High Flight on Wings as Eagles

Part 1

Nathan Jones: All right, Tim, I like this opportunity that we can get into your new book, because it gets an ability to connect with you personally. And we know that you’re a pilot, and for those who don’t, Tim loves to fly. And I want to know where that comes from. What is it about flying that you love so much?

Tim Moore: You know, I don’t know when I was first introduced to the idea that I could perhaps become a pilot. As I’ve shared before, I told my mother when I was very small that I wanted to be a preacher, a pilot, or a politician. I couldn’t decide which. But watching birds soar and just seeing the freedom of being able to ride the airwaves, I think that was what drew me to flying. And of course, every time I’d see an airplane go by, that always amazed me.

I grew up for many years in Memphis, Tennessee, and our house was near the airport, and there was a road that went under the runway. And it fascinated me to think that right on top of my head would be an airplane taxing, or as I’d see them flying in and out there with Memphis International. So I think early on, the Lord placed in my heart a desire to take flight.

Nathan Jones: To soar with the eagles.

Tim Moore: Yes.

Nathan Jones: Well, where did that take you then? What was your career as a pilot?

Tim Moore: Well, obviously early on I did grapple with whether I should go into ministry or into flying. And the Lord, I think, spoke to me very directly, and gave me the affirmation to pursue the desire of my heart that He’d planted in my heart. And so I went off to the Air Force at age 17 to attend the Air Force Academy, and immediately on graduation was married, and went to pilot training down in Columbus, Mississippi, and became an Air Force pilot.
And because of my ranking in the class, I was invited to come right back and be an instructor at pilot training. So I spent a few years there in Columbus, and then for the rest of my Air Force career, active duty in the Guard, and then later Reserve, but most of that time I was flying, and going all over the world doing so.

Nathan Jones: So if you could calculate, how many hours do you think you’ve been up in the sky versus on the ground?

Tim Moore: I think I calculated recently and all totaled 6 or 7,000 hours or flying.

Nathan Jones: 6 or 7,000, wow! Well, let’s get into your book here. You dedicated this book to Larry and Sammie. Who are they, and what important life lessons did they teach you?

Tim Moore: Well, Larry and Sammie are my father and mother. So my parents were born in West Tennessee, and they grew up loving the Lord. My father’s dad had been a Baptist preacher. My mother had attended Methodist church and was very determined and dedicated to the Lord in that role. So as they became married and started a family, I being their firstborn, they made sure to pour into me and to my siblings a love of the Lord.

And to this day, my parents are really the center of our family unit. My father is a prayer extraordinaire. As a matter of fact, even recently, my son, when endeavoring to witness to a friend of his, called Papa and said, “Papa, I want you to be praying for this friend.” And if you call my dad and ask him to pray, he’ll say, “All right, as soon as I get off the phone, I’m heading back to my room.”

In the past, he would get on his knees, now at age 83, he will lay on his bed, and he will pray for a two- or three-hour stretch for specific people. And he does so every day for the entire family. And even my wife, Amy, says, “I think that’s the secret behind everyone in our family following after the Lord,” even to this day, because my parents, both Larry and Sammie, are such dedicated prayers, and poured into us a love of the Lord.

Nathan Jones: I got to meet your father at a conference a few years ago. And I’ve got to say, he was just so… I mean, he came up and he was giving encouragement. He wanted to pray with me. And it was a great godly example. Well, in your book here you have a personal aspiration Scripture, a life Scripture. Folks, I recommend pick a verse in the Bible that’s really made an impact in your life and make it your own. And so Tim, what is yours?

Tim Moore: Well, I have many favorite Scriptures. And I have to be frank from every book of the Bible I probably have two or three that I call favorites. But when I recorded a, I guess a statement, in the Air Force Academy yearbook, I chose Habakkuk 3:18-19, which says, “Yet I will exalt in the Lord. I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, and he has made my feet like hind’s feet and makes me walk on my high places.”

