So, this morning was men's breakfast at Covenant. I really did not want to go because I've been tired of being gone and was looking forward to working in the yard. Also, I had forgotten about it and wasn't reminded until like 10pm last night. So, last night I was grumpy about it. Before bed, Liz said "maybe you shouldn't set any alarms and just pray that God would wake you up in time if He wants you to go". I thought this a silly idea because certainly I would sleep through and then would be really dangerous as I slept away the whole morning. So, I didn't put much stock in the idea.
But, right before bed, I decided that maybe I should have more faith, so I decided to try it. I set no alarms, not even a backup and I asked the Lord to wake me if He wanted me to go to breakfast. I slept great and was in the middle of a really involved and stressful dream when suddenly I was like wide awake and it was 6:26am. It was the weirdest thing. I went from totally dreaming to "boing!" awake. My head was sort of spinning and I realized this must be God waking me up and getting me to men's breakfast. I had time to shower, make coffee and make it there 5 minutes early and chat with Wayne. It was perfect.
I'm also so glad that He had me to wake up and go. The speaker was an Ethiopian member of our church with an amazing testimony to share. It was really neat and really inspiring and helpful. A great morning!
Saturday, July 25, 2015
Monday, July 20, 2015
Hawai'i Trip
We just got back from an 11-day trip to Hawaii which was really awesome and totally unexpected. I wanted to thank the Lord for providing this time together- I didn't expect it to happen and then it all pulled together at the last minute.
We were driving down to Gatlinburg on the Wednesday before Independence Day. With around an hour or so to go, my boss called me late in the day and asked if I could go to Pearl Harbor on Monday. I was already scheduled and booked to go to San Diego on Monday, so I was totally caught off-guard. I said sure! Thursday was totally stressful trying to find somebody to fill-in for me in San Diego, plus re-arranging all my travel plans; this with most people gone for the holiday weekend (including me!). But, it all got taken care of and set up.
I was really wanting to do the San Diego trip too because there were some things that the other guy wouldn't know how to do; plus I felt some responsibility for this project since I had been there the other two times dealing with it. So, I wanted to go to San Diego direct from Pearl the week after and finish up. But, my other boss said no and had the other guy go instead of me. I felt a little hurt and sad about this, but then just had to let it go in my mind.
I looked at tickets to bring Liz, but at the last minute they were like $1700, so we decided not to do that. I would just go alone and I added an extra personal day to go see the Pearl Harbor memorials. This remained the plan on Friday and most of the day Saturday.
On Saturday afternoon, Liz was talking to her mom about everything and I overheard her saying something about not going. Something she said made me realize that I hadn't really looked into using frequent flier miles for her. I've looked on past trips and I have never seen super saver tickets available at the last minute. While she was still on the phone, I did a quick search for fun and I couldn't believe it when I saw a whole bunch of remaining options for her to come using FF miles! When I told her this, she was quite surprised at the possibility, but she said she'd really like to come.
Then, we spent Saturday night and most of the drive home Sunday trying to figure out how long to stay. I didn't want to stay too long, but not too short either. In tiredness we just decided to book a ticket to come back the next Thursday/Friday overnight flight and then we would change it the next day if we felt different.
When I refreshed the page to book the ticket, the 8:35pm leaving flight was gone and booked! I was really disappointed, but there was an 8:55pm flight going through a different city, so we could get to Honolulu around the same time on different flights. I went ahead and booked this one for Liz. Then, not long after that I was printing my boarding pass and realized that I was on that same flight and had gotten confused! So, it actually worked out perfect and we got to be on all the same flights together. :-)
The other thing that blew me away when I realized it was my disappointment over the San Diego trip. Had things worked out how I planned and how I had wanted, I wouldn't have been able to have this little vacation with Liz the following week. It was neat how God changed my plans and made them much better and provided a great gift.
