OF AIRPLANES AND ECONOMICS

By Dane Skelton

Two themes seem to dominate the news of late: Airplanes and economics. Specifically, some horrendous crashes - the Reno Air Race crash, the Russian hockey team crash – have grabbed the headlines along with the Greek debt crisis, America’s persistent nine percent unemployment rate and the ongoing foreclosure crisis (not to mention the national debt!).

Bad news always gets the headlines. That’s what made me want to share some good news, and some good economic advice, that came from an unlikely place. An article in AOPA Flight Training Magazine caught my attention this morning. It was by a pilot who was retiring after fifty mishap free years in the air as an airline pilot and Flight Instructor. We never hear about these guys do we?

Now, I know you must be thinking: “Dane, what on earth does this have to do with economics, with paying my bills and achieving financial security?” Bear with me. The pilot boiled all fifty years of his accident free experience down to one simple principle: Always fly with the idea that if anything can go wrong it will and work hard to prepare for it. For example, you wouldn’t believe how many airplanes crash each year simply because they run out of gas. The veteran’s advice? Never assume the gages are correct. Unless you have personally drained dry the gas tanks on the airplane you are flying and refilled them so that you know exactly how much they hold and exactly how many gallons per hour that ship burns land and refuel when you think you have one hour of flying time remaining. Simple right? Self impose a one hour fuel margin and NEVER break it.

Now to the economic side of the story. We live in a world of economic hazards. Any thing can go wrong and usually will at the worst possible moment. We need to prepare for it. A hurricane can blow your house down or flood it; a trip to the emergency room can hammer your wallet; the car can break down and you will miss work. Yet few of us – including national political leadership - operate with any self imposed financial safety limits. We fly along on credit, with little to no reserve, blowing right past any kind of sensible margin assuming that all will be well. Until the bottom drops out, the sky closes in, and our personal economic engines start to sputter. Safe landings are hard to come by in those situations.

But the biblical principle (see the Proverb below) is quite simple: Work hard, spend less than you earn, set aside funds for future contingencies, and do it consistently, year after year. Then that tsunami called Poverty won’t be able to outrun you nor the bandit Scarcity overpower you.

Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest-- and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man. (Proverbs 6:6-11 NIV)

There is no such thing as security apart from God. Even the best prepared person can be overcome by an economic hurricane. But as I have seen time and time again, God provides for his people through his church. When we follow the biblical principles of economic discipline we will know the peace of financial security and the blessing of being able to help others when the crisis comes.