This presented unique problems for Captain Yeager. For starters, an X-1 pilot did not enter the cockpit like a traditional fighter jet. He had to enter through a tiny side door. Easy enough. But once inside, the door had to be pulled into place. Ouch! Then the door had to be latched from the inside by pushing a lever forward to lock the cockpit door. Triple-dog ouch!  He simply couldn’t do it. He confessed his secret to Ridley, and as they mulled over the dilemma, Ridley had an engineers’ epiphany. Never at a loss at solving complex problems, Ridley fashioned a makeshift handle out of a broomstick. Chuck could use the stick to pull the door closed, push the lever, and lock the cockpit door. Colonel Boyd remained blissfully in the dark.

On the morning of October 14, 1947, Chuck and his broomstick entered the cockpit of the X-1 and lifted off in the B-29 making its way to target elevation for the ninth time. Myriad questions coursed though everyone’s minds as the signal arrived from the B-29 pilot that target elevation had been achieved.

Three. Two. One.

Upon separation, Chuck immediately fired the X-1’s rocket engines and in a matter of seconds, was approaching the point of no return. At .94 mach the plane began to rattle. He engaged the horizontal stabilizer trim switch instead of the elevator (thank you, Ridley), ignited the forth engine, and watched the mach meter as the needle jumped forward off the scale.

Poof! The X-1 sliced through the supersonic barrier on a sheet of glass. Ground operators mistook the historic sonic boom for thunder crashing in the distance. Back in the cockpit, Chuck Yeager decided to fly in in his newly-discovered realm of supersonic flight for 20 glorious seconds before turning off two engines and decelerating back to subsonic speeds.

An invisible barrier was no more. “A poke through Jell-o,” was how Chuck described the historic event.

As I work with men all over the world, they tell me about their battles to break through the inward spiritual barrier of total loyalty to Jesus Christ. Whether it’s soldiers emailing me from Iraq or guys in my own congregation, they all lament disloyalty to their King and are frustrated by their lapses in spiritual loyalty. It eats at them that they cannot seem to break through and enter that “new realm” of spiritual life and loyalty that noble men of God possess in abundance. They are not alone. I believe that millions are coming up short and settling for subsonic existences because they do not have a spiritual Ridley helping them break through to a new level in their relationships with God and people.

My point:  no Ridley, no sonic boom for Yeager.  No spiritual Ridley in your life, no sonic booms for Christ.  The solution?  “Pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace with those who call upon the Lord from a pure heart,” II Tim 2:22.  Just like Ridley and Yeager were better together, you and I are better men when we are connected to one or two other men who consistently make us better.  The question is:  are the men in our lives helping us make breakthroughs? More specifically, the kinds of breakthroughs that fundamentally change the way I live and think going forward.

If you are connected to other men and those relationships are not helping you win new spiritual ground, it’s time to assess those friendships.  You may need to connect more deeply, get connected to a brother, or start being more honest about where you need to break down a barrier in your life.  If we do this we will start making some new noises with our lives (the good kind).  Will it be turbulent?  Yes.  But  the air on the other side is awesome and a lot smoother.

Kenny Luck is the Men's Pastor at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California. He is also the Founder and President of Every Man Ministries which helps churches worldwide develop and grow healthy men's communities. Please visit www.everymanministries.com for more information.