This Week's Story
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Dwayne King's passions, skills, and energy are honed for service by the Master Craftsman.
This Week’s Story relives American history and the Bible through brief inspiring stories presented on mp3 audio recordings and text for reading.
Dwayne King: Doors to Possibilities, part three
Dwayne never fit one label. Labels missed his possibilities. A jar filled with labels for him, would have forced the honest label reader to realize Dwayne was a grower, a bit like the astonishing giant sequoia tree.
A giant sequoia tree begins as a tiny seed and can grow to be slightly over 300 feet and live over 3,000 years. With its enormous girth, it defies the idea that from little comes little.
Labels applied to Dwayne have included: athletic, self-reliant, empathetic, mechanically gifted, ethical hard worker, hot-rodder, girl-chaser in high school, thrifty, alert, trouble-maker, Christian, inspired by dedication and courage, concerned about suffering Christians in Russia, disorganized, impulsive, poor student, hyperactive, unpredictable, became passionate about aviation for service.
A label is puny. Talk to Dwayne and people who have committed to working with him; read where he gives credit for growth in his life and glimpse the power of prayer in his life. His mother’s prayer moved him to give his life to the Lord for service.
She was in her room praying for him and he overheard her. “She asked God to do something with me. She cried out to God and offered me up to be His servant.” He was a high school senior and made his life decision for serving the Lord.
Family members, back to his grandparents, have been a rich family circle of influence and prayer for the work God has called Dwayne to do. Certainly Carolyn, whom Dwayne met at high school Bible Club meetings and later married, was encouraging. Each was becoming a Christian committed to service.
Dwayne graduated from high school. He then began attending Practical Bible Training School in New York State. While there, his hot rods were still a passion and involved many antics. His creations included a ’39 Cadillac LaSalle. The words “The Untouchables” were written on the back of it. Naturally, that meant role-playing gangsters wore old brimmed hats and using toy tommy guns and startling older people sitting in the evenings on their front porches. Some teachers and staff joined the gag.
With these activities and studies, Dwayne was also a quartet member and a song leader. He travelled with the group singing and preaching in twenty states and in Britain.
When Dwayne graduated in the spring of 1963 he and Carolyn were married. She had completed a Licensed Practical Nurse training program. Dwayne’s next step was enrolling at LeTourneau. His goal was to become a missionary pilot.
Soon a LeTourneau teacher was teaching Dwayne flying maneuvers for the dangers of Alaska, a place with the phrase, ‘There’s no second chances here.’
In the spring of 1968 Dwayne and Carolyn went to Soldotna, Alaska for work at the Missionary Aviation Repair Center, and what became a lifetime of service and adventure in Alaska and Siberia.
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