And the emphasis there is on the Lord, Him being the source of salvation and any heights that I aspire, or actually might be able to attain, are due to His leading and guiding. He gives me all the strength and energy I need to serve Him to the utmost of my ability.

Nathan Jones: And it’s what’s really neat is you picked a prophetic book and one that most people have never read. That is fantastic. Well, let’s get into how you came about with this book. Tell us what is the story about how this book came about? And explain to us too, what exactly is a Moore Musing?

Tim Moore: A Moore Musing? Well, when I first became the director here at Lamb & Lion Ministries, and that’s almost five years ago today, I realized that in order to communicate with staff, and of course I do a weekly communication with our board, I would share some things about what’s going on, what we’re going to be doing in the coming weeks or days.

And then I thought, well, I’ll share some kind of a pithy insight. What do I call a pithy insight? How about a musing? Because I spent a lot of time praying and thinking over God’s Word, and how it would apply to our lives. And even some of the examples of experiences from my own life. So every week I would try to find something that would be impactful for the moment in which we find ourselves as a ministry, or sometimes something that’s happened to me personally. And I would share a Moore Musing.

Well, little did I know that our Creative Design Director, Jana Olivieri, was collecting and compiling those. And so she came to me just about a year ago and said, “Tim, what would you think about turning that into a devotional? Because I’ve been keeping track of them all these many months, and I think it would be a blessing to others.” And I said, “Well, I guess I’m game for that.” So from her mouth to God’s ears.

And here we are several months later with a complete book of devotionals based on some of those musings. And again, it’s not really any insight that I have, it’s just experiences the Lord has given me, combined with the perspective of His Word, and really informing, not just me, but others, I hope, of how to apply His Word to our lives in times of ups and downs, and hopefully soaring to new heights as we follow Him.

Nathan Jones: Well, I love the story here about how Jana “Janatized” your book, because she’s also our creative design director here. And this whole layout of the book is just absolutely beautiful. Well, the title of your book High Flight, we see here it’s taken from a beautiful poem by John Gillespie Magee Jr., who is he, and how did you come to love this poem?

Tim Moore: Well, John Gillespie Magee was a young man. He was from Canada. His parents were actually missionaries to China. And in World War II, he felt called and inspired to join the Royal Air Force. So he went to England to help defend Great Britain against the onslaught of the German Blitz. And he trained as a fighter pilot. And so at a very young age, and he was 18 years old when he first went into training, he was flying there over the skies of England. And yet he wrote a poem, he was poetic and had several different poems, but he wrote a poem that has become very famous within flying circles.

So even when I was at the Air Force Academy, I was part of the cadet choir, not the chorale. The chorale had, I guess, auditions, and I didn’t pass the audition, but I joined the Protestant choir. And so every week in that beautiful chapel, 17 spires, we would sing as part of the worship service, and then we would go on the road, usually to a place or two a year, sometimes far away from Colorado, and do concerts and performances. And really, our signature song was “High Flight.” And so this had been set to music, and we sang it. And I used to know it by heart to sing. I don’t know if I can do it completely by heart, but…

Nathan Jones: Well, yeah, don’t sing it. Unless you want… Although, guys, he’s got a beautiful voice, or handsome voice.

Tim Moore: Yeah, I didn’t pass the audition, but.

Nathan Jones: Would you mind reading this, because it’s actually based on Isaiah 40:28-31.

Tim Moore: It certainly is. So John Gillespie Magee Jr., having experienced the joys of flying, and the beauty and the wonder and the awe of getting heaven-bound, said in his poem:

“Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
of sun-split clouds,–and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of–wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air…

Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew—
And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put up my hand, and touched the face of God.”

McGee was a Christian. His parents, again, missionaries, and he knew and loved the Lord. And you’re exactly right, I believe that he was basing this poem and his experience on what Isaiah wrote in chapter 40:28-31.

Nathan Jones: And he died serving this country, right?

Tim Moore: He did, at age 19.