A few highlights from the week:
We were driving down to Gatlinburg on the Wednesday before Independence Day. With around an hour or so to go, my boss called me late in the day and asked if I could go to Pearl Harbor on Monday. I was already scheduled and booked to go to San Diego on Monday, so I was totally caught off-guard. I said sure! Thursday was totally stressful trying to find somebody to fill-in for me in San Diego, plus re-arranging all my travel plans; this with most people gone for the holiday weekend (including me!). But, it all got taken care of and set up.
I was really wanting to do the San Diego trip too because there were some things that the other guy wouldn't know how to do; plus I felt some responsibility for this project since I had been there the other two times dealing with it. So, I wanted to go to San Diego direct from Pearl the week after and finish up. But, my other boss said no and had the other guy go instead of me. I felt a little hurt and sad about this, but then just had to let it go in my mind.
I looked at tickets to bring Liz, but at the last minute they were like $1700, so we decided not to do that. I would just go alone and I added an extra personal day to go see the Pearl Harbor memorials. This remained the plan on Friday and most of the day Saturday.
On Saturday afternoon, Liz was talking to her mom about everything and I overheard her saying something about not going. Something she said made me realize that I hadn't really looked into using frequent flier miles for her. I've looked on past trips and I have never seen super saver tickets available at the last minute. While she was still on the phone, I did a quick search for fun and I couldn't believe it when I saw a whole bunch of remaining options for her to come using FF miles! When I told her this, she was quite surprised at the possibility, but she said she'd really like to come.
Then, we spent Saturday night and most of the drive home Sunday trying to figure out how long to stay. I didn't want to stay too long, but not too short either. In tiredness we just decided to book a ticket to come back the next Thursday/Friday overnight flight and then we would change it the next day if we felt different.
When I refreshed the page to book the ticket, the 8:35pm leaving flight was gone and booked! I was really disappointed, but there was an 8:55pm flight going through a different city, so we could get to Honolulu around the same time on different flights. I went ahead and booked this one for Liz. Then, not long after that I was printing my boarding pass and realized that I was on that same flight and had gotten confused! So, it actually worked out perfect and we got to be on all the same flights together. :-)
The other thing that blew me away when I realized it was my disappointment over the San Diego trip. Had things worked out how I planned and how I had wanted, I wouldn't have been able to have this little vacation with Liz the following week. It was neat how God changed my plans and made them much better and provided a great gift.
A few highlights from the week:
- The work week was not nearly as stressful as I had anticipated. It had its moments, but in all, it went really well and we accomplished much.
- We enjoyed a sunset dip at Wakiki Beach almost every night after I got back from work. It was a great way to end each work day.
- Liz got to share the Gospel with a young man with no arms or legs. I got to talk with him some too and we talked with him a few different days. He was open, but not totally. I think he's holding onto a lot of hurts and not willing to let it all go to Christ yet.
- A nice time getting to know John D better
- We saw a ton of incredible rainbows- at least one almost every day and some days 3 or 4!
- The Pearl Harbor memorial and museums were excellent. We really learned a lot.
- Found a hotel room for Saturday night at the last minute for a decent rate. It was stressful, but it worked out just fine.
- The beaches all over the island were incredibly beautiful
- North Beach shrimp truck!
- Snorkeling at Hanuama Bay was amazing- so many beautiful fish; I enjoyed it so much
- A brisk hike through the jungle to Manoa Falls was very unique and the falls a great reward
- Got upgraded from full-size car to SUV for free; this was actually quite helpful for hauling around beach stuff
- Our Wakiki hotel room for work got upgraded from the standard per-diem city-view room to a nice room with an ocean view for free
- Mango otai drinks!
