Camp Okoboji

Well, here I am at the start of Youth Week. Click the above linkified tite for the web page of where Sara and I are.

It's always nice to sit and participate in worship without having to do anything. At least, it's nice when worship is done right. I wonder if I am a bit of a "worship snob" but I just think there are certain things that need to be a part of worship. One of them being one of the three Ecumenical Creeds, which are the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed. Today, whoever prepared our worship decided to write his own creed. *sigh*

I still remember what my professor at Seminary used to say. "If you ever feel the need to write your own creed, sit down with a bottle of Jack Daniels' and drink it until that feeling goes away." Creeds are statements that bind the future of our Church with the past. There's just something humbling and encouraging about reciting a statement of faith that has been shared by billions of Christians throughout the centuries. It reminds me that this faith that I profess is not about me but will out live me. My goal in life is not to get to heaven; my goal in life is make sure that the knowledge and faith of Christ continue until He comes again. Like I said, maybe I'm a bit of a worship snob, but this is something that needs to be a part of each week to keep today's Christians mindful of those who have come before.

Other than that, things have been great. Around 100 kids, lots of great friends, and time to be alone should produce some great thoughts for this site. Greg Suckow can read them next week when he's catching up.

Okay, so this didn't work like I had planned.

I'm still trying to post some pics here so you all can see my life. This was supposed to be a profile photo, but it got posted here. Oh well. This is from my promotion ceremony last year. It's got me standing tall and looking good!

Profile Photo

I am Guppy Plains

Huh?

It's just something that came up while I was attempting to golf yesterday. I figured the opposite of a Tiger would be a guppy and the opposite of Woods is Plains. I am the anti-Tiger Woods.

I shot a 58 yesterday. It's the same score I shot when I first started golfing eight years ago. I know I could get better if I spent the time (and money) for lessons and maybe some new equipment, but I'm not sure I want to.

Yesterday, I came home drenched in sweat having walked about 2.5 miles toting 20 lbs. of equipment and not happy. I spent 2 hours spoiling a good walk, to paraphase Mark Twain.

While I was driving home, I realized that I didn't even feel like I had had a good workout. I wasn't happy; I didn't have fun; why do it. So, I think I am done golfing for a while. I'm not good at it; it's not fun; I don't want to spend the time getting better. The clubs will go in the closet and stay there for a while.

End of story.

The Cost of Freedom

Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young once asked this question:

"(Do we) find the cost of freedom, buried in the ground?"

I would say, "no."

The cost of freedom is found in families and the sacrifices they make.

My brother-in-law is getting ready to head to Japan for 18 months. He's taking his family with him, but he's leaving a lot of family behind. For many of us, myself included, this will be the last time I see them before they leave. My nephew is almost 4. He'll be 6 when he gets back. He has two cousins that are 13 months old. They'll almost 3 when he gets back. It's going to be a big change.

When we were coming home from vacation in Nebraska, we stayed with my sister-in-law's family the night before we flew out. As we were saying good-bye, I saw the cost of freedom in the tears that were shed by everyone involved. It was rough.

Many would say, "why?" Because someone has to do it. It's a necessary cost for our freedom. If we don't put people "on that wall," then we won't have the safety we enjoy now. Nowadays, the cost of freedom isn't measured in body bags; we've lost less than 2000 troops in this conflict. But, some of those Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines will come back to an empty house. I've heard of some units having a divorce rate as high as 75%...three out of four marriages in that unit will end in divorce. Less drastically, my brother-in-law's family will miss 18 months of life, growth, joys, and tears with his extended family.

I'm thankful that Nathan is willing to put his family through Hell for me. I pray that my family will be strong enough when my time comes to do the same.

Relaxed and Recharged

Yep, like the title says, I am relaxed and recharged. Now if I could just wake up!

Last week, Sara and I went to Fort Robinson, Nebraska for her family's reunion. How's this for a travel day: wake up at 4:30 am so that we can catch a shuttle to the Atlanta Airport at 5:30 am. Catch our 2.5 hour flight to Denver at 9:00 am. Nathan and Christi and Jackson pick us up at the Denver Airport. We then drive another 3 hours or so to Sidney, Nebraska, where Nathan and Sara lived for 10 years. From there we drive another 3 hours or so to Ft. Robinson and arrive there about 6:00 pm Mountain Standard Time, which is 8:00 pm Eastern (my) time. We find Sara's parents, get our stuff moved in, and visit for a while. At 9:00 pm MST, I can't understand why my eyes won't stay open. Then I do the math: I've been going for 19 hours+ now. Needless to say, I crashed...only to have my Army training kick in and wake me up at 5:30 am local time.

Not to worry, my body adjusted to the change in time really well. By Tuesday, I was in the zone and used to Mountain time. Did I mention we drove back to Colorado Springs on Tuesday? I got acclimated just in time to leave. We drove back on Tuesday to stay with Christi's family in CO Springs and then flew home Wednesday.

My sleep patterns are still on Mountain Time; I stayed up til midnight last night. Needless to say, it makes it very difficult to wake up at 4:30 in the morning when one stays up that late.

You know what? I think I need a vacation!