Verses from God's Word I'm meditating on this election week, as one who counts my primary citizenship in the Kingdom of God, yet lives with civic responsibility as an American...

1 Tim 2:1–6 ESV

1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

Rom 13:1–7 ESV

1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

1 Pet 2:9–17 ESV

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

13 Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. 16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. 17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

Prov 21:1 ESV

The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD;

he turns it wherever he will.

Col 1:13 ESV

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,

Eph 2:18–22 ESV

18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Phil 3:20–21 ESV

20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

Heb 11:13–16 ESV  Speaking of those who who had died before in faith, not having seen for themselves the fulfilment of God’s promises...

13 ...they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

Phil 4:4–9 ESV

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Bible Intake Part I

Today's Personal Spiritual Disciplines EQUIP Seminar at LBC was the second in a nine-week series.  I'll use this space to occasionally share resources that I mention in class, and links to things that I don't have time to cover during our time together.  I encourage class attendees to leave comments if there are other resources that you'd like to share with the rest of the class.

Today we covered the first of two lessons on Bible Intake, focusing on Hearing, Reading, and Studying the Bible.  Next week, we'll look at Memorization, Meditation, Journalling, and Learning.

I. As a quick review, we talked about 2 reasons why the Bible is critical to our Christian life:

1. God gives us new life through Scripture (1 Peter 1:23)

2. God sustains us in the Christian life through Scripture (1 Peter 2:2, Deuteronomy 8:3)

II. We talked about 3 necessary conditions to be prepared to profit from our time in God's word:

1. We must revere Scripture, as God's Word: infallible, sufficient, and authoritative. (1 Thessalonians 2:13)

2. We must have humility and a sincere dependence upon God (1 Corinthians 2:14)

3. Our hearts must be receptive to God's Word (Matthew 13:23; James 1:22-25)

I mentioned John Piper's "IOU'S", which I first heard about here:

• Incline my heart to your testimonies (Psalm 119:36)
• Open my eyes that I may behold the wondrous things out of your law (Psalm 119:18)
• Unite my heart to fear your name (Psalm 86:11)
• Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love (Psalm 90:14)

This has provided a helpful pattern of prayer for me as I approach God's word to read and study.

III. We then talked about Hearing God's word. (Luke 11:28)

• LBC's weekly sermons can be heard here (Callaway) and here (Leonardtown).
• Bible Gateway has a great resource for listening to the Bible in a variety of translations and formats and readers, including Max McLean.

IV. We then talked about Reading God's word. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

• The first key to success is to find or make the time in your day.  Pick a time that you can be consistent with each day (first thing, lunch time, before bed, whatever works with your daily routine) It's likely you're going to have to carve this time out if you don't already have it.
• The second key to success is to have a plan.  Here are some great options for reading plans...
• Bible.com has a huge variety of plans, including M'Cheynes, which is 4 chapters a day, taking your the OT once and NT and Psalms twice in a year.
• One-Year Chronological Bible
• Jason George's Root Down Plan (my Google-Docs version of this 17-month reading plan.  This is the plan that helped me read through the entire Bible for the first time.)
• Remember, for even a "slow" reader (200 words per minute) it only takes about 11 minutes a day to read through the Bible in a year.  (Follow the link to test your own reading speed.)
• Being familiar with the WHOLE bible is important when it comes to Bible Study, which we'll look at next.

V. Finally, we talked about Studying God's word (Ezra 7:10; Acts 17:11)

• I mentioned several websites that I've found helpful for online Bible study:
• Blue Letter Bible
• Study Light
• Lumina (connected with NET at www.bible.org)
• ESV online (serval add-ons available at reasonable prices.  If you own a print ESV study bible, that content is available for free, with a code that came with your Bible)
• Bible Arc (a ministry of Bethlehem College and Seminary)
• Precept Austin
• Three software programs that are outstanding for Bible study:
• For Windows: Logos or Bible Works
• For Mac (or Windows): Accordance (I've used this for about 4 years and I love it!)
• Here's a good comparative review of the three programs.
• Here are the "Five helpful questions to ask when studying the Bible:"

1. What does the text say?

• Make careful observations of the text
• Notice details

2. What does the text mean?

• Use the grammatical-historical method (seek to understand the author's intent)
• Identify the genre of writing
• Understand the historical, cultural, and literary background
• Unpack the passage’s syntax (identify the grammatical elements)
• Outline the passage 
• Understand what the words mean in context
• Pay attention to the context
• Locate the text in redemptive history
• Understand the text in light of the whole Bible
• Discern how the passage points us to Christ (eg. direct reference, type, predictive, preparatory, reflective—God’s nature / human nature, resultant)
• Use tools: study Bibles, commentaries, dictionaries / lexicons, concordances, etc.