- Coconut water from the coconut
- Kahlua pork
- Getting to see a huge sea turtle swim right up and surface next to us out in the water at Wakiki
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
Interesting Night in Mobile
Tonight, we Sam and I left the ship and made a plan to meet up for dinner after showering at our hotels. I fully expected this and after showering, I sent him a text to meet up at the Mediterranean sandwich shop. Or so I thought. I waited almost an hour to hear from him and then in hunger and frustration I went to text him at like 8:15 and then realized I had never sent my first text! I was already on the street partway there when he texted back and said he had an emergency telecon to attend from 8-9 and he would come out after that.
So, I headed on down to the sandwich joint and had a wonderful Greek salad and gyro. While sitting there, two guys were at the table near me talking about religion. It was a fascinating conversation. One had grown up in a Christian home and was devolving into agnosticism and pluralism. The other was a staunch atheist who was evolving into agnosticism and pluralism. So, they were meeting in the middle from two opposite starts. Their final conclusions were very off though, as they asserted the common anthem that "all relgions are basically the same" and "any path is okay". Then, they started discussing enlightened monks and the Daoists and whatnot and wondering how those people were so enlightened and so close to God. They both wondered if they could ever understand God that much. I was pulling out of my skin with desire to say something and correct all of their crazy talk and let them know that God is close and not hard to find. I couldn't decide how to interrupt them and to politely let them know that I was eavesdropping on their entire talk. By the time I was getting up the nerve to be rude, they abrubtly left.
I felt rather defeated but took note of the way they left and prayed that maybe I would bump into them later on the streets. I finished my meal then headed out in the direction they left. Still no news from Sam. I decided to kill time by walking a mile down Dauphin to Moe's. On the way, the guys passed me in their car. Oh well! Got all the way down there and heard from Sam- the meeting was still going. It was like 9:00 or so now.
I started walking back towards the river slowly. I made it about halfway and was at a park corner when an older black gentleman approached me. He was very nice and respectful and he asked me for some food. I asked what he wanted and offered for him to come into the sports bar opposite the corner. He said he didn't want to come, but would take anything. I was a bit dubious after my last failure at doing this in San Diego. But, I went and sat at the bar and ordered him a nice burger and fries and awkwardly waited by myself. The burger came and I took it out to him.
This guy was in his 60s and looked and sounded just like Morgan Freeman. It was ridiculous. I asked him what his deal was and he said he was a welder from Birmingham (where Freeman is from!). He had gotten laid off 6 months ago from BAE and couldn't get work at Austal because its all aluminum. So, he's had to go homeless and just stays on park benches and tries to get some food for the day. I then started asking him some spiritual questions and he said that he knew the Lord and then he proceeded to tell me lots of stories of his youth, his dad, and his grandad who were ministers. The answers seemed good and correct, but I wasn't totally convinced that he really knew the Lord or maybe just knew the right answers. Then, he really started pressing me for money, although very politely. He started talking all spiritual about us being like spirits and all this. I decided that I couldn't trust him entirely as nice as he was. Plus, I bought him expensive food and didn't have any cash with me anyhow. So, I had to break it up and I left him feeling fairly defeated also because the talk wasn't as clear and helpful as I had hoped for his sake.
After all that, it was like 9:45 and still no word from Sam. I walked more towards the hotel/river and was about to stop at Loda's and wait for Sam. But, then I decided to keep going towards the hotel. Just past Loda's, there's another park on the left and the sidewalk on the right gets really dark for a block or two. I had just heard from Sam and was tapping out a text. Out of nowhere, this tall black man comes spinning up to me on a bike, intersecting me at the curb and starts talking at me. It totally freaked me out and I assumed nothing good could come of this. I walked faster and texted more, pretending that nothing was happening.
