When the yelling gets directed at you....

Hey blog fans,

Lets talk about lessons learned for a minute.

Lesson #1. Dont ever be the odd one out in Military training. Fly in the middle, do your job, and dont stick out untill you know youre role and can lead effectively.

Lesson #2. Always lock your locker

Lesson #3. Pay attention to details. Maintain positive control of yourself and your situation at all times. Look out for those around you. Act like an officer.

Lesson #4. If one fails, the whole fails.

So I, and my roommate, happened to brake lessons 1 and 3 today, and brought lesson 4 out and into the open. We are doing the Damage Control training today and we had to split our company into two sticks for a morning and an afternoon group. My squad and one other are in the afternoon group so after some spring cleaning and chow, we thought it would be a decent idea to take a little cat nap on top of the racks.

No Good.

Senior Chief came on deck and as Dipinto and I came bleary eyed to attention outside our door, Senior got that look in his eye. He asked us why we thought it would be OK, JUST BECAUSE HE WAS AWAY, TO SLEEP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY.... WE CLEARLY DIDNT HAVE ENOUGH TO DO, DID WE!?!?!?!

Well he decided to strip every rack on deck and make us remake them all, to specs, in half an hour. We also all had to change from PT sweats to Khaki's and then be on line. Then he found out that DiPinto was our squad leader and gave us a passionate and warrented speech about selfishness and leadership.

It was selfish to think that my sleep was more important than my shipmates finishing their computer work or shining their shoes. It was poor leadership and a bad example to think that we were so squared away that we had nothing else to do.

And worst of all, what if the skipper had come on deck and we were that slow to get online, hell would have been in King Hall in Newport, RI.

Leadership is doing the right thing when no one is looking. Christianity is living a life for a God who is always looking. Not that we have to prove anything to God (because we cant) or that we have to be a certain way (because change comes from the Lord), but we have to know that we are under the Law of Grace always.

How many sins do I hide and think its OK? Ultimately, Im not squared away, I dont have it figured out. And my soul is laid bare for the Lord to see at all times. Oh! that I could live a life cognizant of my sin and thankful for Grace! What if we had lives that preached, not perfection, but Grace all the time!? Because that is the truth, whether we are hiding in our rooms sleeping, or on our knees before the Lord. The truth of the cross is constant and unchanging.

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:17

Be thankful always... Our deeds can preach the Gospel and we should be aware of that. We have cause to only be thankful all the time, We have been forgiven!!!! It is sin that preaches a different Gospel, and the Lord has defeated sin.

We need to be praying, continually.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 1 Corinth 9:24

Praise God!

The Importance of Language

Its amazing how context and the use of words can change from place to place. Coming into this world of the Navy, there is a language that is a complete mystery. Abbreviations like you wouldn't believe, different ideas about principles and words, and even new words for the everyday (a wall is a bulkhead, a hallway is a passageway, the floor is a deck).

We have classes everyday with two other groups of people: there are the LDO's which are Limited Duty Officers, and CWO's or Chief Warrant Officers. Both of them are prior enlisted service and know just about everything that there is to know about the Navy. Some of the time they are a great resource to ask questions and get information about something, but when we get into class they just debate all of the information that is being given with words and abbreviations that we, as staff officers, don't really understand yet.

We also get new definitions about things that we thought we understood. As officers we are taught that we have responsibility, accountability, authority. The Navy says that we can pass on both responsibility and authority but accountability can never be passed on to someone else. My roommate and I were thinking a lot about how as Eagle Scouts we learn that responsibility can't be passed on. This is a change of definition.

While the Navy is doing its thing, this is a great reminder of how we talk about and present the Gospel. The difference here is that there is no change of definition, the Gospel IS the definition. This is the truth, the Gospel is always consistent, no matter what we say or how we think of it the Gospel will never change. So, what does this mean for us? It means that the Gospel is something to be pursued and sought after. That truth is life changing, but this side of heaven we will never understand the truth in its entirety. "They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience" 1Tim 3:9

As far as how we present the Gospel to other people, we need to make sure that we don't do what those LDO's and CWO's did to us. We have to speak in a way that the Gospel is accessible to whoever it is that we are talking to. Like Paul said, "I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some." 1 Corinth 9:22. This is the attitude we should have, the Gospel is too precious to be lost on irresponsible presentation.

