--- id: 20260825_flying_free_section_one title: COUNCIL - Flying Free - Section One - Read by Dean Rush category: Wisdom predicted_narrative_arc: free-fall-to-new-flight-plan sentiment: Pastoral emotions: - Empathetic - Steady - Hopeful keypoints: - Section One opens with Luke 12:56–57 and the call to interpret the present time - Personal tragedies can become unforeseen opportunities when a new flight plan is formed - The eaglet leaving the nest illustrates free fall, recovery, and eventual independent flight - Dean’s midlife cancer and move from Texas to Michigan reframed chaos as purpose - Goal of Flying Free is to help readers fly free of problems toward God’s purpose for their lives summary: Dean Rush reads Section One of Flying Free — Analyze the Situation / Steady as You Go, Unseen Opportunities. Using eagle and aviation imagery, he shows how crisis can feel like a free fall, yet become the push out of the nest that prepares a person for a new flight plan and God’s purpose. tags: - flying-free - dean-rush - section-one - crisis - eagle-metaphor - flight-plan - audiobook-reading sycophancy: 0 truth_score: 9 entropy: 3 sample: false consent: owner_approved agent: council created: '2026-08-25T17:38:04Z' updated: '2026-08-25T18:00:00Z' vault_stage: 07_CODEX headwaters: COUNCIL prefix: COUNCIL enrich_status: ok enrich_blockers: [] enrich_method: manual pipeline_filename: COUNCIL_2026-08-25_flying-free-section-one-read-by-dean.md source_kind: voice_transcript proposed_topic: Wisdom lane: Wisdom voice: desk active_voice: desk voices: - desk corpus_topic: Wisdom content_status: active date: '2026-08-25' source_wav: 275c6479-4aed-482a-a00c-34190e35cba4.wav --- # Flying Free — Section One — Read by Dean Rush Source audio: `media/275c6479-4aed-482a-a00c-34190e35cba4.wav` Transcribed: 2026-08-25 ## Transcript Section one, analyze the situation. Luke 12, 56 through 57 says, "Hypocrites, you know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it you don't know how to interpret this present time? Why don't you judge for yourselves what is right?" Chapter one, steady as you go, unseen opportunities. Personal tragedies such as the untimely death of a loved one, an unimagined diagnosis, or the unpredicted loss of a job can put our lives out of control. Instead of leading to devastation, however, these challenges can often lead to unforeseen opportunities and result in a path to achieving long-sought dreams. My intent in writing this book is to relay some of those lessons I learned as I traveled life's highway. Hopefully, the book will help you avoid some of the turmoil during the times you're in a free fall and subsequently assist you to fly free from your problems. We all find personal methods of recovering from crisis, but a crisis can also be a great opportunity for finding a new future. The student pilot learns many necessary actions and principles to safely operate a plane during preparation to become a qualified aviator. In addition to learning the basics of fair weather flight, a pilot learns how to manage an aircraft in emergency situations. Flight is best illustrated by the emperors of the air, the eagle. If you're enthralled with the freedom of flight as I am, one of the most majestic sights in the world is to see a mature eagle drop off its nest high on a cliff or at the top of a tree. The eagle stands on the edge of the nest, stretches those majestic wings six to seven feet, and then lifts above the surrounding tree and flies off on its mission. Baby eagles, eaglets, are quite a different story as they spend their first days of life out of the egg waiting to be fed. They soon begin bobbing around the confines of the nest searching for a way to fly free and become independent. Eagles seem to be constantly searching for freedom as they grow and mature. They're very interesting animals because they're mobile, they're bold, and they are monogamous. They partner for life. They protect their habitat in every possible manner and vigorously protect their young. Not too different from us as humans in many ways. If you watch the nest as the young eaglets hatch, you would see them begin jumping up and down in the nest within a month of hatching. They begin standing at the edge of their nest as if to say, "I'm ready for the world." As soon as they can walk, they are obviously not ready for what awaits them in the world below. Their parents watch closely as the young birds begin to flex their wings and stretch to leave the confines of the nest. At about three months of age, the eaglets have achieved the full growth of their wings, but the wings are more down filled than feathered. So flying would be tough without the full airfoil development in the wing. When the birds do leave this stage of maturity, some unexpected actions occur. If the young eagle leaves prematurely, there's a moment when the bird falls free of the nest and appears totally out of control while it tumbles through the air, falling toward the earth. Amazingly, this is not the end of the story, because in nearly all observed cases where the birds prematurely fall from the nest, they do recover and almost always return to the nest. If you continue watching the eagles as it falls, an amazing phenomenon takes place. The bird tentatively opens its wings and rights itself. Then it fully spreads its magnificent wings to fly. It works diligently to get back to the nest. As we watch, we begin to perceive the eagle will be able to achieve its objective and fly under its own strength. However, the young eagle doesn't go far, as some instinct bids them to return to the nest, where parents again take over until the feathers are fully formed and the hunting