God has not promised riches but I am thankful for all that He has enriched me with including my family, my friends, and the privilege of serving as a chaplain to some of the finest people I've ever known.
God has not promised health and vitality but I am thankful that for being 45 years old and slightly broken from an old injury that I am in good health and able to do what I need to do.
God has not promised justice nor liberty but I am thankful that I am a citizen of a nation that holds liberty as its greatest virtue.
God has not promised the faithful of His church will have it easy in this world but I am thankful that I can gather with my brothers and sisters in Christ and worship in freedom and teach my daughters the great wonders of the grace of God.
What God has promised is to be with us. And so as we draw from Thanksgiving into advent, the time of expectant waiting, and into the celebration of Christmas I am most thankful for Emmanuel -- God with us -- for in the infant child of Jesus, God became flesh and opened salvation for all who would receive Him.
And I am thankful for the service at St. Paul's Cathedral in London this past Thanksgiving that reminded me of what God has promised and to be thankful for the bounty when it comes but to be more thankful for the presence of God for bounty if all too often temporary and trouble may arrive on the morrow.
President Abraham Lincoln was a great man. A visionary. A leader. A humble servant of our nation. It is most encouraging to know he was also a great man of faith in God. In an age when I often here from some that the Christian faith is about "fairy tales" it is worth remembering that the Christian faith was at the core of this great man. His faith defined and shaped how he viewed himself and how he viewed his fellow human beings. His faith in God gave him strength to endure through the great struggle that was the Civil War. As we draw near to Thanksgiving it is fitting to remember his proclamation of thanksgiving and not be blind to the role his faith played in his life and through him in the life of our nation:
By the President of the United States of America.A Proclamation.The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.By the President: Abraham LincolnWilliam H. Seward,Secretary of State
There have been some beautiful days here in England. The locals have told me that the weather has been more temperate than it normally would be for this time of year. It is 0530 and in an hour I'll be forming up for unit PT. I wish this morning was a beautiful day.
But it isn't. It is cold -- 43 degrees...and rainy. And windy, blustery actually. So, PT this morning probably won't be much fun.
I wish it were different. But wishing doesn't make it so.
It is amazing though how often we live as though wishing did make it so. I am a called and ordained Christian minister (of the Lutheran confession). I say that upfront because I believe in integrity. I believe folks have a right to know where someone is coming from. So getting back to my point about wishing something were so doesn't make it so.
Now sometimes having a dream is good. When I was 24 and weighed 320 I dreamed about not weighing 320 -- and that helped motivate me to do something about it.
But there are some things I know that can't change. Sometimes I think it would have been cool to live in a different place and time and I daydream about this or maybe write about it (yes, I am one of many who are working on a book). But that doesn't make it so. I live here in 2010.
There have been times I wished my bank account had something else to say. But wishing didn't make it so.
There were times I wish I had a day off, but again truth is truth.
Sometimes I have read things in the Scripture and thought boy I wish that were different. If I were God I might have done things differently. But in spite of our wishes (and often our actions and presumptions) we are not God nor gods. God is our creator. And the Bible says what it says. And I believe that the Bible says what God has to say to us. And I believe he means what He says.
Yes, sometimes I don't fully understand. I was having a discussion with a fellow minister last night about a particular item on which the church is divided. If left up to me I would side with that individual. But it isn't left up to me. Wishing something were different doesn't make it so. There are times when dealing with God and reality that you have to accept what is given and trust. God is our Creator. I figure since He made us He knows something about how we are designed to fit together.
