--- id: flying-free-31-maximize-your-range title: Chapter 31 – Maximize Your Range category: faith-journey predicted_narrative_arc: crisis-to-redemption sentiment: uplifting emotions: - hope - faith - relief - inspiration keypoints: - Altitude converts to gliding distance and perspective, just as attitude converts to options in crisis - Positive attitude expands clear thinking, widens solutions, and builds endurance - God supplies value when earthly alternatives are exhausted; asking Him is the key step - Author’s shift from control to surrender brought emancipation and new goals - Magee’s poem illustrates reaching high and touching the face of God as the ultimate aim summary: The chapter uses aviation altitude as a metaphor for how a positive attitude and faith provide perspective, endurance, and options during life's crises. The author recounts shifting from a Type A need for control to trusting Jesus for forgiveness and burden-bearing after exhausting earthly options. It closes with the full text of Magee’s “High Flight” poem and the call to press toward God’s high calling while preparing for a safe landing. tags: - faith - testing - conviction - aviation-metaphor - positive-attitude - faith-in-crisis - high-flight-poem - surrender-control - personal-testimony - faith-journey - crisis-to-growth sycophancy: 1 truth_score: 8 entropy: 4 updated: '2026-09-08T20:49:29Z' vault_stage: 07_CODEX headwaters: COMPA prefix: COMPA enrich_status: ok enrich_blockers: [] enrich_method: llm pipeline_filename: COMPA_2026-09-08_chapter-31-maximize-your-range.md proposed_topic: Formation lane: Formation description: Altitude can be converted to gliding distance. Attitude can be converted to endurance. Dean shows how a positive attitude powered by faith gives you the range to reach a safe landing. routing_source: carbon corpus_topic: Formation --- # Chapter 31 ## Maximize Your Range – Convert Attitude to Altitude! **Full book:** https://deanrush.net/downloads/flyingfreebook.md --- ### Context for the Reader This chapter ties the aviation metaphor together beautifully: just as altitude gives a pilot options when the engine fails, a positive attitude grounded in faith gives a person options when life fails. The poem “High Flight” by John Gillespie Magee, Jr. is one of the most moving passages in the book. --- One of the greatest assets to a pilot is altitude because it can be converted to gliding distance in case of engine loss. Altitude provides the greatest view of the terrain below, and it provides for the greatest efficiency for engine operation so you can fly longer distances. When we go through a crisis our attitude can provide the same advantages to us as altitude provides to a pilot. A positive attitude can allow you to expand your ability to think clearly in crisis, look at a wider perspective for solutions, and think more confidently about resolutions that are meaningful. You gain endurance with a positive attitude. People who use a setback in life as an opportunity to learn from the event often begin to reach new goals. Sometimes seemingly cataclysmic events can, in fact, become one of the great opportunities for growth and positive change. Again, maintaining control, analyzing your position, and reacting to it in a positive manner allow you to choose a proper direction for landing. It is important to prepare yourself to make that safe landing by determining your position and stretching toward the goal. Your ability to land safely from a problem depends to a great degree on your attitude, your altitude (are you staying above the fray and looking around?), and, most of all, your faith. The secret to finding a solution and flying free of the past is often to obtain valid information from a reliable source. It means asking someone who knows you best and will help you develop a positive attitude. In the case of a crisis, the Lord is at the top of the list of those who care and know you best. Like the good customers in failing corporations, God will supply value to lives that have exhausted the earthly alternatives. God is there and more than willing to help. It is necessary only to ask Him to help. As a pilot the easiest method of obtaining altitude is to add power and climb. The most efficient method of developing a positive attitude is similar. You power through the problem and climb to a new perspective. Take a look at the great things in life that brought you to your present position. Use the information God has provided you to get to this point in life in a positive way. Convert attitude to altitude. I quickly learned when I had used up my earthly alternatives that God was available, was responsive, and was helpful. As a strong Type A personality it took me longer than most to understand that I was not in charge, but it was absolutely emancipating when I realized that I did not have to carry the burden of my mistakes. Jesus gave His life to take on all my burdens and all I had to do was accept His forgiveness for my misdirection. He accepted my business mistakes (I had to take responsibility and help correct the problems) and He also accepted my personal deficiencies. When I finally began trusting that Jesus provided the forgiveness for me for past mistakes and took on my personal burdens it was a brand new world. My perspective changed for the positive and my attitude about the future followed the same track. I could begin looking for new goals and direction in life to find a positive solution to problems. I had to say, “God, I believe you.” Don’t be afraid to fly free and live a life that you know God wants you to enjoy. One of the most pertinent verses in the Bible is Paul’s directive to the Philippians to “press towards the goal….” Paul told the Philippians in 1:15 (NIV), “I press toward the mark of the high calling of Christ.” Paul was not limiting his vision to his own calling but looking even higher. He was fixing his gaze on an objective set by Christ. One of my favorite poems was written by an American pilot who was flying for the Canadian RAF in World War II. John Gillespie Magee, Jr. wrote these words and sent them home in a letter to his parents in the United States. Unfortunately, Magee died in a fatal crash a few months after the words were penned. The poem was read at his funeral but it says a lot about how he looked at life and the greatness of knowing God. Pilot Officer Magee wrote these words in 1941. **High Flight** 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 ever eagle flew— And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod The high un-trespassed sanctity of space, Put out my hand, and touched the face of God. John Gillespie Magee, Jr. was straining forward to experience new things in his life with the ultimate goal of freely flying toward the Lord he knew. He never mentions landing in this poem but it had to be on his mind because that is the ultimate goal of any pilot. A pilot practices his landings over and over again to perfect the touchdown and gain confidence in safely getting back to earth. Magee was brilliantly describing the ultimate feeling of the experience in flying and that was to reach as high as possible and gain the most perspective as a pilot. John Magee referred to the experience as “touched the face of God.” His beautiful words have lived on far beyond his tenure on earth because he wanted to express his feelings about flying free. His poem depicts that element of our being that says we want to reach new heights and new adventures, even in the face of danger. Study his words and decide how you, too, can live them. As you are flying through life, analyze yourself and your options, and then decide how you are going to land your plane—you—safely. --- **Next chapter:** Fine Tuning the Touchdown **Full book:** https://deanrush.net/downloads/flyingfreebook.md