"The mind of man plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps." Proverbs 16:9
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And do not lean on your own understanding. In all
your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6
"Many plans are in a man's heart, But the council of the Lord will stand." Proverbs 19:21
When we first committed ourselves to follow the Lord in this direction toward ministry in mission aviation we still had a lot of questions. The calling was certain, the resolve in our hearts to follow the calling was certain, but there still remained a gap between where we were and becoming equipped for this kind of ministry.
Where do we attend school? Do we just up and leave our current jobs? How do we provide for our family while we receive training? How long will it take until we can actually begin ministry?
There were what seemed like a never-ending stream of questions like this. We thought it best to pursue SMAT because it seemed like a unique program that was specifically designed to be technical mechanic training for those pursuing mission aviation. It remains a well respected program, and is set apart across the country for providing the necessary training in just one year. The one-year component of SMAT specifically appealed to us because we thought it best to get the training done quickly so we could get to the field and begin what we felt led to do. We sort of started to believe that SMAT was the only way this would work due to the many steps necessary before getting to the field. As we shared our story with others before moving this direction, one of the first questions that everyone would ask is "Why SMAT and Michigan?" At first glance, anyone looking into our story and how Michigan fit into the picture would say "That's an awful lot in just one year. for you and your family."
After visiting the school and the town of Ionia, we remained very impressed with the school itself, but had a number of reservations/concerns about the impending burden that would be placed on our family. As we brought these concerns to the Lord, we did so with an awareness that our Lord does not promise us comfort and easy life as we follow Him. We expect to be challenged and placed in circumstances that stretch us. What we experienced as we brought our concerns before the Lord about all this, was an ongoing uneasiness about the direction we were going by heading to Michigan and attending SMAT.
Thankfully, the Lord does promise to direct our path and shepherd us carefully as we wait for Him earnestly and patiently. We reached out to close supporters of ours, our pastor, and friends and family to seek what we should do. While not attending SMAT or moving to Michigan was becoming more clear to us, what still remained unclear was what to do next. We needed some specific and clear guidance from someone who had known us for some time and been with us throughout the journey of responding to this call on our lives. Our Lord is gracious and loving, and provided exactly what we needed! Out of all those we could have received council from, the one we sought the most were some friends of ours who had served overseas with MAF for several years. They had known us before we felt convicted of our calling and been an ongoing guide as we discerned this path for our lives. As we tried to contact them, we realized that they had just begun a lengthy 28-state roadtrip across the country and would likely be unavailable for some time. Then after several days of no response, we received a phone call from them and had an opportunity to actually meet up with them to discuss everything. What an opportunity and answer to prayer! After sharing our concerns about Michigan, and looking carefully at our options, we found the answer we were looking for and a plan for how we can continue to respond to the calling toward the field while taking concerns we had about Michigan/SMAT to heart.
At the heart of our concern was how continuing toward Michigan might result in overloading us with tremendous burden in such a short period of time. We knew there were plenty of two-year programs out there, but thought that SMAT presented us with an accelerated opportunity to be more efficient and get to the field sooner. As a result of this mentality, we became very mission-focused at the expense of real needs that existed within our family. Discussing our options with others led us to consider a two-year program closer to family support so we could spread out the burdens we faced. The college Erin and I both attended for our bachelor degrees has a partnership with a local technical college (details) for aviation maintenance. The program is setup in a strikingly similar fashion to SMAT - just spread out over two years instead of the one-year timetable. We have been assured by MAF that the program will equip us for the technical training we need. We will be living in the town we first met! Having lived in Grand Forks during college, we are both familiar with the community, and will be close to family. Dave will also have valuable opportunities there to gain maintenance and flight experience that are unique because of previous experience with the college. Erin is still hoping to practice nursing in a local hospital part-time to provide living expenses for basic family needs. It seems that there are a number of doors opening for us as we have pursued this direction. It has been an exciting time of seeing God at work - directing us carefully each step of the way!
We have a tremendous peace as we set out in this re-directed path. We feel like we've found some sort of middle-ground between meeting family needs first while continuing to pursue our calling toward the field. Often times, it seems that the journey is more important than the destination. We are thankful how the Lord has carefully taken us by the hand and led us to the next step we should take on our journey, and adjusted our focus where it needed to be. We pray that those who followed us and prayed for us as we set out toward Michigan will continue to follow us over a more extended timetable. We want to thank everyone for supporting and remembering us since we left our home in Washington to pursue this calling. We will be updating our blog regularly to share the latest of our journey and progress with training. We trust God will continue to guide us and remain faithful to equip us where He has called us. We pray you and your families will experience the same ongoing peace that results from leaning on His everlasting arms (see John 14:27). May He be near and present in your deepest needs as He has been in ours!
God bless you all!
The Simon Family
