Some pictures of OTCN

I don't have time to really write, but here's a few pictures of where I'm at right now. In the first one, you can sort of see the two carriers tied up to the pier across the bay. CV 59 and CV 60, both are decomissioned and are being prepped to be sunk as artificial reefs somewhere off the coast. The next two pictures are of King Hall, the barracks that I live in. Sorry about the poor quality of the three of them... all I had with me was my phone to take pictures with.

Things are going pretty well. I'm two weeks into NSI right now, and so far it hasn't been too bad. It's definitely a lot of academic work... 18 credit hours that are normally taught over the course of three years at a NROTC program, crammed into 8 weeks. We've only had one week of actual classes so far, and our midterms are scheduled to start on the 10th... so it's pretty intensive. During the week I don't have time for anything but school, eating, PT, and sleeping. I get up at 4:00 every morning, so I try to get to bed as early as possible, but usually it's not until well after 9:00, and sometimes past 10:00. The classes I'm taking are Naval Engineering, Weapons, Navigation, Naval Operations/Seamanship, Seapower, and Intro to Naval Sciences. They're all fairly interesting, and I have somewhat of an advantage over some of the others here in that the Engineering class is basically the stuff I've been teaching to others over the last two years at NPTU. We PT three mornings a week before class, and our class officer, LT Brewer is really 'enthusiastic' about his PT sessions. I was more sore than I've ever been for the first week, and that was with me being in pretty good shape to begin with. I'm doing a lot better now, though, and I feel great.

So, all in all, it's been good so far, except for the major fact that all the demands on my time leave me with hardly any time at all to talk with Naomi. It's been a tough transition from talking for over an hour each and every night to the fifteen or twenty minutes a night that we get now. God had been faithful, though, and is teaching us both a lot through this time apart. But if you think about it, we'd both appreciate prayer for the next seven weeks... :) The other thing I'm praying for for myself right now is for opportunities to be able to be a servant to the people in my class and division here. I feel like a lot of times I don't really know how to share my faith in Christ with others, and He's been showing me over the last couple of weeks that a good place to start is by being humble and willing to be a servant to others... So I keep looking for opportunities in day-to-day life to do that here.

Well, this ended up being a decent length post, after all. But despite my best intentions of getting lots of sleep in over this weekend, it's now Sunday night and I haven't really done that yet. So I'm going to go and see if I can get to bed relatively early tonight and start the week off right.

New computer and stuff

I'm in Newport, RI now, for two months of NSI. The first few weeks (starting tomorrow morning) I won't have any internet access. So I'll try to update this a little more once I can get to internet again... I'm writing this from Barnes & Noble, and I don't have too much time left on my two hour block of online time that I bought. The drive up was uneventful. I stopped in NJ to visit Memom for a day, and Tim came down from school too, so that was nice. Tim and I drove down to Dividing Creek on Saturday morning and took some pictures. They're on Facebook if you want to see them. I finally had to get a new computer this morning. Mine has been slowly dying over the last few months, and I kept putting off buying a new one, wanting to save the money and use that one as long as possible. Last night when I was using it, it started smoking from the power jack... not cool. So this morning after a bit of shopping around, I ended up with a brand new Apple Macbook. Nice. Naomi is thrilled that I've broken free of the 'Microsoft cult' (my words, not hers). So far I love it. Very easy to transition from Windows, very nice and sleek looking, Leopard is such a great OS compared to Windows XP, and there was no way I was going to buy a computer that had Vista on it. Sometime Microsoft will learn how to make a bloat-free OS, but in the meantime, they've lost my business...

OK. Time to go find something to eat, and head back to the barracks to get a good night sleep. Everything starts tomorrow morning at 5:00.



View Larger Map

My barracks is the one at the top of Nimitz Field on Kollmeyer St. My room is all the way in the far right corner on the second floor. When I get online next time, I'll put up a picture of the inside of my room. It's small...

Finishing up house projects

Just a quickie again... I've been on transfer leave since January 21st, and I leave for NSI on February 15th. My time off so far has been spent mostly finishing up all my renovation projects on the house. Dad and Tim were down for a weekend in the beginning of January to help me rip out and replace the rest of the ceilings in my dining room and kitchen. I'm just about done with all the finish work for that, and everything should be painted by Monday. I also gutted the master bath and am almost done putting that all back together. I just got done with the grout on the floor, so all that's left really is to paint and put the toilet and a new vanity in. I'm moving all my stuff on Wednesday next week, so I have to get that all packed too... what a busy few weeks. Naomi is coming down next weekend to visit, and I'm REALLY looking forward to that. I don't get nearly enough time to spend with her, and I'm going to be so very happy when we can finally live in the same town (the end of this year, hopefully).