training begins. The crisis turns into a learning experience and a strengthening incident in the life of the young bird. The eagles somehow grow stronger during the remaining period of time. Now the young eagle is completely free of all encumbrances that bind it to the earth. There is a tide of the nest that restricts the bird to its immediate surroundings. The nest holds some security, but it also restricts the eagle's ability to search for food, drink from a clear stream and a glide on a stream of air that can carry it to new adventures and even a new life. When that bird leaves the nest, it is free to fly and survey the world. It will have learned the necessary lessons through experience to deal with the world and the problems it will encounter. Like the young eagle, I have encountered learning experiences when I least expected them. When crisis strikes your life and some cataclysmic events upset your security, the first reaction is often to ask, "Why me?" You may feel like the out-of-control eagle for a time, and it would feel much better back in the nest with the security that you felt before the crisis appeared that upset your life. Throughout my life, I have often remembered being in a comfort zone where everything was rocking along, enjoying the good life. Suddenly things changed, and from no worries to crisis mode without warning, some completely unexpected event turned the world upside down. In midlife, my surprise came from ancient orange cancer that had remained dormant for years after I returned from combat. For others, it may have come in the form of death to a loved one, a devastating accident or a financial loss. Whatever the event, everything requires a change of direction. A new flight plan must be organized. Why does tragedy strike when we least expect it? Why did that crisis happen to me? Did I do something wrong? Suddenly everything I had known that was a source of security became insecure. What seemed to be stable is now a cause for constant self-doubt. Everything you have known as normal seems to disappear. Nothing in the world seems normal. Have you been in that situation? The more pertinent question is, are you there right now? What is happening to me? What now? Most of the tragedies that happened to me began to take on the aspects of terror just as they did to the young eagle. I felt the need, a need to regain control and figure out how to maintain control so that life could go forward. Don't you imagine the first time that young eagle left the nest that he was terrified? Eagles, like humans, sometimes teach their children to fly by actually kicking them out of the nest and requiring them to fend for themselves as they develop the art of flight. The eagle spends the first three to four months of life being taken care of in the nest. Mom and dad take turns flying to the area surrounding the nest to capture fish and fowl to feed the young babies. The parents each spend hours foraging for food, returning to the nest with the provisions to strengthen the young birds so that when the time is right, their eaglets are ready to fly on their own. If the young eaglets never flex their wings, and if they remain in the nest, they will never achieve independence. They must try new experiences, sometimes fail in their efforts to achieve. Eagles are majestic birds, but can only realize the potential when they leave the nest and begin to fly on their own. God gives each of us that same ability to grow and fly on our own, and He expects us to exercise that gift. We may fall away from the nest, but He does provide a means of learning and growth from the adventure. If we learn from His teaching, we have a choice. We can gain knowledge through the voyage or we can continue to hide in the nest. God sometimes may even give us a push to get us out into the purpose He has for each of us in life. Without that extra push, it's difficult to get on with life. My family had achieved that push when I was afflicted by cancer and had to accept a job and relocate to Michigan from our Texas home. I began to realize as we were driving northward that I was very much like the eagle. What had seemed so chaotic was now proving to be an opportunity. We all enjoy the security of the nest, but we never get too far away in life if we remain in and around the confines of our home or a vocation that is not where God wants us. I believe God sometimes provides those extraordinary experiences in life for us so that we may prepare for our real purpose. Sometimes our lives are incentivized, and like the mama eagle pushing her eaglet, we're nudged to get out of the nest. We may find ourselves in turmoil. Life is always more tranquil when we're not being pushed out of our comfort zone or in upheaval. Be prepared to take advantage of the turmoil because the change can either set you free or imprison you. The end result is up to you. The primary objective as you engage the problem is to maintain control so that you can get to a satisfactory conclusion. The prediction that we will all encounter some turmoil comes from my personal experience. The problems that arise won't necessarily be a reflection on you personally. Challenges are a normal part of our existence because we're human beings alive on the earth. This book is about how to handle those free falls or tumbles when they occur. I did not possess a degree in psychotherapy, but could probably qualify for a doctorate in counseling if doctorates were awarded. I've been fortunate enough to have lived through more than six decades and had an extraordinarily exciting life. The ultimate goal is to find a way of flying free of the problems so that we may achieve the goal God has for our life.