Sergey Sotnikov was the manager and only remaining employee of a 32-year old airport in a small town in Russia called Izhma, located north-east of Moscow. The airport and its runway had been closed for more than a decade and only helicopters landed there, but Sotnikov decided he would continue maintaining the runway on his own initiative. He would regularly sweep the tarmac, remove debris, clear fallen logs and branches and even trim the tree line running parallel to the runway. When the runway markings had faded, he decided to re-paint the runway markings, on 1300 metres of tarmac, all on his own effort and at his own expense. He faithfully carried out his insignificant duty not knowing its significance, until the 7th of September in 2010.
Hundreds of miles, east of the forgotten airport, a plane heading for Moscow takes off, but experiences electrical failure few hours later in mid-air. The pilots of the flight TU-154 decided they would decrease the plane’s altitude in order to search for a suitable place to emergency crash-land. Lo and behold, the pilots spotted the airstrip in Izhma clearly and took their chances to attempt a landing. Owing to the fact that Sotnikov had repainted the markings and kept the tarmac in good condition over the years, the pilots could easily navigate and plan their landing. Despite the runway being short for a commercial jet, the plane successfully performed its emergency landing and did so without any casualties nor even minor injury to any of the passengers.
The Bible focuses around key individuals who did great and heroic acts for God but, the Bible also accounts the insignificant duties of individuals, who are less known but, nevertheless, faithful in their duties and calling.
There were men like Jabez, Josiah, Mordecai, Jethro, and other characters whose life was obscure and we know little of, yet used by God. The collective lesson from the lives of these men is this: that they were that they were faithful in discharging their duties.
Jesus exhorts us with His parable of the talents. Investing into your child’s life, is just like investing the talent God has given. It is like what Proverbs 22:6 says about “training up a child” (now) and “when he is old” (much later), “he will not depart… from the way that he should go”.
You may be an ordinary father, going through the repetitive motions of life and now with the challenges of the world; wondering how you are going to impact the lives of these children, working tirelessly to support and build them. The story of Sotnikov reminds us to faithfully keep to our duties which God has appointed us to. For Sotnikov, it was to keep his runway tidy and ready, for us it is showing our children the goodness of God and never giving up.
“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” Galatians 6:9-10 ESV
One day your children will shine and proudly show off the fruit of your labour and others will be blessed by it. Investing that will yield great return takes consistency and faithfulness, and that is invaluable because one day, your talent will multiply, and you will hear the Father’s words to you, “well done, good and faithful servant”… and that is significant. And like Sotnikov, your years of duty may pay off in only a matter of minutes, but it will be a memory for a lifetime and have an effect into eternity.
“One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much…” Luke 16:10 ESV
Prayer for fathers: “Lord, help me do great things as though they were little, since I do them with your powers and help me to do little things as though they were great, because I do them in Your Name” ~ Blaise Pascal
Blessed Father’s Day!
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