But, he persisted and was like "I bet you've heard every homeless story here but I'm different". Then he started saying strange things like "I really messed up when I was young, but I trying hard now to change and be different". I actually hadn't really heard such a line before, so I sent my text acknowledging Sam that he would be another hour, and then decided to engage this guy rather than run. He said a lot of things and then said something about "God providing this bike recently". I thought that strange too. We kept walking towards the hotel and the better lit section and he mostly talked at me while I made short responses. Then, when I had a chance, I pressed him on what did he mean about God providing. His answer was curious- he started talking about original sin of humans and going back to the beginning. It was weird. I was intrigued. He wanted food, so I convinced him to come to Serda's coffee shop with me. We got there just before closing and he was really leery of going inside. It took a lot of prodding on my part which made me worried about his past history. Then, he turned to me and was like "you would go inside and talk with me?" He seemed flabbergasted. I was like "sure, why not". Finally, he left his bike outside and we went in. They wouldn't make a sandwich this late, so he got a cinnamon roll and I got a coffee.
We sat down in big leather seats up front and started chatting- I asked him his life story which basically started with gangs in southside Chicago which lead to trouble which lead him down south into more trouble which eventually he got a felony and spent many years in jail. From his story, he was mostly innocent and got a bad wrap, but who knows. I was surprised with how accepting of it all he was and basically acknowledging that what he got put in for was not his fault, but he shouldn't have even been in the position to be accused anyway. It was interesting.
We got done with that and then he said "I take you to be religious", to which I replied, "of course". Then he said "who do you believe Jesus is?". I did not expect such a question from him! I said "I believe he is God come in the flesh and the Son of God as the Bible teaches". He said "I thought so" and then proceeded to quote a bunch of John 1 and tried to dismantle the notion the Jesus is God. He really struggled with it and was trying to convince me otherwise. It quickly became apparent that this guy was very smart, had an incredible vocabulary, and really knew a lot of Scripture! It was crazy. He was going on and on and then started quoting Revelation and trying to convince me that Jesus was the archangel Michael. He was waving his arms and quoting Scripture loudly when the nice coffee shop girl stopped by to let us know that had closed at 10 like 15 minutes ago. She looked at us really weird!
We went outside to a sidewalk table and continued the conversation/debate. The topics got really varied and pretty deep. He revealed himself as having spent a lot of time in the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses which suddenly explained a whole lot about his theology. He said he wasn't a JW because he didn't agree with them totally, but he felt they were closest to the truth from what he has understood. The conversation took a whole new turn and I really tried to drive him to to truth of the Word. It was interesting though. This guy had memorized so much Scripture and could recall it with verse and reference perfect- off the wall stuff too. I later looked up some of them and he was spot-on. I didn't have my Bible with me and I was just totally struggling to come up with any verses to counteract his nonsense. I knew the verses roughly that I was thinking of, but I couldn't piece them together in my brain.
Interestingly, the Spirit started revealing to me that this guy was still struggling with sin and desperately needed to put Christ first in his life to make a true change and stop trying to change himself. I started to take the conversation this direction, making it more personal and less theological. God was helping me to remember Scripture for this task, but I couldn't think of anything to argue him theologically! It was interesting. I took this as confirmation that this is what God wanted me to be doing. So, I really challenged this guy and laid into him a little bit. He was really listening and I hope that it really sunk into his heart. At the end, he was kinda quiet and the just asked if I would pray for him, which I did. Then, he wanted to have a big hug on the sidewalk.
It was nearing 11pm by the time I was done. Sam had just texted me that he was walking out of the hotel. I was walking back into mine when I got it. I decided to go up to my room and bask in the glow of this evening and pray for these guys rather than going out with Sam right then.
It was interesting how God changed my perceived plans and turned them into something totally different. I pray that those time will be useful to these men and lead them to the Lord once and for all.
So, I headed on down to the sandwich joint and had a wonderful Greek salad and gyro. While sitting there, two guys were at the table near me talking about religion. It was a fascinating conversation. One had grown up in a Christian home and was devolving into agnosticism and pluralism. The other was a staunch atheist who was evolving into agnosticism and pluralism. So, they were meeting in the middle from two opposite starts. Their final conclusions were very off though, as they asserted the common anthem that "all relgions are basically the same" and "any path is okay". Then, they started discussing enlightened monks and the Daoists and whatnot and wondering how those people were so enlightened and so close to God. They both wondered if they could ever understand God that much. I was pulling out of my skin with desire to say something and correct all of their crazy talk and let them know that God is close and not hard to find. I couldn't decide how to interrupt them and to politely let them know that I was eavesdropping on their entire talk. By the time I was getting up the nerve to be rude, they abrubtly left.
