“Sky Pilot,” Oswald Chambers’ Personal Colphon

Oswald Chambers called himself the “Sky Pilot” in one book inscribed to his wife Biddy.

But why?

The man was an artist.

It matched his brand–or the colophon he used in personal books.

What is a colophon?

His OC, Saturn-like, colophon is a type of branding tool publishers use on the spines of their books.

You can see them in the photo at the bottom of the book’s spine.

Sometimes publishers just use their names, but a symbol of their publishing house works well.

DHP has a feather like bird, Baker has a stack of books, Knopf a running dog, Tyndale has a feathered pen, Harper Collins its name, and Barbour sports an opening book.

They’re easily recognizable brands.

Oswald Chambers wrote many letters and graded a lot of tests in his life.

The Saturn-looking colophon made it easy to sign his personal correspondence, or at least, book gifts.

(For grading papers, he had a rubber stamp and the man used it!)

Where did Sky Pilot come from?Can you see the OC?

Oswald wasn’t thinking about being called a “Sky Pilot” when he drew that Saturn signature.

He was an artist and whimsical. Why not use something that looked like his signature–if you looked at it the right way?

Can you see why it might be considered an OC?

One thing led to another, he was a consummate nick-namer. (Note: he called Gertrude, his wife, Biddy, for Beloved Disciple, B. D.)

Those who knew and loved him, came to expect something fun—as well as an appropriate book gift.

Where else did he use the Sky Pilot colophon? Wedding Gift to Jimmy Hanson. (Hansen family)

When his close friend Jimmy Hanson left Egypt on leave in August 1917, OC knew he would return with his bride..

As a parting gift to the bridegroom, he handed him an inscribed copy of a popular marriage book at the time, Don’ts for Husbands. Jimmy, finally, was on his way to marry Florence Gudgin.

104 years later, their grandson found the book on a nephew’s shelf!

It may have been the last book Oswald Chambers gave to a friend–presented three months before he died.

You’ll note: he used his colophon.

What about the sky?

Chambers didn’t talk much about the sky, though in the January 5 reading (in Macy Halford‘s new “Modern Classic” My Utmost for His HIghest), he points to what is truly important.

As a Sky Pilot for the Kingdom of God, he had only one fixed point:

We never did have any power of our own. That’s why all our vows and resolutions ended in failure.
Now, on the other side of that failure, we see clearly. Only one star shines in our sky—our lodestar, Jesus Christ.

My Utmost for His Highest, January 5, Modern Classic Edition

What’s a Sky Pilot?

Along with “padre,” Sky Pilot is one of several nicknames miltary members use when referring to their chaplains.

As a chaplain at Zeitoun YMCA camp alongside the ANZAC Light Horse companies north of Cairo during WWI, Chambers relished his new life.

He turned things upside down in the YMCA “hut” his first day in theater, but soon troops came to his talks in hordes.

Final family photo before OC’s death.

The first one? What’s the Good of Prayer?

When his wife Biddy arrived a few months later with their two-year old daughter Kathleen and their friend Mary Riley (serving as nursemaid), the full Zeitoun ministry began.

They all knew the soldier’s lives teetered on eternity. Those in the camp were headed either up the line to take Jerusalem, or would go to the trenches of WWI France.

Chambers preached the gospel, always.

You can read more about YMCA work in Egypt here.

Suffice it to say, the Sky Pilot from England, or, in his mind, from God did a wonderful work in the desert for two and a half years.

As one soldier said: “It may very well have been worth coming to war to hear Oswald Chambers preach.”

If that’s what got him into the Kingdom of God, the Sky Pilot would have laughed.

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