AIMING HIGH

You only have to look up into the sky to see an airplane, and perhaps you have traveled by airplane to places that would have taken much longer by any other means of transportation. I can tell what a wonderful experience it is to soar at such heights where birds fly.
For years, man threaded the earth, travelled to places, discovered, and built new things, breaking grounds and setting new records. However, every of these developments came as a result of tiredness of the status quo and a desire to achieve something new, something different, and something unique.

The Bird Inspiration

Spending a great deal of time in studying the lifestyle of birds, how they soared to great heights and descended in grand style triggered a desire in the hearts of two young brothers. They noticed that birds soared into the wind and that the air flowing over the curved surface of their wings created lift. Birds change the shape of their wings to turn and maneuver and the desire to fly in the sky was ignited in the brothers. As frightening as it sounded, they decided to aim high.
However, before the first airplane was invented by the Wright Brothers, inventors made numerous attempts to make like the birds and fly. These early inventions included kites, hot air balloons, airships, gliders, and other devices.

Their background

Orville and Wilbur Wright were born to Bishop Milton Wright and Susan Catherine (Koerner) Wright. Their father was a Bishop in The Church of the United Brethren in Christ. At ages 7 and 11, their father brought them a toy “helicopter." It was based on an invention by French aeronautical pioneer Alphonse Penaud. Made of cork, bamboo, and paper, with a rubber band to twirl its twin blades, it was a little bigger than an adult's hand. They later said this sparked their interest in flight.
Both brothers attended high school, but did not receive diplomas. Orville dropped out of high school after his junior year to start a printing business. Later on, the safety bicycle was invented and the bothers opened a repair and sales shop (the Wright Cycle Exchange, later the Wright Cycle Company) and began manufacturing their own brand.
Orville wrote of his childhood: "We were lucky enough to grow up in an environment where there was always much encouragement to children to pursue intellectual interests; to investigate whatever aroused curiosity.”

The man-made bird

Wilbur and his brother Orville would design a series of gliders which would be flown in both unmanned (as kites) and piloted flights. They read books and worked hard. They gained the mechanical skills essential for their success by working for years in their shop with printing presses, bicycles, motors, and other machinery. Their work with bicycles in particular influenced their belief that an unstable vehicle like a flying machine could be controlled and balanced with practice. They recognized that control of the flying aircraft would be the most crucial and hardest riddle to solve. They used the fund generated in their bicycle endeavor to fund their growing interest in flight.
The vision of a vehicle that could fly like a bird was first conceived by Wilbur who later told his brother of his new vision and he was amazed at how wonderful the idea was so both of them decided it was time to aim high into the sky.
Orville and Wilbur launched into years of extensive researching; they had their exciting moments, and times when it seems like they would fail, and times when they failed. After years of hardwork, they were able to build a bird that could carry man up into the air and take him to his desired destination in shorter time than any other means of transportation.
The Wright brothers decided, upon being tired of the low grounds, to aim high and this day, man can now fly up in the air and even get to his destination faster that it had been before they aimed for the skies.

Have you been on the ground for too long? It is time to aim high. When basketballers want to score a goal, they aim the basket, jump and then throw the ball. They miss the net at times but they get better when they keep trying. They discover new ways to throw the ball and score a point. When you aim high, you can only begin to go high. Paul Harvey said, “You can always tell when you are on the road to success; it is uphill all the way.” The road to success is up and that is why you need to aim high.

Perhaps you think your current situation or the background you are from is a limitation. You can rise beyond any limitation. Someone said, “The good thing about mountains (obstacles and limitations) is that they cannot grow bigger but you can!”
Get ready, think BIG, grow STRONG in spirit, in intellect and in knowledge, the knowledge of God and His Word, break grounds, deal with limitations, go the extra mile, set new records. Reach for the skies and you'll be surprised at how much you can achieve, only if you AIM HIGH!

I’ll see you at the top because  I’m already headed there! **Wink**