Nathan Jones: 19…

Tim Moore: He was killed, and so tragically his life was cut short, but his impact continues to linger on.

Nathan Jones: Excellent. Well, in the intro here, you say that you hope something that the reader will get from reading this book. What exactly is that? What is the purpose of why you wrote this book?

Tim Moore: Well, I hope that people, upon reading this book, will see that the humor, and there’s lots of humor in my life story, I can assure you, and some of the poignant moments and the joy of realizing that even our day-to-day troddings along this earth, the Lord has called us to higher planes. That’s why He puts my feet on high places, and He will call us heavenward. And so if we have a perspective of what the Lord is doing, even through the various experiences we have in this life, I think it takes us to a higher place. And it is meant to be an encouragement to those.

Y’all have heard me talk about courage, and what it means to have godly or Christian courage. And so we encourage one another. Nathan, you and I do that on a daily basis when we’re here working together, the entire staff. And so we encourage one another in our walk with Christ, and He takes us to, again, higher planes, and eventually gives us a God’s-eye view. That’s a pilot term for being able to see the world and everything in it from God’s perspective. And I pray that this book helps people do just that.

Nathan Jones: Well, that’s what a good devotional book should do. It should elevate our relationship with our Savior.

Tim Moore: Amen.

Nathan Jones: Absolutely. Well, let’s get into format here, because folks, you’ll know it’s got a wonderful format here. It offers 100 one-page devotionals. They include a pithy quote, a introspective question. You’ve got a suggested prayer, a place to record a personal prayer or reflection. You’ve got something called the Intel Drop. Well, what does the reader gain from each element?

Tim Moore: Well, from each element, obviously I share a devotional, one page, and then a quote by someone that many of you may know, occasionally someone you perhaps have not encountered before. A suggested prayer to kind of encapsulate the point of this particular devotion. But we give you an opportunity to write your own prayer. And then the Intel Drop is just some interesting facts about some of the elements contained within the devotional. And I think a lot of people will have fun seeing some of those intel drops, just some factoids, if you will, that expand your appreciation for some of the things you’ve read about.
But again, this is meant to be an interactive devotional, which is why on every facing page, or every, I guess front page, there’s the ability to write down your own thoughts and reflections, not just on the devotional, but on the Scripture verse that we provide that really is the basis for each given devotional.

Nathan Jones: Oh, excellent. Well, let’s get into one of them then. So we could follow along on that format. And since your book is called High Flight: on Wings as Eagles, let’s do the one on “On Wings as Eagles,” page 152. And what verse did you decide to do a devotional on there?

Tim Moore: Well, “On Wings as Eagles,” we said from Deuteronomy 32:11, “Like an eagle that stirs up its nest that hovers over its young, he, the Lord God, spread his wings and caught them. He carried them on his pinions.” And so here the writer of Deuteronomy, Moses, has obviously seen an eagle caring for its young, and he uses that as a metaphor to describe how the Lord God spreads His wings over us. He protects us, He catches us, He carries us. So even when our strength fails, He will carry us forward.

Nathan Jones: And prophetically, you can look back to this verse and know when the Jewish people have to flee into wilderness during the Tribulation, the Lord says like wings of eagles, He takes them to safety. That’s just an illustration throughout the Bible. Well, what is the devotional that goes with this?

Tim Moore: So the devotional that goes with this, is a devotional that focuses on giving our children, our grandchildren, a clear vision for what the Lord calls them to do. So I pretty much ask the question right off: “Can you remember what the world was like when you were born? I know that I cannot, and you’ll say, ‘Of course not.’ But consider what the world was like when you were born. Your folks and your grandparents could not have imagined some of the chaos and spiritual confusion we’re seeing these days. For that matter, most of us could not have imagined what it would be like today when our own children were born. And yet, if the Lord tarries, I hesitate to wonder what my grandchildren will face as they grow to start families of their own. Every time I think our society cannot be any more misguided, our culture lurches to the left and hits a new low.”

