--- id: ff31_land_yourself_seek_gods_face title: FLYINGFREE - Land Yourself and Seek God's Face category: Biblical Life Counsel predicted_narrative_arc: high-flight-to-safe-landing-change sentiment: Pastoral emotions: - Convictional - Hopeful - Steady keypoints: - Magee strained toward new things and freely flying toward the Lord - Landing is every pilot’s ultimate goal even when the poem omits it - Practice landings build confidence for safe return - Study the words; analyze options; decide how to land yourself safely - Crisis can be opportunity for change — fly free of failure and seek God’s face summary: > Dean applies High Flight: strain toward the Lord, practice the landing, analyze and touch down safely; full-book close — crisis as change, seek the face of God toward new opportunity. tags: - flying-free - chapter-31 - landing - high-flight - gods-face - crisis - opportunity - dean-rush - book-excerpt - analyze sycophancy: 0 truth_score: 9 entropy: 2 sample: false consent: owner_approved agent: flyingfree created: '2010-01-01' updated: '2026-09-09T00:00:00Z' vault_stage: 07_CODEX headwaters: FLYINGFREE prefix: FLYINGFREE enrich_status: ok enrich_blockers: [] enrich_method: manual pipeline_filename: FLYINGFREE_31_land-yourself-seek-gods-face.md source_kind: book_excerpt proposed_topic: FlyingFree lane: FlyingFree voice: desk active_voice: desk voices: - desk routing_source: carbon corpus_topic: FlyingFree content_status: active date: '2010-01-01' share_url: https://deanrush.net/downloads/flyingfreebook.md source_url: https://deanrush.net/downloads/flyingfreebook.md site_category: Flying Free book_title: Flying Free book_chapter: 31 book_chapter_title: Maximize Your Range – Convert Attitude to Altitude! source_file: flyingfree/flying-free-31-maximize-your-range.md description: > Chapter 31 close — apply High Flight; practice landings; land yourself safely; crisis as change; fly free of failure and seek God’s face. --- # Land Yourself and Seek God's Face **Author:** Dean Rush **Book:** *Flying Free* · **Chapter 31:** Maximize Your Range – Convert Attitude to Altitude! **Full book:** [deanrush.net/downloads/flyingfreebook.md](https://deanrush.net/downloads/flyingfreebook.md) ## Context for the Reader After the poem, Dean refuses to leave the reader only in the delirious blue. Pilots practice landings; Magee’s height still aimed at the Lord; you must analyze options and land *yourself* safely. The full book adds the last beat the chapter file omitted: crisis as opportunity for change — fly free of failure and seek God’s face toward new opportunities. This is the final content-chapter close of *Flying Free*’s main arc before later add-on material. > Voice note: Everything under **Dean's excerpt** is Dean's original prose (lightly cleaned only). Sections marked **Biblical foundations**, **Scholar sidebar**, **Takeaways**, and **First-time learner** are enrichment for Asker / first readers — not Dean speaking. --- ## Biblical foundations (preface) Soaring faith still finishes in obedient landing — examine yourself, walk wisely, seek God’s face, and treat even failure as ground God can remake. | Dean's claim | Scriptural undercarriage | | --- | --- | | Strain forward toward the Lord | Press on (Philippians 3:13–14); seek first the kingdom (Matthew 6:33) | | Landing is the pilot’s ultimate goal | Finish the race (2 Timothy 4:7); count the cost; complete (Luke 14:28–30) | | Practice landings for confidence | Train yourself (1 Timothy 4:7–8); prepare minds for action (1 Peter 1:13) | | Analyze options; land yourself safely | Examine yourselves (2 Corinthians 13:5); prudent gives thought to steps (Proverbs 14:15) | | Live the words even in danger | Be doers (James 1:22); courageous and still (Joshua 1:9) | | Crisis as change; seek God’s face; new opportunity | Seek His face (Psalm 27:8); beauty for ashes (Isaiah 61:3); fly free / new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17) | --- ## Dean's excerpt ### Height still lands — seek His face 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. When we become truly objective with ourselves, it is possible to realize that the time of crisis is an opportunity for change. Fly free of your failure and seek the face of God to lead you to great new opportunities. > **Scholar sidebar — Touchdown after touch** > Dean will not let “touched the face of God” float without a landing (2 Timothy 4:7; Proverbs 14:15). Practice, analysis, and a decision about *you* as the aircraft close the book’s range chapter. The full-book final sentence joins objectivity, crisis-as-change, freedom from failure, and seeking God’s face (Psalm 27:8; Isaiah 61:3; 2 Corinthians 5:17) — the attitude-to-altitude conversion completed in worship and forward opportunity. --- ## Takeaways 1. **Magee aimed at the Lord.** New experience served free flight toward God. 2. **Landing is still the goal.** Poem height does not cancel touchdown. 3. **Practice builds safe return.** Confidence is trained. 4. **Study — analyze — decide the landing.** You are the plane. 5. **Crisis can open change.** Fly free of failure; seek God’s face toward new opportunity. --- ## First-time learner ### What is Dean saying in one sentence? Live Magee’s height by practicing how you land: analyze options, touch down safely, treat crisis as change, fly free of failure, and seek God’s face for new opportunities. ### Why end the content arc here? Because maximized range without a landing is only cruise — Dean’s whole book drives toward safe recovery on firm ground under God. ### Key verses to read with this lesson - **Psalm 27:8** — Seek my face. - **Philippians 3:13–14** — Press on toward the goal. - **2 Corinthians 13:5** — Examine yourselves. - **Proverbs 14:15** — Prudent thought to steps. - **2 Corinthians 5:17** — New creation; old gone. - **Isaiah 61:3** — Beauty for ashes; praise for heaviness. - **2 Timothy 4:7** — Finished the race. ### A simple practice On one page: (1) where you are “high” in insight already, (2) three landing options, (3) the safe touchdown you choose this week, (4) a one-sentence seek-His-face prayer about failure you will leave behind. ### How this feeds Ask Dean Seed material for: *How does Dean apply High Flight? What must a pilot practice? What is the last line about crisis and God’s face?* Keep land-yourself plus seek-His-face primary as the chapter close.