I felt rather defeated but took note of the way they left and prayed that maybe I would bump into them later on the streets. I finished my meal then headed out in the direction they left. Still no news from Sam. I decided to kill time by walking a mile down Dauphin to Moe's. On the way, the guys passed me in their car. Oh well! Got all the way down there and heard from Sam- the meeting was still going. It was like 9:00 or so now.
I started walking back towards the river slowly. I made it about halfway and was at a park corner when an older black gentleman approached me. He was very nice and respectful and he asked me for some food. I asked what he wanted and offered for him to come into the sports bar opposite the corner. He said he didn't want to come, but would take anything. I was a bit dubious after my last failure at doing this in San Diego. But, I went and sat at the bar and ordered him a nice burger and fries and awkwardly waited by myself. The burger came and I took it out to him.
This guy was in his 60s and looked and sounded just like Morgan Freeman. It was ridiculous. I asked him what his deal was and he said he was a welder from Birmingham (where Freeman is from!). He had gotten laid off 6 months ago from BAE and couldn't get work at Austal because its all aluminum. So, he's had to go homeless and just stays on park benches and tries to get some food for the day. I then started asking him some spiritual questions and he said that he knew the Lord and then he proceeded to tell me lots of stories of his youth, his dad, and his grandad who were ministers. The answers seemed good and correct, but I wasn't totally convinced that he really knew the Lord or maybe just knew the right answers. Then, he really started pressing me for money, although very politely. He started talking all spiritual about us being like spirits and all this. I decided that I couldn't trust him entirely as nice as he was. Plus, I bought him expensive food and didn't have any cash with me anyhow. So, I had to break it up and I left him feeling fairly defeated also because the talk wasn't as clear and helpful as I had hoped for his sake.
After all that, it was like 9:45 and still no word from Sam. I walked more towards the hotel/river and was about to stop at Loda's and wait for Sam. But, then I decided to keep going towards the hotel. Just past Loda's, there's another park on the left and the sidewalk on the right gets really dark for a block or two. I had just heard from Sam and was tapping out a text. Out of nowhere, this tall black man comes spinning up to me on a bike, intersecting me at the curb and starts talking at me. It totally freaked me out and I assumed nothing good could come of this. I walked faster and texted more, pretending that nothing was happening.
But, he persisted and was like "I bet you've heard every homeless story here but I'm different". Then he started saying strange things like "I really messed up when I was young, but I trying hard now to change and be different". I actually hadn't really heard such a line before, so I sent my text acknowledging Sam that he would be another hour, and then decided to engage this guy rather than run. He said a lot of things and then said something about "God providing this bike recently". I thought that strange too. We kept walking towards the hotel and the better lit section and he mostly talked at me while I made short responses. Then, when I had a chance, I pressed him on what did he mean about God providing. His answer was curious- he started talking about original sin of humans and going back to the beginning. It was weird. I was intrigued. He wanted food, so I convinced him to come to Serda's coffee shop with me. We got there just before closing and he was really leery of going inside. It took a lot of prodding on my part which made me worried about his past history. Then, he turned to me and was like "you would go inside and talk with me?" He seemed flabbergasted. I was like "sure, why not". Finally, he left his bike outside and we went in. They wouldn't make a sandwich this late, so he got a cinnamon roll and I got a coffee.
We sat down in big leather seats up front and started chatting- I asked him his life story which basically started with gangs in southside Chicago which lead to trouble which lead him down south into more trouble which eventually he got a felony and spent many years in jail. From his story, he was mostly innocent and got a bad wrap, but who knows. I was surprised with how accepting of it all he was and basically acknowledging that what he got put in for was not his fault, but he shouldn't have even been in the position to be accused anyway. It was interesting.