3. What concerns caused the text to be written?

• Grasp the main message of a biblical passage

4. What do I share in common with the original audience or human author of the text? 

• Understanding ourselves in light of Scripture
• Distill the timeless principles from the text
• Understand what the text teaches about God’s character and purposes, mankind, Christ, our response to Christ, our obedience, the church, the world, etc.  

5. How should I now respond to the truths of the text? 

• What, specifically, does God require of me?
• Where, i.e. in what specific situations, do I need to apply the truths of the text?
• How does the text encourage me to obey God?
• How does God enable me to respond to the truths of the text?
• How can I spur others on to respond to the truths of the text?

Some recommended books:

• Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald Whitney
• For the Love of God (2 vols) by D.A. Carson
• Search the Scriptures by Alan Stibbs
• Bible Speaks Today Commentary Series
• The Welwyn Commentary Series
• According to Plan by Graeme Goldsworthy
• Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem

Many of the notes listed here were derived from the Core Seminar materials available from Capitol Hill Baptist Church.

Has anyone seen my quill?

I have been inspired by the bovine musings of some good friends to once again pick up my quill. So to speak. Much has happened since my last post and I'm not going to try to fill in the blanks. In fact, I'm not going to focus too much on events here, except to point out how my experiences get my brain going (scary prospect). I'm shifting my focus away from nautical wanderings (praise be to God for that)... more to thoughtful, philosophical, and spiritual wanderings. We'll see how frequently I can find my quill. No promises. Here goes...

Words to follow...

It's 11pm. I have a brief for my second simulator event in the MH-60S in a mere 8 hours, so I don't have time to write. Here are a few pictures to highlight the last couple weeks to provide a tease. Most of the pictures were from this weekend... camping at Agua Caliente. What an awesome time! More words to follow soon.

Cruise Video

Oh yeah. Check out the top link in the "News items of note" block on the right side. Title is "What the USS John C Stennis Has Been Up To." It has a cool 7-minute video summarizing all that JCS did during the deployment. It's even narrated by the ship's CO, CAPT Johanson (callsign JOHO).

I'm Home.

I write this from my living room at home, in a very quiet, very comfortable late night stillness. There are no pumps humming, no fans buzzing, no catapults shaking me out of the rack. No bells, no whistles, no 1MC announcements to "Heave out". I don't even know what that means! Good thing I either slept or flew through that one most days.

I am home.

Homecoming was awesome. We'll get some pictures on line soon. Nana has several online already. We lifted seven helicopters from the deck of JCS at 0730 and flew them all in together. Six of them were in a beautiful formation. My aircraft, the seventh, was all by itself, making a bee-line from the ship to the the runway at North Island. The aircraft has a severe structural crack and was cleared by engineers for a one-time flight to get it off the ship. Nothing fancy. Minimal weight, minimum time, minimum crew. That was OK with me. We were on deck, waiting for the rest by the time the six-helo v-shaped formation flew over the famous double-domed hangars at North Island at 200 feet. They looked awesome.

We all taxied into the line together, and shut down simultaneously (well, almost simultaneously). A huge crowd of families and friends was there to welcome us. By the time I got all my flight gear off, I had my own small crowd of family running at me across the flight line. I quickly had two little girls in my arms, with tears coming down all our faces. Each of my ladies received a red rose that I had picked up from a strategically placed flower "vendor" while we taxied in.

After a chance to sit at the hangar and relax for a few minutes, we caught sight of the STENNIS pulling into San Diego Bay and hurried over to the pier (also at North Island) to greet our two Tigers who were now all "alone" on the ship. Fortunately, HS-8 and their Tigers were among the first to get off the ship; so after a painful 40 minute wait as the Port Ops guys set up the brow, Nana and Katelynn were soon reunited with the rest of us.

