Babysitting to Boating....Accelerate Your Life!

So God called me while babysitting. Yep. It was an epic night of Space Monkeys, puzzles, and lasagna with my friends Kenny, Cooper, and Charlie of the Cook clan and Jonathan and Ineka of the Pastermack fraternity when God crashed the party. For a Lord who burns bushes, tears down walls, and blinds people on the road to Damascus, I was fortunate He chose the proverbial email from my superior officer to let me know I was to report to Norfolk within 36 hours. Talk about a living depiction of those motivating Navy commercials. Originally the hope was to be on leave through late September, including trips to P-cola, hanging around USNA, and a few other visits and conferences along the way. Thus life not only sped up pretty quickly but needed to be packed into two bags ready for sea for about 4 months deployment. In some ways, it felt like living through a modern day Acts 8 moment where one day Phillip gets orders to leave his ministry in Samaria, go hang out with a eunuch on the road and explain Isaiah, and the next moment lands about four regions away in Azotus. While I don’t anticipate any teleporting by the Holy Spirit, it is cool to finally get to go to the nations around the world, and particularly in Arabic-laden societies! Unfortunately, hopes of finding closure amongst relationships in Annapolis (and writing thank you notes!) fell by the wayside, but apparently there are post offices and stamps around the world so I will try to write as much as possible. First, I discovered the magic not only of owning my own laptop, but of snazzy features like skype and webcams. For those curious, in lieu of texts or phone calls, emails to DJAngle34@gmail.com (personal) or usna120156@gmail.com (military/midshipman) accounts should work when I have computer access, and my skype name is DJAngle34.

So what happened after August 31^st? Well for wondering, I had been sitting in TPU (transient personnel) on standby in Norfolk, waiting for the “next available fly window.” Although my life as a midshipman prepared me for the lifestyle of hurry up and wait, the term standby being extended for nearly three weeks meant a few minor adjustments to my personal definition.  In reality, I was essentially wearing out the couches of some great friends while waiting for my itinerary for departure or an update on my status, which changed about four times. To Russell & Nicole Brown, David Manley, and Bobby & Arabella Dixon, I am truly grateful for your gracious hospitality amidst my shenanigans. (Given the amount of time spent sleeping on each couch and my car, I give the following ratings for comparability: My Corolla- 5.0 Browns-9.5 Manley-8.5 and Dixon-8.0 but extra point for matching pillow decor :) and yes i just publicly rated your couches)

For those curious about my lack of continual update, texts, or calls in the interim, as frustrating as my status seemed I appreciated the additional time to mentally, emotionally, and spiritually prepare myself for the adventures and challenges ahead. No doubt I would have loved to chat with everyone back home, but when nearly every-day you prepare to leave the United States, it makes you think, rest, and relax a bit. I know there is a famous country song (Toby Keith?) about all that (skydiving, rocky mountain climbing, except come to think of it going on deployment is not equivalent to dying.)For me, rest came mostly in the form of sleeping, reading, HGTV, MLB playoffs and a little college football. I truly look forward to when I can return home to Annapolis and see you all once again.

In closing, with good reports coming from Church, the Academy, Annapolis, my family, and Cru, I am reminded of the opening words of Paul in Philippians 1 “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now…It is right for me to fell this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers of grace with me…for God is my witness how I yearn for you with all the affection of Christ Jesus.” 

For the King and the Kingdom!