somebody else did long ago.  What happens tomorrow is someone else's problem.  All that's real is the here and now."  Hopefully we are changing, adapting and makes adjustments along this journey we call life.  The past is done, and we are different for it.  We can't control tomorrow and it's not our job to.  What we have is today, that's all we are guaranteed and we need to do the best we can. "How many millions of lives have been diverted by this war?  Unlike the tally of ships, dollars, or casualties, there is no math for personal losses, losses quiet and unseen.  No restitution for what could have been."  Wars losses are great.  Many lives are changed, never to be on the path they once were.  "There are enough hard facts to confront each day without letting our imaginations get the better of us-without letting worry drain our real lives away."   I would recommend this book.  It has a touch of history, a lot of courage and love and faith in humanity restored.

Flight To Heaven

"Flight To Heaven" by Capt. Dale Black

Another one of those died and gone to heaven books. Don't know if you believe it but this is the third one that I have read. It is about a nineteen year old boy who has his flying license and is in a plane with two others. The plane crashes and he is the only survivor. He has extensive injuries. He doesn't understand why he survived and survived only to suffer. God does a lot of miracles healing he broken body and through it and vowes to serve God completely. He tells about the brief time he spent in heaven after first being taken to the hospital. Most of the book is about how the crash changed the direction of his life. He went on to do amazing things for God. Truthfully I was more fascinated with what God did with his life than the heaven experience. "I wasn't going to get faith by simply praying for it. Faith would come by believing and then acting upon what God said in His Word." Sometimes I forget the acting upon part. I do the believing and not a lot happens. I need to remember I have to do something. "Growth can be a lonely place, but it is a necessary place." Growth is sometimes hard but who wants to remain stagnant? "I knew then and have always known since that although I am small, I am connected to a very big God." Yeah for a very big God, I know I need Him.