But the world is fallen and things aren't goign as designed. Sickness was not part of the original design. I have family who are fighting cancer. As I get older there are days I feel mortality in my bones. I've lost friends. I've seen first hand the damage that sin does to the lives of people from those who were sexually assaulted or fallen victim to substance abuse, and it goes on and on. Not part of the original design. Flawed. Fallen. Sinful. I remember talking to one alcoholic who has what is probably an inherited (as it runs in his family) predisposition to an overwhelming desire for alcohol who wavered between feeling worthless one minute to blaming God for creating him that way. Neither is true. The truth is that sin has effected us all - to some it has a much bigger impact and to some lesser -- but it effects us all (and it is fatal as we all die). Not part of the original design but true. Wishing it were different doesn't make it different. Pretending sin isn't sin doesn't make it not sin. Blaming God for creating us this way and using that as an excuse to live it out rather than recognizing it for what it is doesn't change it.
Truth is truth. God's Word says truth and I believe God knows what He is talking about.
But there is reason to dream and to hope. Because that same Word offers hope in the gift of Jesus and the promise of everlasting life. Yes it is faith. Yes it is hope. Yes is a dream I hope and believe will come true. Dreams can come true -- I did loose 160 pounds. Things can change. Miracles do happen. But in the case of everlasting life it is not just an empty hope that runs against all evidence - it is a hope that clings to God's Word. God's Word speak truth and I believe God knows what He is talking about.
So in the fall of life -- with winter ahead -- I believe spring is around the corner. So what are a few colder dreary days. The truth of "now" cannot overcome the promise of spring.
After two months we are settling in well into our new home and our new chapel community. I am very pleased to discover a large enough group to begin having a Lutheran based liturgical service on Sunday mornings as well as having a number of folks who need junior confirmation. So October 31st, Reformation I'll hold my first service and confirmation will start on the 25th.
There truly are a great bunch of folks in our chapel community here. Caring, devoted, gifted and giving. Last night our ladies hosted a big chili dinner for all our dorm residents, single airmen, sailors, soldiers and marines who live in dormitory type housing. Great food, well attended and much appreciated.
Alconbury is looking like it is going to be one great place to do ministry.
Ten years is not such a long time. Ten years ago I was serving as a parish pastor in Cincinnati and working as a hospital chaplain part-time at the University of Cincinnati Trauma Center. Ten years ago today I felt a renewed kinship with my fellow sailors as I had served in the United States Naval Reserve until just a few years before. For ten years ago today was the cowardly evil attack by Islamic terrorists on the USS Cole that resulted in 17 deaths, numerous injuries, grieving families and friends and signaled what we now know was the opening salvo in what has been called the Long War and the War on Terror. Ten years ago today Bin Laden followed through on his threats and our lives have not been the same.
I remember. Before 9/11 was the USS Cole. I remain resolved.
Ten years now and counting. I claim only to speak for myself, but I remain resolved. Against evil there can be no quarter given. Against evil their can be no retreat and no surrender for evil is without mercy. Evil knows not one shred of compassion. It knows only desire for domination and destruction. Evil has one goal: to deliver slavery or death. Sad is the necessary day when free men of courage and honor must unsheathe the sword and go to war, but what else can a free society do when to sit idly by is to invite slavery or slaughter.
There is always a cost. A dark, dreadful, painful cost to action that can only be superseded by the cost of inaction.
Today I pray for the families: the parents, the wives and husbands, the children, all family and friends whose lives were torn by the loss of loved ones because evil reached out to destroy. Today I pray a prayer of thanksgiving for those honorable men and women who stand the line against the onslaught of evil knowing their blood may be the next to be shed. Today I pray for victory and for peace -- but real peace, not the peace that might momentarily come from hiding averting one's eyes until it is too late.
Today I remember these words:
For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. (Romans 13:3-4)
And so I pray too for our leaders and our forces that we may never forget why we must fight, though necessary it is, we take no pleasure in unsheathing the sword and we are ready to fight and die if necessary not for dominion but for freedom, for the good.
A beautiful sunrise welcomed my family to the United Kingdom as we approached Heathrow International Airport.