I haven't written during the last few days, as we've spent just about every waking moment reuniting as a family. I've tried my best to stay away from the computer (not always successfully). Janell has made some great changes around the house that I continue to get used to. Homecoming is awesome, but there are always adjustments. So far, it's been awesome. I'm off work until the 4th, then I go back for about a week and a half. Then I'm taking about 12 days of leave. Definitely time that I need to take off.

Tomorrow, we're going for bike rides and a run (that's me) at Rhor Park then I'll take one of the girls out for lunch. I'm going to spend a little one-on-one time with each of the girls over the next few days. We've had some great family time together so far, though. We'll all to Flyball practice together on Sunday afternoon. This week is flying by.

As thoughts occur to me during our transition back to normal life, I'll use this forum to reflect on them. It's an often humorous, sometimes frustrating process. As much as life at sea, often more so, life around here is an adventure! Thanks for sticking around.

Going Home

This will be my LAST blog post at sea. The ready room is a disaster area as we pack things up and get ready to offload on the pier in San Diego. We brief our fly-off in a couple hours and we'll be in the air in about 15 hours. The ship will be pierside in about 19 hours. I'm not sure how much longer I'll have a computer with which to write, so I figure I'd better close out now while I have a chance.

The girls are just about done packing up their stuff in their room. They get to ride the ship into San Diego Bay without me. We'll meet them as they walk off the ship tomorrow. Katelynn won't let me finish this blog post. She keeps smacking my head. Silly girl. Now she won't stop giggling. I didn't know you could have a giggle of girls with only one!

OK, now I'm off to go pack my room up and get ready to fly off tomorrow morning. It's been a long cruise. Full of personal and professional challenges and lessons and growth. It's good to be wrapping up and heading home, though. I need to be with my family as much as they need me to be home. Thanks for sharing in my journey. I'll post more pictures from home when I have a better internet connection. For now, I'm signing off and going home.

Much to do, not much time!

Another busy day done. And tomorrow looks to be even crazier. I still haven't started packing my stuff. That's what I'll be doing tomorrow. We just signed the flight schedule for tomorrow all the way through the 4th of September, so that feels very good. The girls are, of course, in bed. Nana went to bed pretty "early". It wasn't really that early because we changed clocks forward again tonight. Only one hour behind San Diego now. Katelynn hung out with me in the ready room while we worked on the monster flight schedule. I got to talk to her a little about what I do for my job. I think she was thoroughly bored, but it was good time together.

Most of the major Tiger events were cancelled today for a variety of reasons. I took the girls for a personalized tour of the helicopter, the catapult and arresting gear machinery rooms, some of the squadron work spaces, the barber shop, the library, and the chapel. We have church tomorrow morning at 10. I'd better get to bed before too late. Tomorrow's going to be a long day. Lots of packing and moving stuff. Last day on the ship!!

We have some pictures to share, but they're on Nana's camera and I forgot to get it from her before she went to bed. I'll try to share those tomorrow before I shut down my computer. Until then, good night!

It doesn't take long

Remember my post a while back about the science experiments that were done by putting people into caves and limiting their exposure to light? Their body clocks became disoriented and their perception of time became warped. Tonight as we were about to get dinner, Katelynn asked me if we were having lunch or dinner. She honestly didn't know. A few minutes later, Nana asked me what day it was. Yup. They're in the Navy now. And it's only been 3 days!

When we talked about the fact that we were half way home already, Katelynn was actually disappointed. I think she's enjoying the unlimited supply of Dog! Rich, I leave it to your comments to explain that one.

Today, we watched the air power demonstration on the flight deck. Some low clouds caused a few alterations to the intended events, but overall it was very impressive and very LOUD. The ladies visited the ship's bakery and Katelynn made friends with the Baker. She decorated five cupcakes and brought half a dozen back to the ready room to share! Needless to say, she's now a favorite Tiger of all Eightballers.

This afternoon, they toured the Combat Direction Center, and I took them on a tour of Air Operations and Strike Operations. Once again, Katelynn did a great job navigating around the ship. I think they only got lost twice today. But they definitely got out and explored quite a bit. Unfortunately, I've stayed pretty busy, getting the squadron ready to arrive at home and fly off safely. We still have a flight schedule to put together every day as well. Eventually, I'll need to pack my stuff up, too! Only 2 days and a wake up.