Let Me Introduce Myself

By Dr. Daryl “Bones” Jones, Col, USAF (retired)

As we recently celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I remarked to a friend at the amazing progress African Americans have made in just my lifetime. Yet, I also shared that there are still many around today who experienced, or are even now experiencing, real hurt when individuals or organizations failed to live up to our nation’s founding principles that all men (and women!) are created equal in the sight of their Creator.  This is one reason why recognizing observances like Black History Month is important.  In recognizing these types of observances they provide the Lord the opportunity to demonstrate His truth both in us and to those around us.

I can recall a time as a new combat qualified F-15 pilot when the Lord graciously affirmed my value to Him, regardless of this world’s often hurtful judgements.  I couldn’t have been prouder than when my squadron commander selected ME to be his wingman on a special mission.  We were tasked with a “show the flag” operation to a Japanese Air Defense Force (JASDF) base as Japan was preparing to buy its own F-15s. After landing, we taxied in and arranged ourselves for display with four Eagles across the tarmac with our other flight of four.  On the same airfield tarmac, there was another jet parked near ours, an aircraft used to ferry around uniformed VIPs. Then, an event happened that was so memorable that the emotions and feelings are as if I landed at Chitose Air Base yesterday, not over 30 years ago!

Out of this VIP hauler stepped an Air Force two-star general who had shown up for the visit.  He then proceeded to walk up to each F-15, greet and shake the pilot’s hand, and move on to the next. When it was my turn, he came up to my jet, looked me over—even nodded in my direction and seemed disappointed not to find what he was looking for by the jet. On he went to the rest of the F-15s, to greet and shake hands with the pilot, and on to the next.

Needless to say, I was a little perplexed that out of the eight of us, only one pilot didn’t seem to warrant the courtesy of a handshake.  It then dawned on me.  When he came to my jet, he didn’t see a combat rated F-15 pilot, arrayed in all my combat regalia—harness, g-suit, helmet tucked under my arm like I was Maverick himself in Top Gun!  I even had a fully loaded 9mm pistol in full view in my shoulder holster.  No…all he saw was a black face.  So in his mind, a black face by an F-15 could only be a crew chief, not a pilot. So off he went in blissful ignorance, having found what he was looking for, but not seeing it because of whatever bias or lack of awareness was preventing him from seeing me!

I can recall that I went through a host of emotions as fast as a fighter jet in full afterburner.  Perplexed went to awareness went to understanding went to upset went to blinding, career destroying rage. I was that livid.  The Bible teaches us to “walk by the Spirit” at all times (Galatians 5:16), and I’ll be first to admit the Holy Spirit was far from the walk I began. I was determined to “help the general out” and make sure he got to meet ALL the F15 pilots on the ramp.  It wasn’t my Christian maturity nor my desire for a full and long career in the Air Force or anything in me that arrested that rage-fueled stroll.  It was all grace as the Lord allowed my squadron commander to see everything that had transpired and prompted him to come up and intercept me before bad went to worse.  In a friendly, but firm manner, he placed his arm around my angry, tight and shaking shoulder to steer me back from the career ending abyss that I was preparing to jump headlong over and into.

I said, “Sir, I think he wants to meet all the pilots. I’m just going to go on up and…introduce myself.”

“Bones,” he said, “I saw everything. He was wrong, and I’ll make sure he knows it at the right time. But that’s my assignment.”

I’ve shared this story a few times, and one friend asked me, “Bones, what were you going to say to the general?”  I shared that I had no more idea then than I do even today.  But given my state of mind, I don’t think either of us would have come out of that encounter the better for it, that’s for sure.  (Or my career for that matter!)  Now, that’s not to say that the Lord hasn’t used that incident and brought it to my remembrance from time-to-time to remind me of its lesson.

It’s a lesson that Scripture presents to us in Genesis 16 when an Egyptian slave named Hagar, made pregnant by Abraham, was so mistreated by Abraham’s wife, Sarah, that Hagar ran away to the desert. In that desert the Lord revealed His name to her. Scripture records, “She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: ‘You are the God who sees me,’ for she said, ‘I have now seen the One who sees me.’” Genesis 16:13 (NIV).  “El Roi” means “the God who sees me.”  “Ro’iy” in the original Hebrew can be translated as “shepherd, the one looking or carefully watching over his charge.”  The lesson of Hagar reminds us that when we feel most invisible, overlooked, mistreated and forgotten by everyone else, we can remember that God does see us.  God really sees us and is ever ready to come alongside us so that we might find comfort—whether we’re a mistreated slave in the desert, or an overlooked and hurt pilot on a Japanese aircraft ramp.  The Lord is the One who sees us. He witnesses our struggles. He comes alongside us. He is “El Roi,” and He sees us!

As we celebrate Black History Month, we who serve those who wear their nations’ uniform should take this time to reflect on the truth that our God, “El Roi” Himself, is in the divine business of carefully seeing us. And like an attentive shepherd, He carefully watches over us and is ready to comfort us in whatever desert the world’s hurt and disappointment would drive us into.

It is to that careful shepherding work that we at Cru Military remain fully committed to as we have been given the opportunity to both see and serve the global military community! During Black History Month, may we each be reminded that we all have been given the opportunity to come alongside Christ as the Shepherd who sees, seeks and saves the unseen ones. And we get to introduce Him—the One who sees! Have a blessed and impactful Black History Month!