We have been in the UK a bit over a month now. We have learned the art of navigating round abouts and the British banking system. I've been out to our large sister base at Lakenheath and also Mildenhall. We've wondered around Cambridge. Just this morning I had some great spicey Indian food with some a good friend and his wife who I know from Iraq. The last of my personal possessions arrive tomorrow. Ministries are starting to spin up and I'm getting into the groove of ministry here. It took us about two weeks to find our home of the next few years - a quite cozy place tucked away in the community not terribly far from base.
One key highlight of the past month, I was honored to be invited to attend the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain commemoration held here. A sunset retreat with flyover by a Spitfire, it was memorable and solemn. It reminded me that here on this land the battle for liberty and indeed one might argue civilization itself, hung in the balance in those days.
Very busy month during my transition from Korea to my next duty station in the UK. This morning I awake after the first full night of sleep I've had in a while, due in part to jet lag and due in part to just plain having a lot of stuff to do. July was very busy in Korea with a full up exercise, that was actually fun looking back on it, but with moments of not so fun. That was followed by lots of hoops to jump through to get cleared from Korea and make sure the new team was fully briefed to insure continuity of our mission. Was also working to make sure VBS was ready to go (and thanks to some incredible volunteers it was going gang busters when I departed).
So last Thursday I stepped on board the Patriot Express (I miss Korean Air) and started the long flight to Seattle, with a stop over in Japan. It was a beautiful day in Japan. I was one of the first to check in for the flight so I had an incredible seat (very much appreciated on such a long flight) right up on the exit row. Lots of room to stretch out. The plane was old and no frills but the service was very good. They gave us enough food to feed us for a week, which came in handy given that my flight out of Seattle on Alaskan Air was very bare bones -- they had everything if you wanted to purchase it. First time I've ever been asked to "rent" a movie to watch on the plane. They wanted to sell me beef jerky, which I found amusing because I had had a bag of beef jerky on me but customs took it at the agricultural center because I brought it in from oversees. But I did manage to keep my other packaged snacks so I was good. I wasn't about to pay 2 prices for beef jerky or cheese and crackers just because I was at 30,000 feet.
The flight was on time, but somehow they goofed up our gate assignment and we had to sit on the ramp for an hour waiting for the gate. Then they lost 1/2 of my luggage. (It finally turned up two days later. I had just given up when they finally admitted to being mystified and that it might never be found and so I was preparing to go spend the day replacing uniforms when they suddenly said they might have a hint of it -- and going to look they found it - in the airport the whole time. It's tag had come off. So a great relief to have my gear back.)
July was also PT month as it is my birthday month. Pushed hard but still missed maxing the test by 30 seconds on the run but a 99 gets me and entire year before I test again.
So this morning finds me in temporary lodging in DC with my family as we spend a few days saying hello/good bye to our friends and our puppy (who is too old to make the trip to the UK) getting ready to go look for a cup of coffee then to the gym to work out and then church and dinner this evening with friends. UK here we come.
I awoke in an early morning in Korea reading over the news to find that a friend I worked with at Arlington National Cemetery was killed in Afghanistan. The cost of liberty remains high.
Specialist Louis (Lou) Fastuca was killed in Abdulhamid Kalay in Afghanistan on 5 July when his vehicle was attacked with an IED. He was 24. He was from West Chester Pennsylvania.
He was a great kid. I always loved his sense of humor. He was always in good humor himself and loved to banter around in the office. Truly a great loss.
I ask my readers to keep his family in their prayers. And pray for victory and for peace.
O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties Above the fruited plain! America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet Whose stern impassioned stress A thoroughfare of freedom beat Across the wilderness! America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control, Thy liberty in law!
Monday, July 05, 2010
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness
O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand Between their loved home and the war's desolation! Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation. Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, And this be our motto: "In God is our trust." And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
Some great ideas to ponder from our first President, George Washington.
It may be laid down as a primary position, and the basis of our system, that every Citizen who enjoys the protection of a Free Government, owes not only a proportion of his property, but even of his personal services to the defense of it.
Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.
If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.
It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible.
To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace.
Our team at Osan Air Base is known for its readiness. Our Wing's motto is "Ready to fight tonight" and we are. Exercises here are full up and as realistic as we can make them and they are lots of fun. As a chaplain they provide me lots of opportunities to talk to folks and learn how they do their jobs when push comes to shove. It is always a reconfirming experience - we have some amazing airmen out here. The presence of our military forces in Korea has been a key factor in the amazing success of our Korean friends.
South Korea is a huge success story. When the communists sought to unify the country under a repressive dictatorship in the 50s they fought with all they had. By the time the war was over, the country was devastated. It had no true urban centers. No true infrastructure. Even the trees were erased from the landscape. Today as you drive through Korea, just 60 years later, you find an amazing prosperous modern country with a thriving economy and people enjoying a thriving democracy with a healthy respect for liberty. Equally encouraging for me personally is that in the midst of this fertile environment where religious liberty is safeguarded the Christian faith is thriving. Also driving through Korea you realize how beautiful a country this is.
But today I read an article that taught me that not only is the amazing Korean work ethic bearing fruit for their human society in its modern economic achievements and standard of living - but the environment has benefited from their work ethic as well. From the article: (By Michael Breen; Korean Times)
When foreign war veterans visit the battlefields in Korea where they fought North Korean and Chinese forces 60 years ago, they notice one enormous change in the terrain: trees. They're everywhere. The once bare hills of wartime Korea are now clothed in foliage. (read the full story here)
In about fifteen minutes the day will shift from 3 May to 4 May back in the states, but it has been 4 May for almost 13 hours here -- so I get to celebrate my wife's birthday before she does -- though I must admit its a bit hard to do since she isn't here. Let's just say with the last few busy days, my primary celebration activity has been just plain missing her.
So honey, if you read this: Happy Birthday. I know you are sleeping right now, but when you wake up I want you to know I'm thinking about you.
Ok, I have to admit, one of my favorite things to do is stop for a restroom break at one of Korea's infamous rest areas. These really are little travel adventures in themselves. First is the adventure of getting into the busy parking lot and then threading through the traffic to the maze of shopping and restaurants that awaits. Fortunately most places are dual labeled in Korean and English. I don't understand the custom, but all the men's rooms are quite open visually to the public. You can look right in and see the urinals as you walk past. One I've stopped at even had the urinals tangent to a large picture window looking out over a river. Little privacy for the men's side of the house. Can't speak to the women's, though I been told that can be an interesting adventure too.
But the real adventure is exploring what you can find. There is all sorts of unique Korean foods available in the little restaurants. Convenience stores carry their version of treats and snacks. Most are much healthier than ours, but I have yet to find a diet coke there. Usually nice coffee shops, but serving are 1/2 the size of what we would be used to. But the best are the Korean Walnut Cakes. Little bite size breaded pastries with chocolate bean paste inside that are actually the size and shape of walnuts. These are delicious and cheap for what you get.
I say I need a potty break but what I really need is my Walnut Cake fix.
Spring is finally coming to Osan. Still chilly today, but we've had some nice warm days.
It is also yellow dust season, which makes for some spectacular sunsets.
Have said goodbye to some great fellow airmen and am saying hello to some great new airmen I am looking forward to serving with.
Was out last weekend to a local orphanage where I was once again blessed by these wonderful Korean children. Not only did we play with them as usual, this time they demonstrated native Korean dancing for us. And they were really very good.
It is daughter week, so says my older brother (at least in one way I'll always be able to describe myself as "younger".). So in celebration of this wonderful week I announce that I have the two most beautiful talented daughters in all the world. I am very proud of both of them and will be glad to be back home with them again in a few months.
