Land!!!

While there are far worse things than being underway for just over 2 weeks without land, it is certainly enough time to realize the things you take for granted in life. Who ever thought I would long for solid ground? Who ever thought I would long for walls that stood vertical instead of tilting at a 45 degree angle. Who ever thought I would long for sunlight? Who ever thought I would long for a hunk of metal with 4 wheels attached to it? Ah, these are all questions that might seem silly but hold much meaning within my heart.

We pulled into Guam yesterday. While I was given all the things above, I was also given buckets of sweat and a stench of a couple hundred sailors surrounding me at an all hand's call. To summarize it in 3 words: Guam Is Hot! I guess it isn't really that is it hot outside. It's more a matter of feeling like I am walking through a concrete jungle with enough humidity to make me want a towel after a few minutes of being outside.

It's beautiful! How can I declare this after all I have just said? There is so much greenery after weeks of nothing but a dull & drab gray of the ship. The water is a perfect green turquoise color. You can see fish swimming around the pier that you would normally only see in a saltwater aquarium at your local pet store. I just wish we had more time here so I could go snorkeling. Oh well, maybe another time.

We are about to get ready to hit the open water again. While I am not looking forward to it, I also desire to get it over with. To look on the bright side, any change to get back out to sea is another chance to move forward and closer to home. I choose to look at it as we are on our way home. It's just going to take 5 and a half months to get there.

Shark bait

Yesterday was swim call. It is a tradition where sailors get to take a break and jump off the ship into the ocean. This was only my 2nd time doing it in the 9 and a half years that I have been in the Navy. I had a blast! Nothing quite like taking a leap off of the aft missile deck and plunging into the deep. Our XO was sure to pass the word that the nearest land was 22,000 feet straight down. It's amazing how the presence of a ship can make the difference between a feeling of fun in the sun and a retake of the movie Open Water. I thought it was hilarious that they played Jaws on TV right before swim call. In the end, we all had a fantastic time.

I learned I should be a part of the paparazzi. I unknowingly took a picture (out of all 110 pics I took) of a wardrobe malfunction. I then proceeded to share the pictures with everyone on the ship by posting them to the Sharedrive. It wasn't until later that it was brought to my attention. The pic was taken down, deleted fom everybody's profiles who copied it (gotta love being a LAN admin), and then deleted from my personal camera. Whoops!

Last night was a great night for church service. I started a 5 weeks series on the 5 points of Calvinism. It was a very in depth study. Then again, most of my sermons/lessons are fairly in depth. I'm not a fan of all the shallow teaching that has consumed the postmodern church services today. Overall, it went well. There were only 3 of us but I am not concerned with merely numbers of attendance. I am concerned with speaking the Truth. One girl seemed very confused because it was not what she had grown up believing her whole life but she was having a difficult time disagreeing with Scripture simply because she had never seen it as a whole before. I am praying God will reveal His Truth to them through His holy Word. If He desires to use me as an instrument, I will consider myself to be blessed.

It's been a few days

Sorry for not updating this in a few days. It's been hectic to say the least. A person who has never been in the military will just never understand the kind of work load we have. I spent 6 hours troubleshooting one computer just to have it e-slap me in the face and that is just one issue. I hope this isn't a preview of the rest of deployment. Most of us agree the quality of the food is already at the 4 month mark yet we aren't even 2 weeks in. Yikes!

On a positive note, a Chaplain came to our ship today. He will be with us until Sunday afternoon when he will be boated back to his home ship. We are having a Bible Study and a time of prayer tonight. I am looking forward to it. He will hold service Sunday morning and then I will hold it again Sunday evening. I still plan on going through the 5 points of Calvinism in depth. Should be interesting.

As with all deployments, this one will prove to be challenging. Red Cross messages have started coming because of ill or dying relatives, people's pets have passed away, stress levels are high, and relationships are being pulled in all directions (some closer and some not so much). It's nothing new and it isn't going to stop any time soon. Let's just pray that God will help us through this difficult time.

Church service

I wasn't sure what to expect this evening. It was the first service of deployment and I had not heard a peep from any of the regular attendees. We had a total of 4 of us there tonight (including me). Two of the members were there for the first time. I spoke on the chronological order of grace, regeneration, and faith (in that order). The service went very well overall. Everybody participated and really seemed eager to learn. As the weeks progress, I plan on thoroughly covering the 5 points of Calvinism. We'll see how that goes.

