Do You Have the “Wright Stuff”?

Before the Wright brothers built their first airplane, they opened a bicycle sales and repair shop called, “The Wright Cycle Exchange.” On December 17, 1903, on a cold frosty and windy morning at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville Wright climbed into their unwieldy-looking contraption. Wilbur cranked up the new Wright engine, and it happened—the first man to fly through the air powered by an engine!

That history-making first flight was just 120 feet, only lasted a mere 12 seconds, and the aircraft only traveled through the air at the top speed of 6.8 miles per hour. There were only a few witnesses standing by, but it was a dream come true for the Wright brothers. They achieved something historic. Their perseverance to achieve led them to success.

Jesus said that he who endures to the end shall be saved. Becoming a part of God’s coming kingdom depends on having the “right stuff.”

What qualities are required to achieve success?

If the Wright brothers had not endured to finish their dream of flight, someone else would have surely done it. What they built by today’s standards of air travel was akin to constructing a kite with a motor on it. It was a small step in aeronautics, but the Bible says not to despise small beginnings (Zechariah 4:10). Their accomplishment was much greater than they could even imagine.

The modern marvels of air travel with commercial air craft, such as the Concorde in March 2, 1969, which flew faster than the speed of sound, came about because of the humble beginnings of that first flight achieved by Wilbur and Orville Wright. The Concorde commercial airliner, when it was operational, achieved a maximum air speed of Mach 2.04 and had a cruise speed of 1,354 mph.

Several companies are developing hypersonic commercial aircraft today. These include an Atlanta-based startup, Hermeus, and others—Stratolaunch, Hypersonix and Venus Aerospace. The goal is to create planes that can carry passengers at speeds above Mach 5, or 3,710 mph, which is five times the speed of sound. At that speed you could fly to London from New York in just one hour.

To a large extent the Wright brothers inspired further discoveries by other inventors, like Robert Goddard, who constructed and successfully tested the first rocket using liquid fuel. The flight of Goddard’s rocket on March 16, 1926, at Auburn, Massachusetts, was as significant to history as that of the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk.

From the development of rocketry, sprang the space program and eventually sending man into space. Becoming an astronaut during the early days of John Glenn and the Mercury Seven was challenging and required resilience and determination. Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, paved the way for other astronauts and played a significant role in space exploration—including putting men on the moon.

Wikipedia states: “The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military.”

A number of nations such as Russia, China and India have been developing hypersonic missiles. DARPA has achieved speeds between Mach 17 and Mach 22 with the Falcon HTV-2, an unmanned, rocket-launched, maneuverable aircraft that glides through the Earth's atmosphere at incredibly fast speeds.

Consider this, the Wright brothers, Goddard and many others, including the Mercury 7 astronauts, had to have right character traits to help push them to achieve their goals. They had the “right stuff” in character which propelled them to achieve great things. They set a goal, and then they had the right understanding to educate and prepare themselves for it. The Wright brothers fixed their eyes on the goal of flight, and each day they drove themselves to that goal.

They had to be resourceful, because they wanted to do something no one had done. They had to build a light weight engine to make it fly (no one else made it). They had to persevere and not allow themselves to become discouraged when they failed.

Do you see your calling?

God has given those He calls an incredible calling! The ramifications of it far exceed what anyone can imagine. It is way bigger that our imaginations can muster! Paul, the apostle, wrote: “But as it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him’” (1 Corinthians 2:9).

This tells us we need to set our sights a little higher and make sure we are grasping the greatness of what God is giving us! We need the “righteous stuff,” the good character to achieve this greatest goal ever. We must aim higher and truly grasp the greatness of what God is offering us!

To achieve the ultimate goal we must develop the right character—righteous, enduring and steadfast character. Success requires key principles: 1) Fixing on the right goal, 2) Preparing through education, 3) Maintaining good health, 4) Cultivating drive and energy, 5) Being resourceful, and 6) Persevering through challenges. However, the most critical principle for those seeking to endure and have spiritual success is the seventh: 7) Maintaining a strong and constant connection with God, which is essential for true spiritual success.

We need the assurance of His strength and the power of the Holy Spirit so we can endure any obstacle or trial that comes our way and attain the Kingdom of God. We cannot do it on our own, and we can be sure our heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ love us and they want to help us succeed!

Wilbur and Orville Wright had the “right stuff” to achieve flight. God has given us the right tools, the perfect goal, and the support of His Spirit to achieve a much greater feat than physical flight ever could be—His gift of spiritual flight and promise of eternal life as a part of His family!