Other than that, life has been very good lately. God continues to do amazing work both in my life, and in my relationship with Naomi. What a truly amazing woman He has placed in my life! Thank you, God! He's been teaching me so much about godly leadership and maturity, it's incredible. I am so very blessed.

OK. Time to get back to work. A little bit more time working on the bathroom, and then out to run a 5K with a friend, and then back here to work a little bit before church tonight.

Anson

Listening to "Phantom of the Opera" soundtrack
Reading "Captivating"

At the foot of the Cross

I've been meaning to post this for the last few weeks. This is an excerpt from "Boy Meets Girl" by Joshua Harris, which he quoted from "When God Weeps", by Joni Eareckson Tada and Steve Estes. I came across it while Naomi and I were reading through "Boy Meets Girl", and it was such an incredibly moving description of Jesus' sacrifice for us on the cross that I wanted to post it for anyone who hasn't read one of those two books. There is so much more to say about this, but for now, set aside the next five minutes and read this through. If you can't identify with any of the specifics it lists, put your own list in. The things that you've done that maybe no one else knows about, except God. The things you agonize over when you're praying, sitting in church, reading His Word, or lying awake at night. The 'little sins' of excluding God from areas of your life, jealousy of someone else's life or circumstances, the hurtful words that slip out when you're angry or upset.

Read it slowly, and let it sink into your mind. Imagine it in all the horrible agony that it was for Christ. Let your heart break over the incredible, unfathomable sacrifice He made for you. Not just anyone. You. And when you're done, ask yourself if you're really and truly living in the shadow of this Cross. Are you spending every waking minute in the presence of the One who has done this for you? Are you living your life for yourself, or for Christ Jesus, who paid this price to bring you out of darkness and into His eternal light and life? Ask God to show you the answer to this question, and He will. Your heart will break.


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The face that Moses had begged to see - was forbidden to see - was slapped bloody (Exodus 33:19-20). The thorns that God had sent to curse the earth’s rebellion now twisted around his own brow. His back, buttocks, and the rear of his legs felt the whip - soon they looked like the plowed Judean fields outside the city. ” On with the blindfold!” someone shouts. “That’s it - now spin him. Who hit you? Heh, heh.” By the time the spitting is through, more saliva is on him than in him. No longer can he be recognized. “Cut him down from the post! Send him toting his crossbar to the playground.” Up Skull Hill to the welcome of other poorly paid legionnaires enjoying themselves.

“On your back with you!” One raises a mallet to sink in the spike. But the soldier’s heart must continue pumping as he readies the prisoner’s wrist. Someone must sustain the soldier’s life minute by minute, for no man has this power on his own. Who supplies breath to his lungs? Who gives energy to his cells? Who holds his molecules together? Only by the Son do “all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17). The victim wills that the soldier live on - he grants the warriors continued existence. The man swings.

As the man swings, the Son recalls how he and the Father first designed the medial nerve of the human forearm - the sensations it would be capable of. The design proves flawless - the nerve performs exquisitely. “Up you go!” They lift up the cross. God is on display in his underwear, and can scarcely breath.

But these pains are a mere warm-up to his other and growing dread. He begins to feel a foreign sensation. Somewhere during this day an unearthly foul odor began to waft, not around his nose, but his heart. He feels dirty. Human wickedness starts to crawl upon his spotless being - the living excrement from our souls. The apple of his Father’s eye turns brown with rot.

His Father! He must face His Father like this!

From heaven the Father now rouses himself like a lion disturbed, shakes his mane, and roars against the shriveling remnant of a man hanging on a cross. Never has the Son seen the Father look at him so, never felt even the least of his hot breath. But the roar shakes the unseen world and darkens the visible sky. The Son does not recognize these eyes.

“Son of Man! Why have you behaved so? You have cheated, lusted, stolen, gossiped - murdered, envied, hated, lied. You have cursed, robbed, overspent, overeaten - fornicated, disobeyed, embezzled, and blasphemed. Oh the duties you have shirked, the children you have abandoned! Who has ever so ignored the poor, so played the coward, so belittled my name? Have you ever held your razor tongue? What a self-righteous, pitiful drunk - you, who molest young boys, peddle killer drugs, travel in cliques, and mock your parents. Who gave you the boldness to rig elections, foment revolutions, torture animals, and worship demons? Does the list never end! Splitting families, raping virgins, acting smugly, playing the pimp - buying politicians, practicing extortion, filming pornography, accepting bribes. You have burned down buildings, perfected terrorist tactics, founded false religions, traded in slaves - relishing each morsel and bragging about it all. I hate, I loathe these things in you! Disgust for everything about you consumes me! Can you not feel my wrath?”

