About ten minutes ago, I did something that I've been waiting four and a half months to do. I changed the time on my watch. To be completely honest, I've changed the time on my watch several times during that time period. Plus one hour, minus one hour, plus one hour, minus one hour... The north Arabian Sea and the Arabian Gulf are in different time zones, so as we've moved back and forth, we've swapped time zones several times. But tonight, I added an hour to my watch and I don't have to take it back. In a few days, I'll add another hour to my watch. And another. And another. We're finally moving in the right direction.
I'm almost done turning over the Maintenance Officer job to my relief. Tomorrow I start to learn and take over as the Operations Officer for the squadron. The daily flight schedule and all the enlisted aircrew will be my responsibility. A much smaller group to lead, but a more focused role on my shoulders, with a lot of decision making every day. It'll be a good change, but the learning curve will be steep over the next couple weeks, I'm sure.
This morning I was a little late, but I finally made it down to the church service. We had the first communion service of deployment! Sounds weird in a way, but I guess it's hard to address so many people's differing traditions and expectations when it comes to such a fundamental expression of the Christian faith. The Chaplains did a great job of talking about the reasons for communion and administering the elements in a way that spoke to everyone on equal ground. I'm sure there were little parts that were uncomfortable for everyone because they were different than the way Pastor Brown does it back home in First Baptist Church of Podunk, Kansas. But it was awesome to have us all there together commemorating Christ's sacrifice together, letting go of our minor differences and focusing on what really mattered: Christ created a New Covenant in His blood, by which he has cleansed us and forgiven us of our failures in living up to God's standard. Next week, they will have another Baptism service. And one of our aircrewmen will be baptised!! I'm very excited about that!
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3 comments:
Scott,
That AWESOME!!! Glad the see the clock changing in the correct direction. I'm sure you had times where you didn't think it would EVER get to this point, but here it is. Now is the hardest part: STAYING FOCUSED for the end.
Getting baptised on the boat is a MUCH different experience that MOST people will ever have. That's pretty cool.
Good luck in your new job. I can't believe that being OP's O for the end of cruise will be TOO bad. The flying should scale back some from here.
Take Care,
Rich
String,
What a great blog. I think about you guys all the time. Stay safe bro.
Dils
Scott, I didn't realize how much I have been concerned about where you have been until I saw that you were starting the move home, and began to cry. I am so proud of you, and know you will do well with you new job. God bless you and all of those with you. The Church service had to be extra special for all of you.
Love, Mom
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