And so then I talk about my strong inclination not to be a helicopter or bulldozer parent. I actually want my children to have to overcome certain challenges on their own so that they grow in responsibility and become productive adults. But I always wanted to provide clear, unwavering guardrails. I speak about that, “So that they would grow into followers of Christ who serve his Kingdom with courage and conviction.”

And so here again, I’ll go to the last paragraph, “Like an eagle watching over its young, the Lord is ever near guiding and guarding us, but He also stirs the nest when it’s time to grow, when the young eaglets falter in flight, the eagle swoops beneath them, lifting them up until they learn to soar. And our God cares for us far more than an eagle does its fledglings. So when we send our kid out on their own, we trust the same God who allows us to soar.” You know, even right now, Nathan, I watch these two eagles out in Bear Valley, California.

Nathan Jones: Oh, over streaming?

Tim Moore: I watch them raising their fledglings, and it’s a beautiful thing. But it reminds me that God loves us far more than any mere eagle, or even than I do my own children.

Nathan Jones: Yeah, our family got through COVID watching bears eat salmon up in Alaska.

Tim Moore: Yeah, the big bear week?

Nathan Jones: Well, you’ve got a quote here from our founder, Dr. David Reagan. What is that?

Tim Moore: I would say David Reagan and the Christian Heritage of America said, “The family is the God-ordained foundation of society. When it crumbles, the nation crumbles.” And folks we’re seeing a lot of crumbling going on, but as long as Christian parents, and by extension grandparents, aunts, uncles determine that my family will be true to the Lord, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Then there is always hope. And indeed there’s hope for our own children, guaranteed.

Nathan Jones: Excellent. Well, what is the faith in flight for this devotional?

Tim Moore: So the “Faith in Flight” basically summarizes, and says, “Parenting and grandparenting isn’t about control. We set the tone, establish the boundaries, and walk beside our children as they learn to stand firm. Our role is not to shield them from every hardship, but to equip them with truth, courage, and discernment.”

Nathan Jones: Excellent, excellent. Well, with the “Prayer Tracker” here, you give us a prayer that we can use with this devotional. Do you mind reading that too?

Tim Moore: Not at all. It says, “Lord, help us parent with courage, not fear, to guide with conviction, not control. Stir what needs stirring, strengthen what feels weak. And thank you for bearing them,” meaning our children, “up each time they may fall. Amen.”

Nathan Jones: Amen. I’ve got to say, as much as I like the devotionals in this, I love the “Intel Drops” the best. I just learned that “Eagles build their nest high, often 50 to 120 feet up, not for comfort, but for protection and visibility.” And you have one for legacy, right?

Tim Moore: Yeah, “Legacy isn’t just what we leave behind, it’s who to send forward.”

Nathan Jones: Ah, that’s great.

Tim Moore: And so, again, I have one son, I’ve told him, “The only thing I will be able to give you other than your faith, which I will hand down to you, is your name. I give it to you honorably. It’s your decision whether or not it maintains honor, and whether you keep the faith that we have handed to you until the Lord’s coming, or until you pass it on to your son.”

Nathan Jones: Amen. Well, I think we have time for one more, and I want to skip over to my favorite one, because I love this when you tell this story. This is called, “This is Not a Drill.” And it’s on page 12 here, and your verse is Ephesians 6:13, which is, “Therefore take up the full armor of God, so that you’ll be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.” And then you tell the story about your experience for the military. Folks, if you don’t know, Tim was a colonel in the Air Force and you were flying a giant C-130, those massive planes. I used to see in Delaware all the time flying into Dover. And so what was your experience during the war there?

Tim Moore: Well, during the war, we flew in and out of Iraq many times. I say, “The War,” the war back in 2003, of course started in Baghdad. And my crew was there flying in and out of Baghdad specifically. And we thought that the threat had been minimized. There was no more air force in Iraq. And even the ground forces of their army were completely debilitated. And so we had been told by our own intelligence briefers that the threat was minimal.
But as we took off out of Baghdad, and I’m sure we were carrying some soldiers, probably some wounded soldiers, because that was the typical mission, as we climbed through about 5,000 feet, our missile warning system alerted. And immediately we knew that there was a missile inbound to our airplane. So training took over, thankfully. And we were able to mitigate the threat we thought. But within a few seconds, and my crew, of course, was yelling and screaming, but within a few seconds we felt an explosion immediately beneath our feet. And we thought we’d been hit.

