This week's providence

It's the start of a new week. May God's blessings and love reign in my life and that of my family.

We started out this week with Father's day, about which my God-given helper had some very undeserved things to say about me. I love you my darling and long for all of you each day. I fill the days with meager substitutes trying to dull the days hoping 15 months might blur together into one day where I find myself on the other side of a field opposite you counting the mere seconds before I hold you again.

Much by God's provision, and if all goes well (there is your fail-safe honey) we will see the end of this week in our new home. One that is ours! Where we can paint walls, change floors, reorganize, and the like without permision or fear of reprisal or penalty. It's been a long time coming but the light at the end of the tunnel is brighter than ever now. Sandy and her mother have packed more than half the house already. What a bunch of packing Ninjas.



The end of this week will see you, Sandy, living in God's blessed home, prepared specifically for us. All of us. Each of us. Perserver in faith and know that our God will give you strength and see you through this to the end.



Phillipians 4:13

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me



Psalms 23:6

Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

All in one time

Today I have CQ duty. For those of you who may be reading this thinking "what the heck is CQ" allow me to enlighten you. CQ stands for "Charge of Quarters", which basically means I sleep in the band hall and guard the building and the equipment and answer any phone calls...amungst other duties. Needless to say there are some boring times while pulling a 24hr CQ shift. I was sitting here listening to KLOVE online and couldn't help but think that Sandy was probably listening to the very same song at that same moment. What an encouraging feeling. To know that I am sharing at least someting with my family, though we are so far apart, is a wonder. The title in this post is represented in the thought that though I am 7 hours ahead and roughly 8000 miles away, there are things that connect us at any given moment. God's blessings certainly do transcend time, distance, and location.

looky looky what I found http://kozabaptist.blogspot.com/

How amazing is that?

Spoon Tree

I was walking around post when I first got here and was thinking to myself, ya know this isnt so bad...even the plants are somewhat the same. There are date trees here and there a few scrub bushes and some dried up weeds. In many ways very similar to living in Nevada only you don't get dust storms like here. Just as I was feeling less intimidated by this place I found something I had never seen in my life and probably wont see ever again...A SPOON TREE! MAN THIS PLACE WEIRD!

Random thoughts

So we have made it through an entire month. Sandy still isn't in the house yet, but she digests. I am settling in here and getting into a routine, which can be good and bad. It can be good for my sanity but bad for my safety. It's funny how the little things are what you notice out here when there is nothing and no one you care about around to draw your attention. Little things like being able to finally unpack and settle into a room...even though it may be a glorified semi-truck trailer. We only get about 2 or 3 hours to ourselves each day (a lot better than most units) but even so there is just too much time. I find that when I am busiest is when it is easiest. The time passes quicker and it is the end of another day before I know it. I doubt I could keep up that level of business for the entire deployment without a melt down or something similar...not a good thing when you have live ammo and a rifle on your person 24/7.



Most people are handling deployment fine and just finding their nitch while others are feeling some pressure. We are around each other all the time and personalities that clashed in garisson have been thrust into prime living space with eachother. Sometimes even the same room. From what I hear those situations will eventually blow up and then things will be calm again. I will say that deploying is a great lesson in finding true joy in the little things that really matter...I guess that would make them the big things, but you get what I am talking about. Finding God in the little things turns them into big things and they become your motivation and purpose. When you find purpose in where ever God takes you and what ever He has you do then getting up daily is easy and even pleasurable.



Though I may not be certain of that purpose myself I feel I am closer than ever since leaving NY. I spoke with the Chaplain a couple days ago and we're gathering steam for the men's accountability group. We will read through Every Man's Battle along with the work book. God has really provided for this group as I found in talking to Chaplain Jones. He has a great mind for organization while I feel God has burdened me with the vision for the group. It almost seems like the old Voltron cartoon where all these robot cats came together to form a huge robot to take on an even larger adversary. They would all come together and say "OUR POWERS COMBINE TO FORM...VOLTRON" and then you would see this huge powerful mega robot. That is how I feel about God's combination of Chaplain Jones and I. I feel like we should kick off the group with a loud "OUR POWERS COMBINE TO GROW...CHRISTIAN MEN" or something like that. Kinda dumb but still. Maybe I'm just still a nerd.