Life doesn’t always go in straight lines.
That’s certainly been the case for Phil and me. Like many people, our “dreams” went off in unexpected directions.
Ever since he was tiny, Phil wanted to fly. He made hundreds of airplane models. In Junior High school, he signed up for Royal Canadian Air Cadets (Canadian Air Force version of Civil Air Patrol in the US) and began to log flight time starting with Schweitzer gliders at RCAC summer camp at CFB Penhold in Alberta. He even took up tower and springboard diving, flying without the benefit of wings, somersaulting and twisting into the water.
In the summer after graduating high school at Canadian Forces Base Bordon, an unexpected twist in the road happened. He couldn’t get into the Canadian Air Force as a pilot because he didn’t have perfect vision. Then a much bigger twist—he was blinded in a diving accident. I’ll let him tell you that story and what it meant to him.
Even though his dreams of flight were gone, Phil went forward to do what he could. He got his Master of Science degree in Biomechanical Engineering at Penn State. We married, and our daughters Jen and Jess came along. Phil was working as a pharmaceutical sales rep in Saskatoon Saskatchewan, focusing on making a living. With his warm personable nature, he made friends and did very well.
But that wasn’t his dream, although without the option of being a pilot, he wasn’t altogether sure what his dream was. He investigated going full time to Bible college. Instead, he was offered a job teaching Kinesiology at Prairie Bible College in Alberta. This was a risk and a big cut in pay, but he went for it. In an odd twist, when he laid down what he had, God gave him back his dream of flying. Prairie had started a flight school. Phil completed training and moved from teaching Kinesiology to teaching flight,eventually becoming the Program Director and Chief Flight Instructor. Then doors opened to a faculty position at LeTourneau University, teaching aviation, meteorology, and other flight related courses. He’s spent almost 30 years flying and loving every minute in the air and mentoring students.
Phil always liked photography, and it has become an avocation.
He began to dream about making a living with photography. Check out his great photos. He also started to pray that God would give us something the two of us could work at together. I just kept focusing on the job I loved at LeTourneau University, teaching biology and the Wheels Project, not really paying attention.
But Phil had been paying attention to what I’d found out with the Wheels Project research. The idea of children left alone in the corner, dying prematurely, for the lack of a wheelchair and long-term care disturbed him. He was willing to leave the flying he loves to do something about that with me. Great man! And once again, the twist—what Phil will be doing is photography and videography, telling the story of these children. And we’re working together!
You can help these children to realize their dreams too by helping them get up off the floor and into an appropriate wheelchair. Please prayerfully consider becoming a financial partner in the Assistive Technology Catalyst Project. The links below will help you should you wish to donate.