Home
Tomorrow will ark 3 weeks since I returned home. It's impossible to express the feeling that accompany this time of my life with the written word. I'm also not sure I really want to share that much. I can say it has been full of joy and happiness. There are still hard moments like the slightly worried look on the faces of my children when I leave the house in uniform. All in all, though, the transition has been smooth and a very sweet time for us. The timeline has gone as expected. After our unit finished the RIP/TOA (relief in place/transition of authority) with our replacements, we sat around for a couple of more days in Iraq. This was mostly a time of doing nothing an

A Very Good Sunday
Yesterday was one of those days I don't want to forget, so I thought I'd blog about it. As most of you know, my time here in Iraq is almost finished. Yesterday was the last time I would preach at the chapel service where I have preached since our unit moved back in FEB. There was really never any question in my mind of what I would preach for a final message. I preached a salvation message using Romans 6:23 as my text. There are times when I'm preaching that I swear I can physically feel God's presence. I'm sure there are those out there that would tell me it's just adrenaline or something other totally natural thing. All I can say is I've done enough in my life to know what all thos

Some Thoughts
As my time here inches ever closer to the end, I've found myself thoughtful of some of the ways I've changed. I think a lot of it is about the way I now view certain words or ideas. I went to a memorial ceremony today for a Soldier I never knew. I don't even know anyone in his unit. None of that matters though. Before I came here, a Soldiers death was sad. Now it's like losing a family member. I think my idea of family has been altered. Before, I broke my family down into a couple of categories. My immediate family was one. My extended family was another. My close friends were a third. And the family of believers was my final category. Coming here is like being born into anothe

VERY, VERY GOOD NEWS
I haven't written much of anything in here lately, because there hasn't been much to write about. Ministry has continued to go well as we get ready to leave. In some ways it's sad to see the end, but in many, many more ways it's wonderful. I turned 31 last week which was wierd here, because it was just like any other Friday. Lot's of people remembered though, so that was nice. Anyway, I get on with the good news. In the span of less than 24 hours two really good things happened. Yesterday, I found out that I have been selected for Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE). This is traning to to be a hospital chaplain. I've wanted this since I found out about the program which w

Never forget
I know not everyone is like me, but 9-11 still feels fresh to me. I think about it a lot, not just on the anniversaries. I didn't personally know anyone who died that day, although a significant number were residents of my home town. I wasn't physically close either, since I was still down in SC for school. The only thing I can come up with is that I've always felt like NY was my city. Even though I grew up about an hour away, I root for NY sports teams, I watched NY local news growing up and a lot of my classmates were transplants from NY. I still hate the sight of the skyline without the towers. The first time I remember seeing them was from my grandfather's boat. I still can't beli