Father's Day

I know I'm a little bit late on this one, but I just wanted to say that I'm thankful for my father. I don't often have the chance to tell him this because we don't live near each other or see each other, but whenever I speak with him I try to let him know how much he means to me. And now that I am a father my appreciation and gratitude has significantly increased for my own father, as I'm learning how to be a good father to my own son.

Not sure how old I am in this picture.... but, I love you Dad.

The Joys of Marriage

Marital communication can be fun. It can also be very challenging. Especially when each partner wants to be understood by the other, but refuses to understand what the other is saying. Lol.

So the other day, Joy and I got into a doozy of a disagreement. The bottom line though, was that we just didn't understand what the other was saying. Or rather, refused to try to understand. Pride is a communication killer, boy oh boy.

So, in usual me-fashion, I didn't talk to Joy for awhile because she hurt my feelings. Basically, I threw a grown-up temper tantrum. But one thing that I absolutely love about Joy is that she is the first one to want to reconcile after any kind of argument that we have.

Well, next day she visits me at work, wearing a really nice summer dress and looking beautiful as usual, and brings me a white chocolate mocha frappucino from Starbucks. I knew what she was doing.... and by golly, it worked, lol.

On the way home, I decided that I would buy her a card and write in it how sorry I was and what a doofus I am, etc, etc. And of course, I picked up a quart of chocolate ice cream from Baskin Robbins for good measure. :) So I get home and she sees the card and says, "Oh, THAT'S funny." And she pulls out this card that she got for me. Yep.... you guessed it. We got each other the SAME card!

Man.... we probably laughed for a good 5 minutes at each other. And then we relayed our stories of how we chose that exact card and why. And they were virtually the same stories. Either great minds think alike, or we are slowly starting to become more like each other. At any rate, it was pretty funny and it served as good comic relief in light of the disagreement we just had.

Epic Man-Adventure

Last Saturday our church had a Mother-Daughter banquet for all the ladies who were either a mother or a daughter. Which was..... pretty much all of the ladies in the church. Anyways, Joy went with her good friend Maget, so I got to take Isaiah for the afternoon. Well, after pondering some things to do for the day and after talking with Maget's hubs, Adam, we decided to go on a hike to some waterfall that we had never been to before. I chronicled the adventure with my camera, and so I would like to take you on a journey in this blog of what I like to call our "man-adventure".

*Disclaimer: I refer to it as a man-adventure, because after starting and reading the book Wild At Heart, apparently these types of things are good for the masculine soul.*

Alright, so the journey begins in the manliest of vehicles, our little yellow Nissan March. Ok, maybe not so manly. But at any rate, we didn't let that discourage us. We started driving north, and after a little while Isaiah was having some man-food withdrawals, so I jumped in the back to satisfy his cravings with some solid food. He was glad to see me.

Oh! I almost forgot to mention. We had to bring our trusty scout dog to make sure the trail was safe and to fend off any wildlife that wanted to mess with this manly trio.

So Adam took the wheel for the rest of the drive.........

while I pumped Isaiah up with some pep talk of how real men behave in the wild.

We arrived to the bottom of the trail after about an hour of driving, following some directions I printed out on a piece of paper. Contrary to popular belief, men are actually pretty good at following directions. We only had to turn around what? like once? or maybe twice? I'm not sure.... the point is, we didn't actually have to ASK anyone for directions. Being on a Japanese island didn't really have anything to do with it either....

Well, this "trail" that I mention... it was actually the stream coming from the waterfall! So you basically have to hike up this stream/river to get to the waterfall. Pretty epic. Pretty manly. Definitely not an adventure for the faint of heart. So in usual Izzy-style, she scouted the river for us to make sure that there were no piranhas or crocodiles in the water.

I mean, even if there were, Adam would've been sure to wrastle them critters down. Thankfully he didn't have to. I think all the creatures got scared at the sheer sight of such manliness.

The journey continues...

With some breaks to play.... man-breaks of course!

Some more epic scenery and masculine posing in the middle of the river.

Then, of course, our manhood came to the test. A rock wall stood between us and the rest of the trail. So of course we had to conquer this test of strength, agility, and endurance, all the while being gentle enough to protect Isaiah. Tough test, but we made it (the rope helped).

After some more hiking and rugged river scenery...

We arrived!

Triumphant and conquerors. True men. Real men. Of genius. River genius.

Adam decided to display his true man colors and hike to the top of the waterfall, at which point he debated with himself whether he should do a graceful swan dive off the top of the falls, but after realizing that such a dive would put his masculinity into question, decided against it.

Needless to say, his man-image was saved.

Well, we were pretty sweaty after our hike up, so Adam decided to take a real man's shower in the wild.

After nearly drowning three times before reaching the bottom of the falls, he was victorious and showered epicly. Of course no man-adventure is complete without some good eats, so in true fashion we sat Isaiah down (who was having a complete blast learning what real men do),

and proceeded to feast on our snacks. However, Ritz crackers were not manly enough for Isaiah, he had to show us up and try some rocks out for the taste.


