Wadi Degla Protected Area, Eastern Desert
Many people have asked why I took a job in & moved my whole family to Egypt. Below is my best effort to answer that seemingly simple yet suprisingly complex question:
When reading historical accounts in the Bible of how God guided those who were willing to truly put their full faith in His will for their lives, I have often thought, “How awesome to see firsthand how God works in the lives of His faithful servants.” After experiencing His clear life guidance for myself, I still say “How AWESOME!”, but now add “How scary, frustrating and slow” by my impatient/imperfect human terms of course! That being said, I would like to share a snapshot of the events and feelings that have transpired in the lives of my family and I over the past two years culminating in our move to Egypt.
Sledding with the family in Grand Rapids
After following a 10 year progression of upgrades and promotions to a successful career in aviation management, I found myself holding the position of Chief Pilot for a thriving fractional flight department at the beginning of 2007. A little over a year later, I came to realize the negative toll this position and my career in general was having on my marriage, family and health. As I began to devote more prayer and consideration to where my career path was taking me/us, my wife (Wendy) and I began marriage counseling in early 2008. Then, in May 2008 I was offered a First Officer position with NetJets Aviation. Although a step backwards financially and in my career track, this position would afford me more scheduled time at home with my family. So after much prayer, Wendy and I felt this was where the Lord was clearly leading me/us.
Flying the Lear 40 for Northern Jet Mgt
Then, in early November 2009 I received notice that I would be furloughed from NetJets affective January 16, 2010. My heart sank and I began the typical human thought process of asking God why He would lead me away from a stable management position, only to be furloughed a year and a half later. The answer I received was, “in order to teach you to trust Me rather than your own resources.” After that answer, I began for the first time, to truthfully pray “Thy will be done in my life Lord”. Over the next several weeks I went through a roller coaster ride of emotions as I searched for jobs, any jobs! After all, I had no idea in which direction the Lord would lead, but I wanted to be open minded to His will. During this time I applied for some 30 jobs, both in and outside aviation. I did not receive a single call back!
In the Excel cockpit for NetJets
On November 16, while driving around my home town looking for work and/or paths to financial aid for retraining, I got what turned out to be my first possible job option. Out of the blue, a Demo/Test Pilot and Christian friend from Cessna Aircraft (Knut) emailed me that a friend and former co-worker of his (John) who was furloughed from Cessna in ’08, was now flying for an owner in Cairo, Egypt. John’s boss had a friend who was looking for a Captain to operate his newly purchased Cessna Jet. Overseas operators were a group that I had not previously been open to applying with, mostly due to my lack of knowledge in that type of operation and the fact that this was WAY outside my comfort zone, to name only a couple of the many reasons. However, when I told Wendy of this possible opportunity, both she and our two children were quite excited at the possibility of moving to Cairo. I found this response extremely strange since all previous discussions of us likely having to move out of state for work were met with many tears and fears. Anyway, when God is at work extreme things will likely happen, so after the family and I prayed about this opportunity for most of the day, I felt lead to give it a chance. After all, I was now open to wherever God would lead, RIGHT?
Later that day I was in touch with John via email. Over the next couple months John and I became good friends through the wonders of email and instant messages, as he actively participated in our decision and prayed for spiritual guidance toward the Lord’s will for me in my job search. John also informed me that the open Captain position was on a used Citation Excel…the very plane that I was currently flying for NetJets, a plane that I was not qualified to fly, prior to coming to NetJets. Maybe now, I was beginning to realize the answer to the question of why the Lord led me to NetJets in the first place, as well as why I was previously blessed with aviation Senior Management opportunities at an early age.
A few days later, I received a call from the retired Egypt Air Captain who was helping the new owner (my current boss) assemble his new flight department. I did not feel that this initial phone screening went exceptionally well, as I was unprepared to answer many of his questions regarding my desires for the job. This was probably due to the fact that deep down I was not that interested in the job because it was so far outside my comfort zone for life and career.
Then, another strange thing in this chain of events took place, the Sunday following this initial call, our church sermon and adult Bible class study was based on James 4:13-17 (13Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." 16As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. 17Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.). It was clearly a message to not press my own agenda, but to first seek the Lord’s will for my life and career. Wendy and I went home feeling that maybe I was trying to close a door that the Lord clearly wanted open in our life.
