26 Feb 2025, Wednesdy

 26 Feb 2025, Wednesday

Prioritized Daily

Michael canceled the ski trip with his MIT friends to Utah until he gets things straightened out with Autumn

3:15 pm - appointment to see Brad Gale PA in Lehi 

Note: Parent knows the joy they feel when they sacrifice and see the results of that sacrifice in the lives of their children.       D&C 18:10 Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God

Humans or Helicopters? April 29, 1975, Captain Lawrence Cleveland "Larry" Chambers, the first African American to command a US Navy Carrier, and Major Buang Lu South Vietnamese Pilot, wife, baby, and four small children -  Story told in a video on YouTube, Follow Him, Hank Smith and John Bytheway, web address                           https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_1iumB0_OM&t=212s

Hank. There are so many things you could draw from D&C Section 18,

but I will focus on verse 10. The worth of souls is great in

the sight of God. 

John Bytheway: So what was going on in April of 1975, was the fall of Saigon in the Vietnam War, the US military was trying to evacuate the South Vietnamese out of Saigon. The communists were coming and it was gonna be really bad. You can find pictures of people climbing on top of the embassy to get in helicopters to get out of there, there's an aircraft carrier called the USS Midway. The deck of this thing was filled with helicopters evacuating people. I think it was April 29th or 30th of 1975, there is a South Vietnamese major who gets into a little Cessna 01 bird dogs. Basically, like a little Cessna 172, but he doesn't know where to go, so he heads out to sea, and he finally finds the Midway, he flies over it. He waggles his wings, and he tries the radio. Nothing works.                    

I'll just read from history.net. The pilot dropped three paper notes from the plane. They blew over the side before the ship's crew could snatch them. On the next pass, he stuffed a fourth note into his pistol's leather holster to weigh it down. And sailors rushed to grab the little package. After it hit the deck, they read a scribbled message written on a crumpled chart of South Vietnam, and there are some misspellings with this guy's Vietnamese, can you move the helicopter to the other side? I can land on your runway. I can fly for one hour more. We have enough time to move. Please rescue me. Major Wong, wife, and five children, they didn't know about. They thought, let him ditch the plane next to the ship and we'll get him. But he had five children stuffed in this little Cessna. Hank, I gave a talk years ago about my first solo, and I talked about my shoulder touching one end of the plane, my other shoulder touching my flight instructor's shoulder. The mother’s shoulder touching his, they’re crammed in. He's got five kids in there, and a wife, and the wife is holding a newborn, basically. Please rescue me. And Captain Larry Chambers has only been the skipper for four or five weeks. To make room, they literally pushed helicopters off the side of the ship. Why? Because the worth of souls is great.  We've gotta do this. We've gotta rescue them. He's never landed on a carrier. He's got a Cessna that's a tail dragger. Instead of having, they call it tricycle landing gear, where the nose gear is in front of you and like a tricycle, you know, the nose gear and two more. This one is dragging the tail is, that's where the gear is. So, it's a whole different thing. He's trying to land on a carrier. The whole crew runs over, they're cheering, and this major gets out, then his wife holding a baby, followed by these little kids. And Larry Chambers, the skipper thought, I'm going to get court-martialed. Because he had to move helicopters off the deck to make room for these.

Hank Smith: They pushed $50 million helicopters off the side

John Bytheway:  Pushing these Hueys in the water.

But I love the story because Larry Chamber said, I felt my grandma talking to me, my conscience talking to me saying, you're gonna have to live with this decision for years. What are you gonna do? And they rescued that little family because the worth of souls is great. I love that story.

Hank Smith: He might say, I'm gonna lose my commission. I'm gonna lose my job. But it's worth it.

John Bytheway:  What's more important, humans or helicopters?

Hank Smith: What a classic story. The worth of souls is great in the sight of God.             By Hank Smith and John Bytheway 

Debbie still has the cold and coughing.  We had prayer together at 7 am.  She is going to the heart doctor in Provo for an ultrasound test at 10 am.   I have an appointment with Brad Gale, PA in Lehi.  I am going to ask Brad about the robotic heart surgery instead of the open heart surgery for Debbie.  I made the appointment on Monday.  I finished the Azithromycin on Sunday and still had a bad cough.  The vitamin supplement Jeff Nelson sent with Zink 23 mg is helping.  The Airborne I had taken previously has only 1 mg of zinc.  I cranked the Outback and turned the heater on, as well as the Tesla for Debbie to drive today.  I saw Brad, and he gave me the phone number to follow up on a biopsy for a lymph node in my groin.  He said the Vitamin Wellness Formula looked good and gave me a couple. of Breztri aerosphere 160mcg/9mcg/4.8 mcg per inhalation.   I talked to him about Debbie's open-heart surgery vs. robotic surgery.  He said Dr. McCann will be able to better answer that question than he.  I got home, had brunch, and took the vitamins and inhalant.  Debbie got home, and I worked on gathering tax information for Matt McCleary and did some studying.  Clara and her mother, Laura Gourley, came over and helped Debbie with some housekeeping.   After they had gone home, Debbie and I had soup and sandwiches for dinner.  We watched the movie, Heart of Champions, on TV.   Karlene called, and she and Debbie made plans for their Vikings Riverboat Cruise this year.  Later, Debbie and I had prayer and went to bed at 10:30 pm.