Once we had our fill of food and Isaiah had his fill of rock, we began the journey back down to the trailhead. Besides some near slips and misses, and Adam having to carry Izzy across some deep parts (she was scared of the water... you know how girls can be), we made it back safely. And I think that I can speak for all members of our trio, but after we got back we held our heads a little bit higher, put a little bit more strut in our step, and chuckled a little more heartily. You know... man-stuff.

Back Home!

I am back in Okinawa, praise the Lord! I know this blog has been a while in coming, but I have just been busy getting back into a routine, and getting re-acquainted with my family.

First off, I want to thank everyone who has been faithful to pray for me and for my family while we were apart. God has shown Himself faithful and true to us, and both Joy and I have grown tremendously in the Lord as a result of our time away from each other.

While we were only apart for a seemingly short time as compared to a usual Marine Corps deployment, we experienced some things that were unique only to being on ship with the MEU, including no contact via phone or Skype, and work email access only, when the ship wasn't in a 'communication lockdown' due to OpSec. Communication was definitely a stress point, but the Lord preserved our relationship through it all.

My wife has been such a huge source of encouragement and strength to me. Joy took care of all family matters that I usually take care of as the leader of our home, to include bills, all of Isaiah's appointments, changing Tri-Care providers, and scheduling all Space-A traveling and flights, etc. It takes a special kind of woman to be the wife of a military man, and I am truly amazed at the how she stepped up to the plate in my absence and seamlessly transitioned to the role of both parents while I was gone. The Lord has surely been gracious to her and has blessed her with strength that I'm not sure she knew that she had. I am so thankful for and proud of my wife. God is so amazing to show Himself mighty when we need His presence most in our lives. My respect has truly grown for Joy over these past few months.

I can honestly say that our time apart has brought us closer together. I guess it's crazy how that works, but it just does. The spiritual growth in our lives that resulted has been awesome! The Lord taught us both some amazing lessons of His faithfulness, while I was on ship and Joy was traveling in the states.

Actually while I was on ship, I had some extra time in the evenings to really study the Word, read some good books, and listen to sermons on podcast. I also met some amazingly solid Christian men on board and we met for Bible study about 3 times a week, apart from Sunday chapel service. It was so awesome to meet with fellow brothers in the Lord whom I hadn't met until I got on ship, but our brotherhood in Christ brought us together immediately and we got along like old friends.


One of the studies that we actually went through is called The Truth Project, which is a DVD series put out by Focus On The Family. It is really good! It's a 12-session series that explores in depth the truth claims of the Bible, and holds those truth claims up to the truth claims that we are bombarded with everyday from culture, society, religions, history, philosophy, etc. It was very beneficial to go through, and in my opinion it is a must-see for every Christian.



Additionally, I read a couple of good books on ship, but the one that impacted me the most was The Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul. Wow, what a great soul-stirring book! In a nutshell I learned that we can't really worship God in truth until we see Him for who He is as He has revealed Himself to us. I also learned that we just kind of go through life without any sense of the presence of the holy. This book will convict of sin and lazy Christian living, not because it's on par with scripture, but because it points you to scripture; and the Holy Spirit can and will use that scripture to stir an attitude of fear and worship within you. The Preacher of Ecclesiastes says it right when he says, "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all." And this book has helped me to see the all-importance of doing just that.

So again, I just wanted to express gratitude for all who have prayed for myself and Joy while we were away from each other, and also share what has been going on in my life for the past few months.

Here's a story for you.... kinda funny, but kinda sad too: The day that I got home, Isaiah obviously had no idea who I was. He completely forgot all about me. Anyways, Joy and I decided to go out and get some japanese food for dinner that night. Well, he was fussing at the restaurant so Joy said, "Hey why don't you feed him." I was like sure, no problem. Yeah....... Isaiah would have none of it. He threw the biggest fit! And Joy couldn't figure out why. But it was because he didn't know who I was. Like, "Who's this random dude trying to stuff food in my mouth?" He was reaching out for her and everything. He wanted to have nothing do with me! I was sad.

Lol, but it's all better now. He loves it when I come home from work. He gets so excited, so that makes me happy again. I absolutely love being a father.

31st Marine Expeditionary Unit

The day has arrived. Today I leave for 3 months to go on a little vacation in the Pacific islands with the 31st MEU. While I am excited and looking forward to the opportunities that await, I'm also sad that I will be leaving my wonderful family behind. This will be the longest time that I have been away from Joy, and now Isaiah, since I have been in the Marine Corps. While 3 months is weak sauce compared to the typical 7 or 9 month deployments to a combat zone, it is still time away from my wife and son whom I love dearly. During this time away, I will most likely miss Isaiah's first teeth coming in and his first full-on crawling times, and probably a host of other things. I can see his little teeth nubbins on his bottom gum, so I know they are not far from appearing. He's also already starting to shuffle himself across the floor and hold himself up, but he's not quite at the crawling stage yet.