We got done with that and then he said "I take you to be religious", to which I replied, "of course". Then he said "who do you believe Jesus is?". I did not expect such a question from him! I said "I believe he is God come in the flesh and the Son of God as the Bible teaches". He said "I thought so" and then proceeded to quote a bunch of John 1 and tried to dismantle the notion the Jesus is God. He really struggled with it and was trying to convince me otherwise. It quickly became apparent that this guy was very smart, had an incredible vocabulary, and really knew a lot of Scripture! It was crazy. He was going on and on and then started quoting Revelation and trying to convince me that Jesus was the archangel Michael. He was waving his arms and quoting Scripture loudly when the nice coffee shop girl stopped by to let us know that had closed at 10 like 15 minutes ago. She looked at us really weird!
We went outside to a sidewalk table and continued the conversation/debate. The topics got really varied and pretty deep. He revealed himself as having spent a lot of time in the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses which suddenly explained a whole lot about his theology. He said he wasn't a JW because he didn't agree with them totally, but he felt they were closest to the truth from what he has understood. The conversation took a whole new turn and I really tried to drive him to to truth of the Word. It was interesting though. This guy had memorized so much Scripture and could recall it with verse and reference perfect- off the wall stuff too. I later looked up some of them and he was spot-on. I didn't have my Bible with me and I was just totally struggling to come up with any verses to counteract his nonsense. I knew the verses roughly that I was thinking of, but I couldn't piece them together in my brain.
Interestingly, the Spirit started revealing to me that this guy was still struggling with sin and desperately needed to put Christ first in his life to make a true change and stop trying to change himself. I started to take the conversation this direction, making it more personal and less theological. God was helping me to remember Scripture for this task, but I couldn't think of anything to argue him theologically! It was interesting. I took this as confirmation that this is what God wanted me to be doing. So, I really challenged this guy and laid into him a little bit. He was really listening and I hope that it really sunk into his heart. At the end, he was kinda quiet and the just asked if I would pray for him, which I did. Then, he wanted to have a big hug on the sidewalk.
It was nearing 11pm by the time I was done. Sam had just texted me that he was walking out of the hotel. I was walking back into mine when I got it. I decided to go up to my room and bask in the glow of this evening and pray for these guys rather than going out with Sam right then.
It was interesting how God changed my perceived plans and turned them into something totally different. I pray that those time will be useful to these men and lead them to the Lord once and for all.
Monday, February 2, 2015
Snow beauty
Today I flew from Charlottesville to Seattle. Our great circle route went right over Pittsburgh which was neat to see and then right up to Lake Eire and Lake Michigan just north of Chicago.
Tonight was a very full moon and very bright. It was incredible seeing the moon reflect off the snow all over the states as we went north. It revealed patches of farmland, roof tops, rivers, etc. It was so pretty! When we went over the Great Lakes, the moon revealed that the lakes had frozen over. From 40,000 feet I could make out the layers of ice on the lakes and see where the wind had blown the water in patterns that froze. It looked like huge frozen waves in some parts. Really neat!
I was so thankful to get to experience such a unique part of God's creation that not many people can see and those who can may not notice. I really enjoyed it.
Tonight was a very full moon and very bright. It was incredible seeing the moon reflect off the snow all over the states as we went north. It revealed patches of farmland, roof tops, rivers, etc. It was so pretty! When we went over the Great Lakes, the moon revealed that the lakes had frozen over. From 40,000 feet I could make out the layers of ice on the lakes and see where the wind had blown the water in patterns that froze. It looked like huge frozen waves in some parts. Really neat!
I was so thankful to get to experience such a unique part of God's creation that not many people can see and those who can may not notice. I really enjoyed it.
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