I am better.  Not able to get outside to the garden, but better.

I have taken off and landed in dozens and dozens of airports--both here and overseas.  But the two that send chills up my spine are John Wayne in Orange County, and Billings, Montana.

John Wayne lost the fight--to keep normal take off and landing procedures--to a retirement community at the end of the runway that objected to the noise.  (The airport was there first--years before.)  As a result, when you land, you literally drop out of the sky onto the runway.  Your tummy feels horrible.  And when you take off, it is straight up.  Like a navy jet.  Gravity pulls you back into the seat with great force.  The noise on the ground is less, but the discomfort in the plane is great.

Billings Montana lies in a valley that was carved by a glacier (I was told) and the airport is on a mountain--actually a flat-top-looking-mountain-mesa kind of thing--that lies to the East of the valley.  It is short.  It is narrow. You land on the South edge of the runway and come to a stop at the end of the runway on the North end.  Just enough feet to make it if you have good brakes.  If you over shoot, you are going to drop into the valley at the end of the runway.  Straight down.

I've been into both of them many, many times and I will never get used to it.  They are high on my fear list.  But my daughter lived in Billings for a few years, and one of my best friends lived in Santa Ana.  So I turned the fear over to God, held my breath, and got on the plane knowing what was in store.  What are you going to do?   You can't stop living because of fear or you will miss what's at the other end.

Proverbs 29:25 The fear of man brings a snare; but whosoever, puts his trust in the Lord shall be safe."  The snare is that fear keeps you from doing the things you want, or need, to do.