I pray that we can continue to present the Gospel to one another in a clear and life changing way. I hope that our lives can be living presentations of the Gospel all of the time. I hope that others would see the truth and the change in our lives to the Glory of God. Lets keep talking about words like Grace, Holiness, Righteousness, Love, Glory so that we can continue to understand them better and better, and so that they might become a part of our everyday vocabulary.

How different would our lives look?

Praise God.

Greetings from Rhode Island

Its neither a road nor and island...

I haven't been able to post recently because we are just going going going all the time. We wake up at 0400 everyday (that's 4am for you civilians). Then we go out in the cold and march to the gym to do PT for an hour and a half. Then we double time to Chow. After Chow we have 5 Min to "Brush our fangs, water, de-water, and be back on the line". After that we march or have a class. then Chow. Then all afternoon we have classes, which is the time they use to tear apart our rooms so we have to re-make everything. Then we get yelled at some more, do push ups when we are in trouble. then we go to chow. Then we have one more company meeting followed by ironing, polishing, and washing our clothes. In bed by 2200 (or 10:00) in order to do it all again tomorrow!

Our "drill instructor" is Senior Chief Berkel. He is an amazing man. Very passionate about his job and making staff officers into great Naval Officers. You can tell that he loves his job and the ability to do it. He gives us motivational speeches that are better than Hoosiers. He has seen it all and loves both the Navy and the traditions and Deference of the Navy. He knows how he can best teach all of us, but above all doesn't lower his standard, we just have to meet it. And he knows how to tell us about it. Through a mix of YELLING (WAY TO GO ROCKSTARS, I HAVE A COMPANY WITH PHD's OUT THE YING YANG AND YOU CANT GET YOUR SHIRT STRAIGHT!*%!&%) and sarcasm (your OTHER left SIR.....) he is molding us into a team and into officers. He is a really good guy.

I am learning a ton of lessons about discipline and integrity and Gods calling. But I thought Id share a little story and save those lessons for later...

This is a story that will show you how Senior Chief was before he showed us his nicer side... The one thing, above all else, that we must do is to lock our locker whenever we aren't an arms length away from it. At this point (this was Monday) someone had already left their lock off twice. This made the Senior Chief very unhappy. This was the third time and we walked in from class and knew that we were in trouble... Our gear was all over the hallway and everything had been torn apart. SC was already yelling and he screamed at us to take our raincoats off. After our third time with the jackets he put us up against the wall to do wall sits. We then did three part push ups and jumping jacks in uniform while SC berated us. SC then held us in the down position (you're not allowed to touch the ground) and proceeded to throw a lock down the passageway and slide it in front of us.

All of our hearts sank. I really think it was like when Christ told the disciples that one of them would betray Him, and they must have been shaking inside wondering who it was... All of us were wondering if we were the ones who had forgotten to lock our locker...

He then pulled up our money officer (whose lock it was) and threw all of our chow money for the week ($2024 which was her responsibility to keep for our meals, and was in her locker) on the floor. She started crying when he started yelling about how she betrayed the rest of the team by allowing our money to be out for the world to take. We all felt awful for her. She was then relieved of that duty and we had to wall sit until every last cent was counted. It was quite the experience.

Senior has an extra level of volume when we get in trouble like that, its pretty impressive.

Well, greetings from Naval Station Newport! Ill post again when I can. And I will post pictures soon!

Praise God.

Faith and Belief.

I am learning lately that Faith isn't exactly what I thought it was. Paul encourages Timothy in both of his letters to "Fight the fight of Faith". I don't think I really ever understood what it means to fight for faith until the last year.

I think I always thought of Faith as just belief. But I really think that belief is totally different. In John it says "I believe Lord, help my unbelief". Yet we are either a people that has faith or does not. I think as I get older (and I think for us all) in my Christian life its less and less just a set of facts or ideas or scripture which is just simply true. That used to be all I needed to believe and it let me sleep at night... "Ive seen this at work in my life, it is scripturally sound, so it is true".

