In Jesus Name...Airborne

When we are making a tactical jump there are a series of commands that are given during every operation. They are intended to make sure that everyone is doing what they need to be doing and is as ready to jump as they can possibly be. Jumpers are commanded to stand up in the aircraft, they are then told to hook up their static lines (the "rope" that will actually deploy the parachute) to a cable inside the aircraft so that when they jump their parachutes will properly deploy. They are told to check their static lines and the one of the jumper in front of them. They are told to check their equipment to make sure that everything is right and ready to jump and then told to pass an OK forward from the back of the line of jumpers to the front. When the jumper at the front of the stick (line of paratroopers) receives word that everyone has checked their equipment and they are OK he says "all OK Jump Master" letting the jump master know that the entire stick of paratroopers is ready to exit the aircraft.

At that point the Jump Master stands at the open door of the aircraft and spots points on the ground that give their relative location to the drop zone and lets the jumpers know when they are approximately 1 minute and then thirty seconds from the drop zone. The next to the last command that a Jump Master will give before the jumpers exit the aircraft is "STAND BY!!" This indicates to the jumpers that they are only a few seconds from jumping.

In much of the world, "stand by" means to wait until something happens, it often means that someone is one the phone and they are putting you on semi-terminal hold. In the Airborne world it means that you need to be up on the balls of you feet, intensely aware of everything going on around you ready to move at the next command. The next command is going to be GO and you are going to jump from an aircraft in flight, it is doing somewhere near 150 miles per hour and life is going to get very exciting.

Jesus is recorded in the book of Matthew as saying "the exact day and hour? No one knows, not even heaven's angels, not even the Son. Only the Father knows. . . . So stay wake, stay alert (STAND BY!!!) you have no idea what day your master will show up."

Jesus says that there are many things that happen leading up to His return but he says we need to be ready and waiting, up on the balls of our feet, leaning forward ready for something very exciting to happen!