Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Matt French's Fini Flight!

This is a great brother of ours who we will deeply miss; Matt French. Matt is a F-15 pilot for the 67th Fighter Squadron, the Fighting Cocks. Matt and his family have been in fellowship with us for the last three years and will be moving back to the states this week. Matt was my right hand man on Sunday mornings with the Ushering crew. Although he's one of the best F-15 pilots around, you'd never here that come from him. He serves with humility and desires to honor the Lord. He faithfully served in a lot of the behind-the-scene dirty jobs and I desire for the Lord to bring him back soon to Okinawa. With the limited number of Air Force bases that fly F-15's, there's a good chance he might be back some day.
Matt invited us out to the flight line to be a part of what they call a "fini" flight. A "fini" flight is the last flight a pilot does before he PCS's (moves). The tradition is to meet him at the hangar and hose him down with water as well as spray him down with some champagne. This is the boys with Matt pulling in right behind them. They're trying their best to bottle up their excitment, ha ha ha. Actually it was really loud and Jonah didn't like the noise level.
Here's the whole family with Matt. Matt is holding the empty bottle he was sprayed down with. Normally the pilots family comes down to the flight line, but Matt's wife and three kids are all ready in the states, so Matt asked if we could attend instead. We were honored.
Here's Matt, Jonah, and myself. We will miss Matt and look forward to hearing of the goodness of the Lord in his life. Please pray for his whole family as they transition to life in the states.

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