Monday was a great day to be a born and bread Tennessee hillbilly as our chapel staff tackled some steep rocky out crops in South Korea. This is Mt Dae Dun San. For April, it was a bit chilly and the cherry blossoms are still sleeping here. But as we the final four of us made our way to the top, the sun broke out and the view was incredible.
A fairly stable cable car took us about 1/2 way up the mountain. Then we began a steep ascent to this swinging (yes it swang) bridge. Then up this steep ladder, climbing between two rocky projections on the side of the mountain.
Here is part of the ascent from the tram up to the bridge. The steps were not typical of the rest of the trip up. This is a view of the entire mountain from the base where we parked. At the top the view was astounding. Looking down on the knoll we climbed to reach the ladder, it all looked incredibly small. It didn't take too long to reach the top though. Not really that far in distance but it was straight up (and straight down). Going down was harder than going up.
Then those of us who climbed to the top visited the little shops on the street as we waited for those who didn't want to tackle the full climb to finish up their refreshment. There were nice looking shops and restaurants. Ate some fried ginseng root here. This is a popular treat in Korea. Supposedly very healthy for you. Tasted like deep fried tree root. Lots of fiber.
We stopped for lunch/dinner at a very relaxing restaurant in the area. I had my traditional Be Bim Bop, but I did try this for the first time --- octopus.
It actually wasn't bad covered in pepper sauce. It doesn't have much flavor on its own and is just a bit chewy.
National Prayer Breakfast --- one of the Chapel's signature events. I was blessed to be on point this year for our Chapel Team's National Prayer Breakfast and thanks to the contribution of many folks I couldn't have asked for it to go any better.
First of all, I was most honored to have an esteemed Airman come all the way from Washington D.C. to serve as our guest speaker. Colonel (ret.) Norman McDaniel encouraged all gathered to "Keep Faith" not only with our nation, but with our fellow airmen, our families, and our God no matter the circumstances. This is something he is most qualified to speak on as he spent over 6 1/2 years in captivity as a POW in Vietnam.
I was blessed to spend quite a bit of time with him this past week. One day we visited the DMZ. Having participated in this tour I now how a healthy respect for those who stand their post there on that line and especially in the Joint Security Area. I will confess that I was very ignorant of significant history there. For example knew nothing until this tour about operation Paul Bunyan and the death by axe of a fellow Captain named Bonifas. It was earie looking north into the rugged mountains and seeing a lone North Korean sentry looking back. It was a cold and blustery place, and not entirely because winter has not fully lifted yet in Korea.
How different South Korea is. A few days later, Col McDaniel, my boss, and myself aided by our language specialist made our way into Suwon to visit the fortress there and have some lunch. Lunch was very good, as can be seen by the nearly empty table. And as we made our way up the incline to look out over the city of Suwon from the ridge the fortress topped, it began to snow - cold but beautiful, though I was wishing I had my hat. (Sort of one of the risks you run when you keep all your hair cut off.) Still yet, we took time in the cold to ring the bell of harmony. Far away from family, there was something still quite powerful about this huge solemn tone ringing out over the entire city in celebration of one's family.
The Prayer Breakfast itself was a very enjoyable event. It is hard to believe that it is already over. So much work goes into preparing a big event with lots of moving pieces that when it is over it seems like it flew by. But it was well worth it. The ROKAF (Korean Air Force) chapel here at Osan brought their choir over and they were amazing. I had the idea of inviting someone to do something like this from the National Prayer Breakfast I attended at Bolling where the AF Singing Sergeants performed. I have to say the ROKAF Choir was easily their equal. They brought their String/Wind ensemble and had liturgical dancers with 30 vocalists and I had goose bumps both for their practice and their performance.
Col McDaniel kept the crowd enraptured during his entire address. Afterwards people flocked to have their pictures made with him or to shake his hand. All week I saw how he naturally connected to folks. On the bus trip back from the DMZ, he had so impressed our Korean tour guide, that she introduced him to everyone and they gave him a huge round of applause.