Well, that created even more chaos in the airplane. And I told everybody to, “Be quiet. Everybody stop yelling. And let’s determine, is anybody hurt, and is the airplane damaged?” And so the title of this devotional is “This is Not a Drill.” And in that moment, it was not a drill. All the emergency training that we’d practiced for years, every year going through simulator training. It was not a drill. It was the real thing. And we determined no one was injured, the airplane was still flying.

And so we went on to Kuwait. And as we landed in Kuwait, we were met by a lot of individuals, because this had been the first surface-to-air shot that had happened in many, many days. And we, of course, radioed ahead. We crawled over every inch of that airplane. And there wasn’t a scratch.

Nathan Jones: Praise the Lord. Wow.

Tim Moore: Exactly. Praise the Lord. My crew realized that was miraculous, because my load master, who had been a former photo intelligence specialist, had taken a picture of the missile track, you know, the smoke trail. And we knew exactly what kind of missile it was. And to think that it came so close that it exploded with a proximity fuse, and yet there was no damage to our airplane, that was truly miraculous.

And what it did is it opened up opportunity for the next number of days for me to have, both while flying in the whole group on intercom, or one-on-one conversations with my crew, to realize, you know, that was miraculous, but the Lord has left us here, and left you here, for a reason. Are you going to take serious the opportunity, because at some point there will be an emergency in your life, and it’ll be too late if you haven’t accepted the Lord Jesus Christ. So it really became an opportunity to share the Gospel even in that moment.

Nathan Jones: Fantastic. Fantastic. You have a quote by Tozer here.

Tim Moore: Yeah, A.W. Tozer. I love A.W., and from his book, The Warfare of the Spirit, “The church must awaken to the fact that she is in a life-and-death struggle with the forces of darkness.” And that day we knew that we had life or death presented, and the Lord gave us life. But there is a time coming when those who have not chosen Christ will face death without any hope whatsoever. And it will not be a mere drill.

Nathan Jones: Hmm. Well, the “Intel Drop,” I’ve learned something new. Again, you being the pilot, I’m learning all this. A wing and a prayer. Where did that originate from?

Tim Moore: So during World War II, the idea of limping home with a damaged aircraft on a wing and a prayer describes the idea that even with one wing perhaps hanging on, or at least an aircraft that’s very damaged, people would pray, pray, pray to get back to England. So the picture was, after bombers and such would be over the continent, and they would’ve been attacked by the Luftwaffe, they would make it home on a wing and a prayer. And the phrase was popularized in a 1943 song called “Coming in on a Wing and a Prayer.” And it told that exact story of a crew making it home, upheld by their own courage and God’s providence.

Nathan Jones: Wow, well that’s really fascinating. You never know where some of our sayings that we take for granted come from. Well, let’s skip to the end of the book, and we got eagles throughout this book here. What spiritual lessons can we learn from the soaring eagle?

Tim Moore: Well, as I close this book, I used a story shared with me by a friend who lived in my previous legislative district. And I know she’d gotten it elsewhere, but…

Nathan Jones: So folks know what legislative district we’re talking about…

Tim Moore: Yeah, so I was in Kentucky, in the Kentucky General Assembly, and at that point it was the 18th Legislative District. They’ve changed that now, but from the next county over, this young lady shared a story of how eagles, when a storm is coming; they don’t run and hide. They actually will seek out the air and the currents that a storm is creating before it. And they will use those currents to be lifted to even greater heights. And so a storm does not cause an eagle to be afraid. Instead it becomes an opportunity.