Of course the Son is innocent. He is blamelessness itself. The Father knows this. But the divine pair have an agreement, and the unthinkable must take place. Jesus will be treated as if personally responsible for every sin ever committed.

The Father watches as his heart’s treasure, the mirror-image of himself, sinks drowning into raw, liquid sin. Jehovah’s stored rage against humankind from every century explodes in a single direction.

“Father! Father! Why have you forsaken me?!”

But heaven stops its ears. The Son stares up at the One who cannot, who will not, reach down or reply.

The Trinity had planned it. The Son endured it. The Spirit enabled him. The Father rejected the Son whom he loved. Jesus, the God-man from Nazareth, perished. The Father accepted his sacrifice for sin and was satisfied. The Rescue was accomplished.

Looking forward to leave

Tomorrow is my last day of work for 19 days! I'm taking leave until January 10th, and I can't wait. I'm leaving for Waxhaw right after I get off work tomorrow to spend Christmas and New Years with my wonderful family and my beautiful girlfriend. Tim's going to be down from school, and Aunt Rachel is coming down to visit, too. Hopefully while I'm up there I'll get a chance to drive up to Raleigh and visit NC State for a day. I got accepted there starting in summer semester of '08, so as long as the Navy clears everything, I'm definitely going. As much as I've had a great time teaching at NPTU, I'll definitely be glad to be leaving here. I'm ready for something new and challenging, and going back to school as a 24 year old freshman should be an interesting experience. The Navy made me change my intended major, so now I'll be studying materials engineering instead of construction engineering, but since they're paying for it all, I suppose I can't complain too much.

God has continued to bless Naomi and I in our relationship, and it's been an incredible experience so far seeing His hand at work as we both seek His face and His will in our times together and our times apart, too. We've been reading through "Boy Meets Girl" by Josh Harris, and talking about it chapter by chapter on the phone at night. It's been encouraging, and also it's brought out some good questions and prompted some great conversations. I wish I had read it a long time ago. We'd both really appreciate prayer that God would give us peace and contentment as we're doing the 'long-distance relationship' thing. It's hard sometimes, but it's comforting to know that God has a plan, and it's neat to see the things He's been teaching me through it.

I would write more, but it's 9:00 now, which means it's time to call Naomi! :)

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

-Ephesians 3:20, 21 NIV

Back on shift work

Tonight will be my third night of mids... the first week I've had to work mid-shift since July. I went back to crew (and shift work) ten days ago, and I'll be doing this until I leave for NSI in late January. I wasn't very happy about leaving my nice day-staff job, but I am trying to make the best of it and trust God that He has reasons for where He has me right now. Thankfully Naomi has been very understanding and supportive of me with my weird schedules now, and has gotten used to me calling at all sorts of strange times of the day. It has been just under a month that we've been dating now, and I'm still amazed every time I talk to her or see her by God's plans and timing. This relationship was really not something that I felt at all prepared for, and God has been using it in many ways to grow me and stretch me in my walk with Him. It has been amazing to me to see His faithfulness every step of the way, and He has been teaching me every day to find my strength in Him, and to give up every part of my old self to Him. Every day He brings to mind more areas of my life that need His power and cleansing, and every day I realize more and more my complete dependence on Him. Learning to trust Him completely has been hard... there's so many areas of my life where I want to be in control, so many decisions that I want to make for myself, so many parts of my life that I don't want to change or don't think I can change. But at the same time it is so completely awesome to see Him at work in every facet of my life, changing and renewing and healing. There's so much room to grow, and I thank God that in His wisdom He only reveals to me as much as I can handle at one time. Sometimes it seems like more than I can take, but He is faithful. Always. Even my bad days aren't that bad anymore. He is always at work, and I am so grateful to Him for that.



Lord, please never let me become satisfied with who I am while I am still living in this sinful human body. I pray that every day You would point out the areas in my life that do not conform to You. The habits, the thoughts, the attitudes... Lord, I want to be more like You. Let me never lose sight of that goal. Let it permeate my every thought, my every action, my every word. Thank you for Your power to change lives. I am a life that was changed. Let me never cease to give You glory and honor and praise.