It
amazes me to think just a month ago I was still a midshipman wandering around
the Yard, preparing to graduate. Yep. Just one month ago today this little chap
was still spray painting my white kicks in Bancroft and trying to find my
choker whites. And now I’m on a loud, cramped military flight to a small but intense little country in east Africa with
some British EOD commandos and a couple Swedes. Accelerate your life eh? As for
my aerial view flying over the Middle East, the entire place looks like an
endless brown desert…because it really is an endless tan desert.
The
three word summary of Bahrain might be hot, hilarious, and dusty. For starters,
wearing the same bright orange polo and humping two 70lb bags around makes
anyone stand out, especially in a world where everyone stops growing vertically
(not necessarily horizontally) after they’re tall enough to ride the big kid
roller coasters. Seriously, everyone around here is about 5 foot nothing. As
for the heat, let’s just say that in about 15 minutes I could have owned a
crispy sun tan worthy of a full summer in Florida.
I spent
most of Sunday either catching up on sleep, reading, finding food, and trying
to refresh the Wifi. I guess I am still a midshipman- nothing’s changed. Although
I have several extra pairs of civilian clothes, my packing efficiency (and
reluctance to re-pack) has resulted in traveling in the same clothes since
Friday. (Only 26 more days to challenge my NOLS buddies’ records) Early in the
day I tried to explore the city on foot, but the mosque wasn’t digging first
time guests on Sundays, the Saudi I met was in business mode, and the kids I
met were headed back to school. For the most part, I knew the major restriceted
places to avoid, and I only saw briefly one little pocket of protesters headed
in the opposite direction. In the Arabic world, the weekend is Friday and
Saturday, and in Bahrain in particular many Saudi’s travel to the city for “entertainment”
on the weekends under the belief that “Allah can’t see them.” Ultimately, I
ended up on the base, tried an ethnic gyro-esque lunch, listened to a Philipino
Journey cover band (weird), traded in
for some confusing currency I never needed (souvenirs!), and caught my ESPN fix
with updates on the Gators (big win), Navy (no comment), Navy Sprint (congrats)
and the MLB Playoff picture. Also tried my hand at an HGTV-esque webcam tour of
the posh hotel suite they booked for us, but these videos are impossible to
load right now. Short summary: sweet shower, two toilets and random other
gizmos (?), cool lighting, and a glitzy pool rendered useless by the fine dusty
heat.
I tried
to join the BACC Webcast but had difficulties, so I resorted to exploring
Matthew 6 by myself. I have no doubt Pastor Pat and the team are continuing the
challenge to walk by faith this fall, and my prayer is that I too would see
even greater opportunities not only for steps of faith wherever I am, but also
chances to “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.” (Mt 6:33) The
best thing is that as the Author of Creation, the entire world falls under the
domain of His Kingdom! In other good news, I’m pleased to report prayer still
works over here, and I celebrated a little impromptu communion in the hotel
room with a raspberry smoothie and a roll. That counts right? Prayers for my
traveling companion on this journey- a salty, ‘Catholic’ 30 year veteran LDO
engineering officer- are appreciated, as we figure out what adventures and
countries are next in this Carmen Sandiego Adventure. (anyone else remember
that song?)
For the
King and the Kingdom!
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