The 2% difference

Dear editor:

My first five years of my 20 years in the U.S. Air Force were spent as a helicopter mechanic. That time was rekindled when I read Jim Davidson’s column “The Slight Edge,” May 24. He pointed out that one should not give up a challenge if 2% of extra effort could mean the difference between failure and success.

During my training at Shephard AFB in Texas, I learned many interesting things about the aircraft I was to work on. Did you know that if the tail rotor blades were blown away in a battle that the helicopter would spin out of control and crash? That might seem like a “duh” statement, but at the time of my training I didn’t know this fact. The helicopters I worked on were used in the Korean War. The H-21 “Workhorse” looked like an olive drab banana with three-bladed rotors on both ends. The H-19 “Shawnee” reminded me of W.C. Fields’ bulbous nose.

Most commercial helicopters today have a three-bladed main rotor and tail rotor perpendicular to the fuselage. I mention this because my lieutenant colonel nephew flew the HH-60 “Pavehawk” in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the tail rotor is slanted 15 degrees to the right (looking toward the front of the helicopter). I asked him what the reason was for the tilt of the tail rotor. He said, “It gives the pilot 2.5% more power. That may not seem like much, but in an emergency situation, it could mean the difference between the success or failure of a mission or the life of a person.”

Years later, after having attended the seminary in Fort Worth and pastoring a few churches, I was led to start a mission on Whittington Avenue. I conducted a survey of the area and I found many people say they already belonged to a fellowship. Some of the doors I knocked on had occupants who cursed me and slammed their doors in my face. Imagine my hurt and frustration as I looked upward and said, “Lord, I’m trying to do the work you sent me to do! I don’t need this kind of rejection!” Then I remembered what Jesus told His disciples before He sent them out as witnesses, “Whosoever will not receive you, or hear your words, when you leave a house or a city, shake the dust off your feet. Truly I say to you, ‘It will be better (in hell) for Sodom and Gomorrah than for that city (or house) on judgment day.” (Matthew 10:14-15).

Jesus also said in Verse 22 that His witnesses will be hated by many people for the sake of His name; but those of His followers who remain “faithful to the end shall be saved.” In other words, when the going gets tough, don’t give up but pray and ask God to help you take that extra effort to lead that lost soul to Jesus (Luke 18:1). Donald Cunningham Hot Springs