We named our plane “Wings on the Wind” Psalm 104: 3-4
Scott Wolfe saved my life! Scott was our “missionary pilot”. In the jungles of the Darien, near the Colombian border, is a Kuna village on the river Pucuro. In 1974, my husband Ralph Johnson and I, with our two young daughters, were living among these people when every man, woman and child was besieged with a severe epidemic. Our partners were on furlough and our small clinic was open day and night to meet the demands for anti-biotics’, etc. I was the last one to contract the fever. The symptoms were acute and my immune system was already compromised from exposure and lack of sleep. As my temperature rose and hit 106 degrees, we called for help on our daily 12:30 “check-in contact” on our two-way radio, with Mary and Scottie.
A huge storm had rolled in and the skies were black with fierce wind and rain. We knew that it was humanly impossible for a plane to land on our “band aide” air strip that would require Scott to swoop down in the dark and land on the steep 20’ bank over the river and stop before colliding with the massively 100’ tall wall of giant trees at the other end…that is, if the tiny strip could even be spotted in the vast jungle and its dense canopy!
Scott and Mary listened as we shared our concerns and I heard my husband say, “There is no visibility, Scott and the “wind-sock” is wildly blowing out of control. There is no access to us…” To which we heard Scottie reply…” I’m on my way!!” Shocked, we strongly encouraged against his attempting to get to us…but…he was already gone!
Within an hour and a half, we heard, over the intermittent lightning and thunder, the roar of “Wings on the Wind”! That plane, with that brave missionary pilot, had made it to our remote station and as the sound grew louder, we prayed for an almost completely blind and difficult landing! And he did it! I was carried to the dugout that would get me across the river to that waiting plane…with the storm getting worse!
Scott put that Cessna plane in gear and within a few minutes of his landing, we were in take-off mode and in the air heading for the hospital in Panama City. Scott made an emergency landing in Yavisa for a medic, as there was fear I was going into shock. Arriving in Panama City, we were given just enough time to pull me out of the plane onto a gurney and as they swiftly moved me toward the ambulance, I heard the armed soldier say to Scott, “Get off this strip, they are rioting in Panama City and you are the last plane to land here!” I watched as my two little girls left in the plane to be lovingly cared for by Mary.
What a sovereign God with perfect timing we have. Scott, a faithful missionary pilot, and Mary will never know how grateful I am for their selfless love and service to us on that unforgettable dark, stormy day on the field of Panama.
“Courage is the first of human qualities because it guarantees all others.” Winston Churchill
~Jackie Johnson - I am a former tribal missionary to the Kuna Indians on the Colombian border in Central America. Fluent in several languages, my husband and I currently pastor a Spanish-speaking church in Southern California. My passion is mentoring and equipping dedicated young women for life, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. I am the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three Princesses and four young Knights.
