October 12, 2009

AFTER A THREE YEAR break in service to the US Navy I find myself at the beginning of a 420 day journey around the world to Kabul Afghanistan, serving my country with the prayers of friends and family going before me. These prayers are for many things. Safety is the most obvious request, but the main request for me is that these prayers would be for my ability to surrender my: time, family, and desires to whatever purpose the Lord has set out before me.

Left, Tori, Elicia, Chris and Deborah.

Flying south to San Diego eating the box lunch I brought, I'm struck by how great this sandwich is. A BLT made at the diner this morning, it's really good! Lunch brings me back to this morning with the family. Let me get past the BLT.

Flying into San Diego, CA.


My wife Deborah, two daughters, Tori and Elicia, and I had a good going away breakfast with my parents this morning at Dave's dinner near Seatac international airport. While eating and talking about the year to come my Mother keenly spotted a box lunch choice on the menu. Being a mother who cares and loves her son, no matter how old I get, she also ordered the lunch for me, ensuring her son didn't go hungry.

I got the BLT with oranges and chocolate chip cookies, wow, turned out to be a great choice. Juicy tomatoes, slightly salty bacon all on toasted sourdough bread. I'm positive it is superior in taste to the snack pack the airline is offering for the same price, ouch! Today I'm reminded that God is good even in the little details of our lives. This morning as I checked in at the airline kiosk I tried to change my seat from my assigned middle seat to a window or isle seat with no success. The screen of the kiosk glared back at me with only four available seats, all of which were in the middle of a row. So I left my seating assignment unchanged, packing my bags over to baggage check. Once there, what do you know but the lady behind the desk asks me
if I would like a window seat in a emergency exit isle? What, are you asking if I would like a lot of leg room and a window? Of course! (By the way one of those initial four empty seats happens to be beside me right now.)

Power lines just outside the Base fence.


The little details, if you look, God is in all of them: the enjoyable conversation, breakfast with the family one last time for a year, tears shed at the airport gate, a great lunch, and legroom to spare. Why is it that I only concentrate on the things that I consider big and important: the career, how can I upgrade the house, when will my car get a fresh coat of paint? I can only imagine looking down from Gods perspective upon my live and seeing all the little pieces that make it up and being in complete awe. How uptight I can get about things, which in my eyes, advance my life.

What a perspective God must have. Another thing I need to add to the prayer list, perspective control! Did I mention it was a great BLT?