Casual Sunday

It is our first Sunday underway. Everybody that matters is still sleeping and I am finally able to relax. After a day like yesterday, it will feel great to do nothing. Yesterday, we had drills, drills, and more drills. When we weren't doing drills, I was busy fixing the problems with the LAN. I will admit that last night was relaxing. I busted out the laptop and just spent the evening watching a movie before drifting off to sleep.

Being Sunday, it is holiday routine. This means we are allowed to watch movies, read books, etc. I think I will finish my sermon today. It is pretty much done. I just need to do a couple touch ups. I am looking forward to holding church service tonight. Being the first one of deployment, I am curious to see how many people will actually show up. Even if the numbers are low, at least the message is strong. At least, I think it is. I'd rather have quality over quantity anyway.

Speaking of which, this deployment is going to be vastly different from last deployment regarding church service. Last deployment, I focused on foundational topics such as sin, grace, freedom in Christ, Spiritual growth, etc. I wanted to build up the congregation with the basics before throwing meat at them. This deployment, I plan on focusing on deeper theological topics. Tonight, I will be preaching on the chronological order of grace, regeneration, and faith (despite the common misbelief of it being grace, faith, & then regeneration). After this, I plan on going full force into the 5 points of Calvinism. I want to completely break down TULIP by each point. I am thinking of doing one point per Sunday while having each Sunday build off of the previous points. Last deployment, I scooped up the sand and put it in a bucket. This deployment, I plan on sifting through the sand and being left with jewels.

Rollin'

The seas have been interesting today. They started off smooth and have steadily progressed into rolling chairs and falling computer towers. Guess we should have strapped those down. Whoops! As hard as I tried to defeat day 4 this morning (see last post), I lost in the end. Midnight came and went. Finally around 12:30 am, I gave up on troubleshooting and went back to bed. Who knew morning could come so soon? I enjoyed some fine Navy dinner (yeah right!) just to realize it was my lunch and that I still had a full day ahead of me. Time really does sit on the sidelines while on deployment. I keep telling people I can't believe we're only on day 4 yet already on day 4. To put things in perspective, I realized yesterday while I was outside that it had been 3 days since I had seen sunlight. That just isn't healthy but when you are deployed, everything blends together and the days sneak by.

On another note, I just love it when people have no idea what they are doing yet pretend they do only to cause problems for everybody else involved. Tiff went to get her base decals renewed today. The man told her she needed her front plate and if she could not get one before the decals expired, she would have to get a smog test done again. WE ARE REGISTERED IN FLORIDA!!! They don't even issue front plates. To make it worse, they have a list right there on their window at the counter with a list of states that are exempt from the front plate rule. Not only did he screw up there but he apparently did not know that the base stopped requiring smog tests for decals back in December of '08. As a result of one man's feigned knowledge, Tiff wasted her time and was turned away. I called them and got it all worked out. The supervisor apologized. I guess Tiff will have to go back tomorrow.

Oh well, worse things have happened to people. I am hoping to have an uneventful rest of day 4. Maybe I'll watch a movie. Maybe I'll read my book. Maybe I'll relax and go to bed early. So many options, nothing but time...

Sleep escapes

Well, day 3 came, went, and came again. It was a fairly relaxing day. While filled with work, it wasn't anything unmanageable. In fact, it was quite enjoyable. This does not mean I wanted to do it all over again. After a hot shower, I laid down to read The Jesus You Can't Ignore by John MacArthur. I closed my eyes at 9:30 pm and said goodbye to Day 3. Lo and behold, day 3 was not ready to say goodbye. Here I am at 11:10 pm working on a laptop computer for our commanding officer. I am determined to not greet Day 4 until 6 am at a minimum despite its attempts to cut me off at the pass.

Deployment: Day 2

Never done the whole blogging thing before but I figured now is as good a time as any to get started. I've got 6 months with nowhere to go. Deployment officially started yesterday. We all knew it was coming but nobody expected it to come so fast. The wife & kids came to the ship to say their goodbye's. Tiff cried while Aidan & Aviryne seemed to act as if they would see me for dinner.

Now we are on day 2 and the routine is already setting in. Long days and lots of training seem to make the world go 'round. While I'm not looking forward to the training cycle, I do have one bright spot. I am looking forward to leading church services throughout the next 6 months. I already have my lessons planned out for the next few months. Now I just need to find the time to prepare them.

Time. Six months with nowhere to go but it still seems to escape me.