Spring is trying to pop out here at Osan. I've seen the first signs of buds on the trees, but it is cold today, in the 30s. Lots of wind yesterday, big wind.
But in these sort of dreary dog days of spring with the promise of newness to come, is also a bit of sadness about our impending move to England. We have discovered to that England is a very difficult country to import a family pet to. Our dachshund has been part of our family for 14 years now. But my wife and I are beginning to think that the long trip locked in a carrier all the way to England may be more than our puppy can handle. For one, the six month process doesn't officially begin until later this month, which puts her arriving about a month after me. So either my family holds in the US for a while after my departure, or we find someone to put out puppy on the plane for us. But that isn't the biggest issue for her. She does not travel well in a puppy carrier. We're not sure about how well she will do in the transit or what the impact may be on her health. So we are thinking of having someone keep her.
But all in all, it will be hard on all of us to leave her behind. She's been part of our family almost since the first day we've been family. But our story is not unique.
Separation from family is not unique in military service. In fact it is expected and typical.
As I reflect over my five years of active duty service and my expected service until retirement, I realize just how different our lives as an American military family differ from the typical American family.
Military families don't have the full range of freedom that most American families have.
Military families are often told where they will live. It is not like we can pick up an move anywhere we want. The needs of the military will dictate where we live for the most part. We can ask for a particular geographic area, and the needs and desires of the family are considered, but in the end it is the posting that decides where we live.
Which impacts the continuity of the family's life experience. Mobility means a change in environment. Different environments mean different resources, both in quantity and in quality available to the family. This can be desirable as the base of experience is broader, but the consistence is less simply because the difference is greater. Personally I think the gain in experience is worth the trade off in continuity. I miss home for instance, and I realize that my children will not equate home with "one place", but they will be better equipped for the demands of mobility in our current world that come in many professions and they will be well equipped to decide "where" they wish to live as they will have experienced different places.
Take schooling for instance. Schooling will be interrupted. It will be eclectic because military families move often and schooling quality could be radically different from one location to the next. But most Americans are dependent on the community in which they live for the quality of the schooling for their children. Not everyone can afford private education. Not every community offers the same resources.
Different places do have challenges as well as opportunities in the socialization and upbringing of my children. Not ever social value and way of life is truly valuable in a scale focused on quality, especially when weighed by a value set that is shaped and informed by the vision set for by our God and Creator in the Holy Scriptures. I am a Christian and make no apology but only offer humble thanks for the fact that my values are shaped by the Holy Spirit speaking to me through the Old and New Testaments. I realize that to many this is "quaint" and to some "harmful" but I have found it anything but. That said, I have the challenge of teaching my children to think critically with an informed mindset regarding what the world around them offers them.
Many freedoms for military members and families are curtailed in comparison to the rest of American citizens. Mission drives some. Quality of life and concerns to keep a strong professional and competent military force with healthy families drive others.
We carry military ID cards. My card had embedded in a chip certain personal information. I have to provide the card when demanded in many situations. I find the current debate on a National ID card to be interesting when I hear fears about the "government" have so much personal information on tap. It already does so for those of us in uniform.
In some places, depending on the location, the mission, and the country we are told what we can and cannot own, sometimes what we can and cannot eat or drink, and so forth. Sometimes there are curfews. If we live on base, we can't bring just anyone over. Speed limits are very small and you don't dare go over or you can loose driving privileges. There is no such thing as one DUI after another. One DUI is usually death to an officer's career and will normally result in suspension of permission to drive on base.
So there are many restrictions. But the curious thing is this: the quality of life seems so much better. On base I'll let my children play in the front yard and don't worry about them. I let them go without concern to our activities centers or be enrolled in a program because the people volunteering have had background checks and are known to our community. We drive slow, but when I'm walking I feel safe because people do obey crosswalks. Smart restrictions and higher accountability, for us, in my humble opinion leads to a higher quality of life.