And Nathan, just the application, I think the Lord allows storms to come into our lives. We know they invariably do. And one of Satan’s favorite tactics, as I write, is to distract us by the effects of the storm. He did that with Peter, even as he walked on the water of Galilee. The effects of the storm can be a distraction. But if we realize by keeping our eyes on Christ, that even that storm can be an opportunity for us to grow closer to Him, to become more dependent on Him, and to be lifted to greater heights by Him, then I think that we have the right attitude.

And as I say, “So when the storms of life begin to blow, trust in the Lord, spread your wings, and prepare to reach new heights. Through Christ who strengthens us, we really can do all things, even overcome physical, emotional, relational, and spiritual storms.” And I’ve got friends right now who are in the midst of some of those. And my encouragement to them and to you is that we can overcome all of them and do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

Nathan Jones: And topped off by D.L. Moody’s quote, “Spread your wings of faith and let God’s promises lift you above life’s trials.” In these dark days, as we’re in the last days of the End Times waiting for the Rapture of the Church, that is good news. But Tim, we’ve come to the end of your book, and you end the book with another poem by John Gillespie Magee Jr., and it’s called “Per Ardua,” if I’m pronouncing that right. What does that mean? And in the time we got, would you quickly read that poem for us?

Tim Moore: I’d be delighted. So Per Ardua is taken from the RAF motto, which means, it says, “Per Ardua ad Astra,” that’s Latin, meaning “through adversity to the stars.” And so here was John Gillespie Magee’s take on the world. And really the challenge of young airmen like himself that were facing life or death. And I think it was heavy on his heart that some of those young men might face death not knowing Christ. And so he writes:

“They that have climbed the white mists of the morning;
They that have soared, before the world’s awake,
To herald up their foeman to them, scorning
The thin dawn’s rest their weary folk might take;

Do these, who help the quickened pulse run slowly,
Whose stern, remembered image cools the brow,
Till the far dawn of Victory, know only
Night’s darkness, and Valhalla’s silence now?”

Of course, Valhalla being just a poetic reference for death and the silence of the grave. And so really this is the age-old question, “Will those who come to this life’s sin know only silence, or will they know the Victor who gives us victory? And that is Christ Jesus, and the life he offers everlasting.”

Nathan Jones: That’s that haunting choice that Magee leaves us, choose life or choose death.

Tim Moore: Yes, sir.

Closing

Nathan Jones: Well, folks, I believe High Flight would make a wonderful Father’s Day, or even a Mother’s Day or Graduation Day gift. Tim’s devotional provides wise advice for any young graduate ready to start a new chapter in their life.

To order your copy of High Flight, just call the number you see on the screen, or visit our online store. And for only $20, and that includes shipping, we’ll be glad to send you a copy. And if you’re interested in purchasing in bulk, just reach out to us, and our team here will help you bless many people.

Tim Moore: Well, I’m actually praying that my new devotional book will bless all who read and are touched by it, and although the stories are often autobiographical as I share how God has given me strength, power, and purpose for living, my goal always remains to point people to the Lord so that they will glorify Him.

Nathan Jones: Well said, Tim. What final word of encouragement, or should I say, Moore Musing, do you have that you’d like to share with us at the close of this discussion?

Tim Moore: Well, Nathan, I would simply emphasize that every person must grapple with the choice either to soar heaven-bound with Christ, or to remain rooted on this earth waiting for death and everlasting darkness. And my plea to each of you is to choose wisely.

And for those who have chosen to take wing with Christ, I would encourage you to record your own musings. Record the incidents where God has intervened in your life and stayed by your side as you’ve walked through valleys of trouble. And then share your testimonies about Christ’s tender mercies with your own loved ones. And watch as the seeds of faith that you scatter begin to germinate and produce much spiritual fruit.

Nathan Jones: Well, thank you for those words of encouragement, Tim. Friends, that’s all the time we have for today. So until next week, let Jesus Christ lift you up to new heights, or as Tim would say.

Tim Moore: Godspeed!

End of Program