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WASHINGTON - The Air Force will announce in February its verdict on who will build a multibillion-dollar fleet of refueling tanker planes. The program, which could exceed $100 billion and become one of the richest Pentagon contracts in years, has sparked heated competition between The Boeing Co. and a team of the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. and Northrop Grumman. -- But congressional supporters of the EADS-Northrop Grumman bid are quietly spreading word that they would be just as happy to split the massive contract with Boeing. Sue Payton, the Air Force's top acquisition official, reaffirmed this week that...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Boeing Co. (BA.N: Quote, Profile , Research) prepared to unveil the first carbon-composite 787 Dreamliner on Sunday amid a flurry of 55 new orders for the lightweight, fuel efficient plane. European, Middle Eastern and Australian carriers trumpeted new orders at various Boeing events in Seattle, as the U.S. plane maker got ready to host 15,000 or so employees, customers and suppliers at its nearby Everett, Washington, plant. All are waiting for the first glimpse of the mid-sized, long-range jetliner, which is the company's first all-new plane in 12 years. The jet will not look radically new...

Readiness " God called to him . . . . And he said, ’Here I am’ " —Exodus 3:4 God where we would like to go. Yet the man or woman who is ready for God and His work is the one who receives the prize when the summons comes. We wait with the idea that some great opportunity or something sensational will be coming our way, and when it does come we are quick to cry out, "Here I am." Whenever we sense that Jesus Christ is rising up to take authority over some great task, we are...

All or Nothing? " When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment . . . and plunged into the sea " —John 21:7 Have you ever had a crisis in your life in which you deliberately, earnestly, and recklessly abandoned everything? It is a crisis of the will. You may come to that point many times externally, but it will amount to nothing. The true deep crisis of abandonment, or total surrender, is reached internally, not externally. The giving up of only external things may actually be an indication of your being...

Can You Come Down From the Mountain? " While you have the light, believe in the light . . . " —John 12:36 We all have moments when we feel better than ever before, and we say, "I feel fit for anything; if only I could always be like this!" We are not meant to be. Those moments are moments of insight which we have to live up to even when we do not feel like it. Many of us are no good for the everyday world when we are not on the mountaintop. Yet we must bring our...

The Failure To Pay Close Attention " The high places were not removed from Israel. Nevertheless the heart of Asa was loyal all his days " —2 Chronicles 15:17 Asa was not completely obedient in the outward, visible areas of his life. He was obedient in what he considered the most important areas, but he was not entirely right. Beware of ever thinking, "Oh, that thing in my life doesn’t matter much." The fact that it doesn’t matter much to you may mean that it matters a great deal to God. Nothing should be considered a trivial matter by...

Inner Invincibility " Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me . . ." —Matthew 11:29 Whom the Lord loves He chastens . . ." ( Hebrews 12:6 ). How petty our complaining is! Our Lord begins to bring us to the point where we can have fellowship with Him, only to hear us moan and groan, saying, "Oh Lord, just let me be like other people!" Jesus is asking us to get beside Him and take one end of the yoke, so that we can pull together. That’s why Jesus says to us, "My yoke is easy...

What To Do When Your Burden Is Overwhelming" Cast your burden on the Lord . . . " —Psalm 55:22 We must recognize the difference between burdens that are right for us to bear and burdens that are wrong. We should never bear the burdens of sin or doubt, but there are some burdens placed on us by God which He does not intend to lift off. God wants us to roll them back on Him— to literally "cast your burden," which He has given you, "on the Lord . . . ." If we set out to serve...

Complete and Effective Dominion" Death no longer has dominion over Him. . . . the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God . . . " —Romans 6:9-11 Co-Eternal Life. Eternal life is the life which Jesus Christ exhibited on the human level. And it is this same life, not simply a copy of it, which is made evident in our mortal flesh when we are born again. Eternal life is not a gift from God; eternal life is the gift of God....

Complete and Effective Divinity" If we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection . . . " —Romans 6:5 Co-Resurrection. The proof that I have experienced crucifixion with Jesus is that I have a definite likeness to Him. The Spirit of Jesus entering me rearranges my personal life before God. The resurrection of Jesus has given Him the authority to give the life of God to me, and the experiences of my life must now be built on the foundation of His life. I can...

