He's trying to be a plane...

Sorry, Im a nerd, I thought this was funny... Get it? He's a plane for Halloween.

In case you wondered what the Navy was up to. (pt 2)

This time the Navy has responded in a big way to the fires in California. Offering most or all of its base fire trucks and personnel the Navy is also joining the fight with H-60, CH-47, and Ch-43 helicopters to help join the fight. Also Air and Navy reserve and Active C-130s are all being used to help battle the 11 fires that are still out of control in the San Diego area.

All Navy personnel have been ordered to live on ship in order to use the base housing for shelters as well as the gyms on base being set up with cots and partitions for families to live in. The Marines at twenty nine-palms are on standby to help battle the blaze as well as 500 other Marines volunteering to help with the brush clearing and firefighting.

Pray for everyone sacrificing so much (some their lives) to battle these fires.

Damien Rice - 9 Crimes @ Abbey Road

What an amazing and chilling rendition. Makes me want to smoke a clove...

Cross Culture Gospel.

Today I had a very interesting conversation with the dean of academics for a consortium of seminaries that offer urban ministry classes. At first I was very skeptical about the classes just being something that were practicals and not very gospel or scripture centered. When I actually spoke to him one on one it was a much different story.

He ended up being very interested in my future ministry to Marines and Sailors and the cultural interactions that will occur there. Assumptions that will be made, ignorance's that will go unaddressed if I don't address them, and an assumption that will be made that those people are evil as a defense mechanism resulting from the obligation to kill. We talked a lot about how the troops there on the ground don't only need personal counseling for the things they see and have to deal with, but they need help into a totally different worldview. A worldview that allows them to struggle with how they interact with the natural population there and the struggles that they deal with. This would make a much more effective soldier, peacemaker, and diplomat from the lance corporal all the way up to the officers in the back.

Then I realized that we can all use this perspective switch, whether its on the ground in Iraq with an M-16 in hand, or in the streets of Middletown with a paintbrush... Its not that we need to conform to culture, or that we need to peg or box in exactly what it is Middletown is all about. Rather, we have to be equipped to understand the differences we encounter and have the peace of knowing God is ultimately at work and our work apart from Him is worthless. Even when we catch a vision for ministry or a city or our lives, it will never be the whole picture. We have ourselves in a culture and a world that we've created and we need to be aware of that. My good friend Jonah said that wherever two people are together they are creating a culture. When all of these cultures are interacting (especially in a church) we need to be aware not just of what our mission and purpose is, but we need to be observant enough to know what is changing in us, and where God is changing them as well. Its in these rough edges of ministry that the Gospel is going to move most abundantly.

Francis Schaeffer says that all of us, in our cultures, are creating a metanarrative for ourselves. A lens through which we see the world. Based on this we find truths and patterns that we are comfortable with. This isn't bad, but its not the REAL total absolute truth. None of us knows that. Only God has His eyes on the whole truth of the real metanarrative. Let our prayers be saturated with the trust of the sovereignty of God. Let's observe each other and be cognisant of how God is really moving in our ministries and interactions. And let's not sweat the small stuff, God is good, Scripture is true, and we have been chosen to worship together with all the saints for the rest of eternity.

Praise God.

Marine Corps Drill Instructor AMBUSH

I thought some of you might like to see this... The first person to walk into the door is an Officer. That recruit posted in the foreground makes the mistake of not addressing the officer. You may notice that this wasn't the right thing to do...

How lucky are we???

There will come a time when a WWII story will never again be told from the first person. How amazing to be handed the world they lived in and learn from their wisdom.

US Office of Personnel Management Federal Investigative Services

The FBI is investigating me.

So Ive been talking with a few of my friends and its led to some random thoughts.

It's very strange to have a government agency with all of the resources in the world looking into my life. Even though I have nothing to hide from as far as the government is concerned, it is a bit disconcerting to have someone scrutinizing every aspect from every time period in your life.

Now all of a sudden I realize that God can see far beyond anything the FBI could ever research or identify. Its pretty crazy to think how perfect my life seems on paper. My friend Pruett and I often joke about being the All-American boys. I drive a Jeep, am an officer in the Navy, am helping to start a Church, graduated from one of the largest universities in America, blah blah blah... but none of this means anything compared with the definition I get from being a co-heir to the kingdom of Christ.

Not only this, but God can see infinitely far into my life. Into the idols and things that dishonor Him. God can see into the things that I hide even from myself. Things that make me nervous about the FBI should make me a whole lot nervous about God. Except for one thing. The FBI expects to find an all-American boy who is fit for service and leadership in the US Navy; God came to me when I was (and am) broken and lonely, unknowing of everything I was created for and meant to be. God, full of Grace, and infinitely wise as He is, chose me and brought me into His kingdom.

These are things that I cant really articulate completely clearly, but I never realized how big an idol it was in my life to be what it was I thought I needed to be. I, at some level, thought that I could be what God would want me to be in order that He would be happy with me. I pray that God would remove these idols from all of our lives, and that His kingdom would continue to change the world in a way that would allow us to rest in Grace, true Grace that brings us Joy in Christ.

Enjoy it. Learn Joy in the peace and Grace of Christ. Live in it. Share it. That is the Gospel, and the mission that Christ gave us to accomplish. Its not an image we're supposed to live or an argument we're supposed to win, but rather a Sovereign Joy that we are supposed to rest in. I pray that we can.