The next several weeks continued to be an up and down roller coaster ride of emotions and possibilities as my family and I continued to pray that we would be ready and open to the Lord’s will in our lives. During this time John and I continued to stay in contact as he answered many of my questions and tried to educate me regarding life in Cairo for an Expat pilot. The trail seemed to run cold and I figured this was based on my unprepared first phone call with the retired Egypt Air Captain. However, when God is in control anything is possible. Then on November 23 John called me for the first time, as the owner in Cairo had contacted him wanting to know if I was Captain current on the Citation Excel and how soon I could take delivery of their plane in Paris if hired. I answered in the affirmative and John also informed me that they were looking at several other pilots as well and that two of them were local in the Middle East. Down the roller coaster again, as I figured I didn’t stand a chance if they were considering local guys who would likely be much easier to integrate into the geographical area of operation.
After this I heard nothing else about the job for a couple weeks. John and I again discussed angles to get my foot in the door and even considered the possibility of me flying to Cairo on my own ticket to pop in and meet the owner for short face-to-face discussion. Wendy and I prayed about this and decided that this would again be me trying to take control of the situation rather than leave it in God’s hands.
A week or so later, I heard that they had decided to hire a Greek Captain and they were considering me for a three week contract, alongside said Captain, to take delivery of the plane and do a few initial trips while the planned Egyptian First Officer was getting his training in the Citation Excel (first ever jet for him) and getting comfortable flying it.
Then, the week before Christmas, the owner (my current boss) was in London and just happened to visit with the Cessna sales representative there (unbeknownst to me, John had put in a good word for me with this previous co-worker from Cessna) and I get a call from the retired Egypt Air Captain. He says that I must have some pretty powerful friends in London, because the owner has changed his mind and wants to offer me the two year contract position as Chief Pilot. At this point my heart jumped into my throat, as I was now prepared for the three week gig as a way to check things out in Cairo and get my foot in the door. In the back of my mind, I still did not want to trust this all to God and really wanted to physically check out the situation with my own eye. Wendy and I again devoted much time to prayer before giving an answer. The next day I accepted the position based on what faith I could muster and much worldly fear of the unknown, including how the time line for the start of this new job, the delivery of the plane, my separation from NetJets and my need to attend aircraft recurrent training before traveling overseas, would all fall into place. There was also the question of when and how Wendy and the kids would join me in Cairo, as well as what to do with our house in Grand Rapids. All these questions and concerns were answered in the Lord’s timing and ways as things fell into place, again working to teach us patience and faith.
The day that I accepted the job (December 22), I was now faced with the fact that I was a flight department manager in a Third World Country that I had never been to, for a company that had never had a flight department and it was going to be a BIG job with a VERY steep learning curve!...maybe that is still an understatement :) Anyway, my first task began that day as the retired Egypt Air Captain decided to hand off to me the responsibility of locating a pilot to take the three week job of helping me with the delivery and first flights while my Egyptian First Officer (Anas) got trained and comfortable. Who am I kidding…I HAD to find a way to get comfortable MYSELF!
Well, since I was the member of a group of 495 NetJets pilots who were being furloughed and I had the use of a powerful pilot union message board over the internet, finding pilots who wanted jobs was not difficult. The difficult part was screening ALL the potentials and having someone hired before Christmas, since I had one more trip to do for NetJets starting on Christmas day and covering the following week, at the end of which I now had to be in Orlando, FL for my own recurrent training before leaving for Paris and subsequently moving to Cairo…ALL in a non-stop whirlwind of activity while hastily saying goodbye to friends, family and country. Again, I took this task to the Lord in prayer and successfully hired another NetJets pilot (Thomas) out of Dallas, TX to fill the three week to three month contract (OH, YA, they changed that deal to possibly three months after I initially posted the job and began screening :)
Our last night with Thomas before his return home to Dallas, TX
Anas & I at the Pyramids in Giza
(Both Thomas & Anas have been a real blessing to work with & have become close friends of mine in the past few months)
Needless to say, I made it through the initial shock of all this, plus the move to Cairo, as did my family. We pray every day for strength to work through what we often do not understand is going on around us, as well as the desire to do it all while showing Christian love to our mostly Muslim hosts in the land of Egypt. We have all learned a lot about ourselves and God’s world around us and expect to continue doing so. I still do not understand EXACTLY why I am here to do what I do at FL410 (41,000 ft), on the other side of the world from where I am comfortable, but I do it to the best of my abilities until there is no breath left in me or the Lord chooses to lead me somewhere else, Insha’Allah (God willing)!
At the Cairo Museum