Complete and Effective Decision About Sin" . . our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin " —Romans 6:6 Co-Crucifixion. Have you made the following decision about sin— that it must be completely killed in you? It takes a long time to come to the point of making this complete and effective decision about sin. It is, however, the greatest moment in your life once you decide that sin must die in you-not simply be restrained, suppressed, or counteracted, but crucified—...

Have You Seen Jesus? " After that, He appeared in another form to two of them . . . " —Mark 16:12 Being saved and seeing Jesus are not the same thing. Many people who have never seen Jesus have received and share in God’s grace. But once you have seen Him, you can never be the same. Other things will not have the appeal they did before. You should always recognize the difference between what you see Jesus to be and what He has done for you. If you see only what He has done for you, your...

His Resurrection Destiny " Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory? " —Luke 24:26 Our Lord’s Cross is the gateway into His life. His resurrection means that He has the power to convey His life to me. When I was born again, I received the very life of the risen Lord from Jesus Himself. Christ’s resurrection destiny— His foreordained purpose— was to bring "many sons to glory" (Hebrews 2:10 ). The fulfilling of His destiny gives Him the right to make us sons and daughters of God. We never have exactly...

Why We Lack Understanding" He commanded them that they should tell no one the things they had seen, till the Son of Man had risen from the dead---" —Mark 9:9 As the disciples were commanded, you should also say nothing until the Son of Man has risen in you— until the life of the risen Christ so dominates you that you truly understand what He taught while here on earth. When you grow and develop the right condition inwardly, the words Jesus spoke become so clear that you are amazed you did not grasp them before. In fact, you...

The Collision of God and Sin" . . . who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree . . ." —1 Peter 2:24 The Cross of Christ is the revealed truth of God’s judgment on sin. Never associate the idea of martyrdom with the Cross of Christ. It was the supreme triumph, and it shook the very foundations of hell. There is nothing in time or eternity more absolutely certain and irrefutable than what Jesus Christ accomplished on the Cross— He made it possible for the entire human race to be brought back into a...

His Agony and Our Access " Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples . . . . ’Stay here and watch with Me’ " —Matthew 26:36, 38 We can never fully comprehend Christ’s agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, but at least we don’t have to misunderstand it. It is the agony of God and man in one Person, coming face to face with sin. We cannot learn about Gethsemane through personal experience. Gethsemane and Calvary represent something totally unique— they are the gateway into life for us. It was not death...

The Way to Permanent Faith " Indeed the hour is coming . . . that you will be scattered . . ." —John 16:32 Jesus was not rebuking the disciples in this passage. Their faith was real, but it was disordered and unfocused, and was not at work in the important realities of life. The disciples were scattered to their own concerns and they had interests apart from Jesus Christ. After we have the perfect relationship with God, through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, our faith must be exercised in the realities of everyday life. We will...

'If You Had Known!' " If you had known . . . in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes---" —Luke 19:42 Jesus entered Jerusalem triumphantly and the city was stirred to its very foundations, but a strange god was there-the pride of the Pharisees. It was a god that seemed religious and upright, but Jesus compared it to "whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness" ( Matthew 23:27 ). What is it that blinds you to...

The Glory That’s Unsurpassed " . . . the Lord Jesus . . . has sent me that you may receive your sight . . ." —Acts 9:17 When Paul received his sight, he also received spiritual insight into the Person of Jesus Christ. His entire life and preaching from that point on were totally consumed with nothing but Jesus Christ— "For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified" ( 1 Corinthians 2:2 ). Paul never again allowed anything to attract and hold the attention of his mind and soul except the...

Helpful or Heartless Toward Others?" It is Christ . . . who also makes intercession for us. . . . the Spirit . . . makes intercession for the saints . . . " —Romans 8:34, 27 Do we need any more arguments than these to become intercessors-that Christ "always lives to make intercession" ( Hebrews 7:25 ), and that the Holy Spirit "makes intercession for the saints"? Are we living in such a relationship with others that we do the work of intercession as a result of being the children of God who are taught by His Spirit?...