Well as I grow older in my faith, and especially through seminary, I am given more ideas, more facts, more opinions and more things to read. As all of this enters me, I am changed. My faith sometimes has to renegotiate with the information before me.

But there are two good things about this. One, God is unchanging and good. I know that the promises of God are true so even if my facts are off, or what I believe is misinformed a little, It is my faith alone that is credited to me as righteousness. And, two, my faith is not based on ideas or theologies or trivia about the bible, but rather my faith comes from the Lord.

Often in the New Testament faith is accompanied by one of two things in a verse: the Holy Spirit, or fear of God. This tells me two things: One, that my faith comes from God, He chooses to give it to me (Hallelujah!) and it comes from my new, godly, heart knowing the truth that has been revealed to me by the Spirit. Two, that faith doesn't always come after miracles, belief does. We walk by faith, not by sight. I don't need anything or any proof to fight for faith, just prayer. Just like in the story of the paralytic, it is the friends faith BEFORE the healing that gets their friend healed. Now I'm pretty sure that they all believed a whole lot more after that, but their faith was what brought them before the Lord, and the same can be said for us.

Knowing this we should encourage each other that even if we are having a struggle believing the Gospel or truth or even our own salvation, that we are still children of God and that God will persevere and pursue us until we are fully reconciled with Him. And why is that? Because not only are we faithful, but God is ultimately faithful to His people. Think of that!!! If we need proof of God in order to have faith in God, what proof have we given God in order for Him to have faith in us??? none, and yet God is still faithful. So if God is giving us the ultimate example of faith, how much easier is it for us to live by faith in a good and righteous and holy God?

Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 1 Tim 6:12

We all need to remember the new heart that we received at our baptism and the confession that was made there... not that I wouldn't fail, not that I would produce so much fruit, but that I believe and confess my faith in our Lord, Jesus Christ...

I pray we can all say with Paul: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 2 Tim 4:7

I'm with a lot of you, it gets harder and harder the older we get in our faith. There is a lot to try and reconcile with. We are bombarded with information that makes it impossible to go back to the days when we could just "believe". But press on, fight the fight, and encourage me, and Ill sure try and encourage you. Ill leave you with the words of Christ:

I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers." Luke 22:32

Praise God.

sorry for the lapse blog fans.

Hey all you Full Sails fans out there. I know its been awhile, but I haven't gone anywhere, yet...

I'm officially done with PF Changs for the time being and I'm getting ready to go to ODS (Officer Development School) at Naval Station Newport (Rhode Island). I'm so excited to go... I cant wait to see the ocean. I'm always a happier person when I am near the sea and I cant wait to spend some weeks near it, not to mention a whole career eventually. All of the different personalities of the Ocean is an amazing reminder both of all the personality traits of God, and the infinity of tomorrows we will experience in heaven, God will never grow old or mundane, just like the sea never ceases to amaze me.

I will be updating pretty regularly on here while I'm away both to update how I'm doing and what I'm learning, as well as my day to day activities and what I'm doing in training for any of you who are interested.

I thought in commemoration of 2008 I would post the top 28 things I am thankful for in 2007. This is not an exhaustive list, just something I'm doing before I go to bed for the first time in 08, so don't over analyse, just enjoy...

1) Gods Word

2) PF Changs flexible schedule

3) John Piper

4) Dr. Whitford, my reformed professor.

5) Pilot G2 Pen (thanks for that Kev)

6) The Oaks Community Church

7) Kyle Jameson

8) The Ohio State University

9) The Navy and Marine Corps

10) Gods Call

11) Coffee

12) Reading

13) My Jeep

14) The Sea (and Psalm 107)

15) Jazz Music (and the Blue Wisp)

16) Grandpa Eddie

17) Swartzel

18) My parents patience and shelter this year

19) Tanqueray

20) Golf

21) Martin Luther

22) Chipotle

23) my new Banjo (and my Martin!)

24) Blake, for showing me truth

25) A trip to Arizona

26) United Theological Seminary

27) Hooded Sweatshirts

28) the PCA