Finally, Thunder over Louisville, of which we have heard so much, is upon us., It 
announced itself this morning with a deafening roar as a jet screamed overhead practicing the manoeuvres for tomorrow. Dips, rolls, dives, flying low over the river. This is as sought after in this area as sighting the first Robin in northern New York. A sure sign of Spring in the Ohio Valley.
Later while out walking we saw the slower (and more easily photographed) biplanes were out doing acrobatics. As we talked with a fellow Jeffersonvilleian involved in shelter ministry a jet flew over the noise blotting out the conversation. She looked at us and said “I think about those we serve who were in the armed services. This sound makes many of them hide or triggers memories, or PTSD episodes.”
It brought to me a second reality. My first had been that these flying machines are 
here for acrobatics and the entertainment of huge crowds tomorrow. It is an economic boost for the area and a lot of fun for people to watch. But these same machines in different circumstances, have, and can still rain destruction, death, and great fear on our fellow human beings. They can also be used for the destruction of human life.
Like so many skills, gifts, and abilities that human beings exhibit it can be used for good or for ill. And it is our choice how we wish to use the powers we have and for what purpose. An airplane is neither good nor evil, humanitarian or destructive, but its use can be either. People can be either as well and the difference is in the choices we make and the intentions we have for our life. Like the Garden of Eden; like Moses talking to the people about to enter the promised land; like the preaching of the prophets; like Jesus and Paul instructing their disciples the message is the same – what we choose matters. In matters of living in community again and again it comes down to the importance what and how we choose.
Don+
