Four Month Review

It has been almost four months since my last post. My lack of writing has not been because I have not been busy. I have had some adventures and I would like to spend a few minutes to share with you.

As most of you know Laura and I have been working to get out of debt since May of 2007. We started and hoped that some day our hard work would pay off and it did. Laura and I paid off her car on December 31, 2010. As you might imagine, we were excited to start 2011 debt free. With God's help we paid off $52,589.11 in forty-four months. We did it and you can too. We hope to talk to Dave soon.

In January I was off to Fort Carson Colorado. My unit went to Colorado to do High Altitude Mountain Environmental Training (HAMET). It was a great opportunity for me to get to know my soldiers and begin real ministry with them. This training event allowed us to train and prepare for our upcoming deployment. It was frustrating that I missed Laura's birthday while I was in Colorado. Sadly, I will have missed the last two and I will miss the next one also. :-( However, it is like my commander says, "We train so we can increase our odds on bringing every soldier home."

February and March were filled with a lot of work and a little time at home with the family. Since we are deploying this year, I did retreats for my soldiers and their families. I was able to host two retreats and it was a blast. For the singles retreat we went to a working Dude Ranch. We were west of San Antonio the middle of nowhere TX riding horses, eating well, sitting on long horn cattle, learning about buffalo and I taught the Five Love Languages for Singles. For the family retreat we went to a resort and spa in the Austin area and I taught the Five Love Languages. One of the not so fun parts of my calling is pulling duty on the crisis line and the funeral line. In the month of March I had the crisis line twice and the funeral line once. I had to do two notifications and one funeral. Like I said earlier, a lot of work and a little time at home.

April has been a little quieter. Thankfully we avoided the government shutdown. Most soldiers live paycheck to paycheck and so many soldiers and family members would have been affected. I do not want to imagine what all we would have had to deal with. Currently, my unit is getting all the training and medical appointments out of the way before deployment. Once we get things packed up and ready to go it will be time for our paid vacation.

Sorry that the four month review is more like a novel but thanks for reading. I would also like to thank you in advance for your prayers for me and my soldiers. Soon we will be experiencing something very different. If you are interested in supporting me and my unit during this next deployment let me know and I can give you the information necessary. Thanks again.

The picture is our chapel community while we were in Colorado. It is blurry but you can see that we have a great start on our deployed faith community.

ASIST Training

Last month I taught a class for thirty soldiers on ways to intervene when someone they know is considering suicide. The training is Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) and is a two day training event. In the training we got to teach soldiers skills that can use on many different levels. The two days are spent teaching the soldiers by group training, small group sessions, group discussion and finally with participant role playing. It was a great two day event.

The 1st Air Cavalry Brigade (ACB) wrote an article that appeared in the Killeen Herald, in the Fort Hood Sentinel and on the front page of the Army's website. I thought you might like to see me at work. This is just one of the ways I get to help soldiers and their families. If you click on the link it will take you to the article. http://www.army.mil/-news/2010/11/22/48463-1st-air-cav-learns-how-to-asist/

If I do not talk to you before Christmas, have a Merry Christmas!!

What a beautiful place. Laura and I have been at The Cove for a Chaplains retreat. Wow, what a wonderful time for me and Laura. We have been able to fellowship with many other Chaplains and their spouses. We have been renewed by spending time in God's Word. We have heard the Divine Whisper and we have drank from the well of the Living Water.

Exhale!

One of the greatest things about this is that it is not over yet. We have a few more sessions and a few more people to meet. If you are feeling burned out and overwhelmed by life make sure you are spending some time with God. I often get too busy with ministry to spend adequate time with God. It is good to retreat to a quiet place to speak to God, to get a word from the Lord and to be renewed.

Thank you God for all your wonderful mercies!

Playing Catch-Up

It has been a while since I have posted anything so here is a shotgun blast of some of the things that have been going on since my last post.

Since moving to the new unit I have learned a lot. In the beginning of October, my unit had aerial gunnery and I had an opportunity to go into the field and see my new soldiers doing their jobs. I really enjoyed learning what they do and getting to know their stories. Things are going really well and I have had opportunities to connect with my soldiers and I look forward to more opportunities. While we were in the field we had a family day. Families came out to see their soldier doing their job. I think it was a wonderful event. The attached pictures are from that day. Laura & Victoria enjoyed being out there spending time with me in the field. I love my job!!

On 06NOV10, Laura, Victoria and I did a 5K on Fort Hood. It was my first ever competitive run. I hope is only the beginning, one day I would love to run a half marathon and some day a full marathon. For this run I finished 15th in my age group of 29-39. I completed the 3.2 miles in 25:11. Next time I hope to be a little closer to 21 minutes. Laura, Victoria and I enjoyed the great event.

Today, I had the opportunity to worship with First Baptist Church Belton, TX. It was a great time of celebrating Veteran's and their families and being reminded of why it is important tell people about Jesus. It was a great day of worship!!

On 28NOV10, I will become the Senior Pastor of 76th Street Chapel. Please be in prayer with me as I love and seek to lead the great people of our chapel community. I will be joined in leadership by CH Chris Weinrich. Part of my prayer is that we will be effective at reaching out to soldiers that are right around the chapel. I am praying for divine ideas of impacting our chapel and our soldiers. We have to have the perspective that the small things we do in life can and do make an eternal difference. Thanks for partnering with me in prayer as I lead this congregation.

Well, I think this is pretty much it for now. I hope all of you are doing well and that you feel the presence of God in your lives daily. God Bless!!

Moving On Up

If you are as old as I am, you probably have the Jefferson's theme song playing in your head. We did not move to a high-rise apartment when we moved last month, instead the title references my impending change of units. At the end of this month I will be leaving 1-7 CAV and going to 1-227 Air Cavalry Brigade (ACB). Yes, I will no longer be in a ground unit. The next time I deploy, my main means of transport will be by air, that will be different. My new soldiers will be helicopter pilots, mechanics, fuelers, etc. (everything to do with helicopters) It is going to be a very different world from what I have known thus far in my Army career, but I am looking forward to it. When I was in basic and I knew I was going to the 1st Cavalry Division I asked for the ACB. So, I am getting my wish a little delayed. :-)

Before leaving 1-7 though, I have the opportunity to earn silver spurs. If you are interested in finding out more you can follow this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Spur. It is going to be a grueling couple of days, but I will continually quote Scripture reminding myself that through Christ all things are possible and that I do not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. These verses got me through other events and I do not expect things to be different this time. It is such a honor to participate in such a great tradition of the Cavalry with such a historic unit. I have loved my time with 1-7 "Garryowen" and I cannot think of a better way to end my time there than with a spur ride. I will have to make sure to have medication waiting for me when I get home from the event, LOL!!

On a little different note, Laura and Victoria are doing really well. School is going really well and Victoria is nailing her classes. We are so proud of her!! Victoria is also involved with the youth group on post and we are so thankful for that ministry and that she has the opportunity to be around other people that love the Lord like she does. Laura is staying busy with teaching and getting everything set in our new house. We love our new place and Laura is turning our house into a home. I am loving what she is doing with it. When we get finished we will have to take some pictures and post them on here for you all to see.

Well, I better get off of here because it is getting late and I need some sleep before my fun PT session in the morning.

Until next time...I pray that you are aware of God's presence with you.