So what does this have to do with the dog?
I love that old elongated puppy. I'll never forget when my new wife and I went to look at these puppies for the first time in this dilapidated house trailer in Illinois. Out came a line of puppies following a toddler who was clothed in nothing but a diaper. And the last one in line, a little tiny runt of a thing, came over and put her paw on my wife's foot. (She still does that.) It was instant magic.
It will be hard to leave our little elongated puppy behind. But I have orders and she may not tolerate the plane ride. And the benefits to my family economically, socially, on all scales are so great in my head I know it would be foolish to sacrifice a career for a 14 year old dog. But the heart grieves the decisions of the head because this dog is a member of the family.
Of course we haven't fully decided yet. Decisions of the heart are often like that... stubborn to listen hoping for another way. And maybe there is. Perhaps that is a key thing about being human... logic does not always have the right answer.
The groundbreaking Women Airforce Service Pilots were buried without military honors and long denied benefits. But now they'll receive the Congressional Gold Medal.
(Quoting LA TIMES ARTICLE:) By the time the program was disbanded in December 1944, 38 women pilots had lost their lives. But there were no flags or military honors at their funerals. Their bodies were sent home and buried at their families' expense. The surviving WASP veterans paid their own way home and melted from history's pages.
The military decreed that their existence had never been cleared by Congress, and denied them benefits. Arnold's son Bruce lobbied for their recognition as veterans, a status Congress finally conferred in 1977.
This week, with fewer than 300 WASP members still alive, Congress is bestowing Congressional Gold Medals on all the trailblazing pilots. (READ FULL STORY HERE)
It has been a bit of a long day for some reason. Had a bit of time off this afternoon and perhaps had to much time to start thinking, but tonight I find myself missing my family and especially my wife. Be nice to have a cuddle in front of a fireplace. A year is a long time apart. But not an uncommon experience for those of us who serve in uniform.
When I came home from the airport my 3 girls all had flowers to welcome me home.
It's not too often that I've received flowers. I made sure to take photos of them because I want to treasure them in my memories.
My boss likes to describe Osan as jumping on and jumping off a high speed train. But for me it is more like riding a half trained horse that has lots of energy and stamina and will get you some place in a hurry, but you can't take your eyes of it for a minute. Let us just say, "I'm back in the saddle and moving at full romp".
I've been back from my mid-tour for about two weeks now. I am resting much better now that I know my daughter's surgery went well and she is now mostly recovered and on the mend. Last Sunday I was back in the pulpit. And while I truly enjoyed being at home and miss my family, I also missed not being in the pulpit. It was good to be leading services again. I have a great bunch of folks that attend the two services that I pastor here at Osan.
Moving full speed ahead (yes, echo from my navy days) on the National Prayer Breakfast. I can't wait. I know the guest speaker is going to be phenomenal as I have heard him speak and I know him from the time I served in D.C. Tickets are going like hotcakes.
Our staff took a day trip to Seoul for some team building which was quite enjoyable. Only the in military would I think that I, someone from the hills of East Tennessee, would experience an opportunity to eat first rate Chinese food in the capitol city of the Republic of Korea not only with Koreans and people born in American, but also someone from the Philippines and someone from Peru as well as (my goodness!) an Alabama fan.
Then I was on the road to visit with one of my squadrons that happens to be located in Daegu, about three and half hours from Osan. It was a cloudy day and the clouds had wrapped the rugged hills and mountains of the landscape tightly. But there was little participation. Strangely, it was cooler the further south we went.
On the way back we stopped at one of the rest areas (put rest areas in the States to shame). I had to get some of the famous Walnut cakes. I love these things. Walnut flavored dough on the outside with chocolate bean paste in the inside. Also bought some to share with the newcomers to our staff.
God has not promised riches but I am thankful for all that He has enriched me with including my family, my friends, and the privilege of serving as a chaplain to some of the finest people I've ever known.
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