However, on a positive note, Joy is going to take advantage of our time apart to go back to Washington and possibly North Carolina so that the extended family can shower some love on Isaiah. :) And on her of course! I'm soooooooo glad that my parents and her parents will have a chance to meet Isaiah. Please take good care of them both!

Also, I'm looking forward to this "deployment" for a couple of reasons:

1) Over the past couple of months I've ordered like 7 books off of Amazon.com, and I'm going to be bringing some good reading with me to keep myself engaged while on the boat.
2) I've alread heard word of a couple of solid, Christian men that are attached with the MEU, so I'm hoping that we can start up a Bible study on the boat. I know that I would definitely be super encouraged by a Bible study, and I'm sure other Christians would as well.
3) This is my first experience of actually 'doing something' since being in the Marine Corps. Up until now, I haven't actually done anything/gone anywhere significant.

This is probably mostly from my own perspective, but I have often struggled over these past 4 and 1/2 years as to why the Lord has not allowed me to deploy and do the very thing that I joined the military to do, which is to defend my country. But..... I know that His plans are higher than mine and His ways beyond figuring out. So I'm thankful for the time that I have been allowed to spend with Joy and to cultivate and strengthen our relationship together. I know that His timing is perfect, and that this opportunity came at exactly the right time in both of our lives, according to His will.

Pray for Joy please as we are apart from each other. She will have to be both parents to Isaiah and basically run the household while I'm gone.

Pray for me also, if you would. Pray that I would gain a deeper knowledge of God while I'm gone, and specifically, that I would abstain from giving in to temptation whether on ship or in a liberty port. I am certainly not perfect and being married does not automatically disqualify me from the snares of temptation.

Thank you so much for your spiritual support.

Recent Happenings

It's been awhile since I have updated the blog, and although I love blogging, sometimes I just don't get around to writing more on this thing. That's not to say many many things have happened in my life, not the least of which my son was born about four months ago. :) And I continually thank God for him. But in the interest of keeping this post parallel with some of my previous ones, I thought I'd write about some stuff that I have read/watched that has been spiritually challenging to me.

Our good friends Rachel and Derrick DeLain came and visited Joy and I in November. It was a totally awesome time! When he was here though, Derrick recommended I read the book Radical by David Platt. He was also going through another book called Crazy Love by Francis Chan. So I thought I would check both of those out.

Radical was a wake-up call to me. Here's an excerpt from the back of the book: "It's easy for American Christians to forget how Jesus said his followers would actually live, what their new lifestyle would actually look like. The would, He said, leave behind security, money, convenience, even family for Him. They would abandon everything for the Gospel. They would take up their crosses daily..."

In the book, Platt challenges Christians to forsake the American Christian dream. Forsake everything to follow Him, if that's what He asks. And start living radically for Him. While the title may sound cutting edge and contemporary for the younger Christian audience, I would say that instead it cuts to the core of your soul no matter what age you are. For example, after I finished this book, I understood more deeply why John Piper doesn't believe in retirement and saving for retirement. And it really pressed me to think of things in my life that aren't based on biblical concepts and/or principles. Not only that, the book totally challenged me to really explore what the Bible says that Jesus' followers would look like. Are they supposed to look like the comfortable, upper middle class Christians who we are so used to being around? Or are Jesus' followers more... radical?

The second book, Crazy Love, was even better than Radical. Here's the first part of the back of Crazy Love: "Have you ever wondered if we're missing it? It's crazy, if you think about it. The God of the universe - the Creator of nitrogen and pine needles, galaxies, and E-minor - loves us with a radical, unconditional, self-sacrificing love. And what is our typical response? We go to church, sing songs, and try not to cuss. Whether you've verbalized it yet or not... we all know something's wrong. Does something deep inside your heart long to break free from the status quo? Are you hungry for an authentic faith that addresses the problems of our world with tangible, even radical, solutions? God is calling you to a passionate love relationship with Himself. Because the answer to religious complacency isn't working harder at a list of do's and don'ts - it's falling in love with God. And once you encounter His love, as Francis describes it, you will never be the same."

This book explores the believer's relationship with God, and challenges so many Christians that are satisfied with a mediocre or mundane spiritual walk with God, to discover that the Bible speaks about no such thing. This book gives the why to the believer's life. Why witness to non-believers? Why be kind to my neighbor? Why should I give money to the church? If you get caught up in doing all of these things that are commanded in scripture, but your motive is not right, it will feel like drudgery and mundane duty. This book aims to shatter that bubble of just going through the motions because "God commands me to". I was soooooo challenged and convicted of my weak affections for Jesus.

And, I think I'll leave everyone with this challenge from Paul Washer.

Arcing

I recently discovered a pretty awesome way to study God's Word for personal devotions. It's called arcing. Basically, "arcing involves dividing the text into its propositions and then noting the logical relationships between the propositions." So then what makes up a proposition (not to be confused with a PREPosition)? John Piper puts it well: "Paragraphs are made up of propositions. These are statements, questions, acclamations. They have a verb, they have a subject, and then other things surrounding those. That's a proposition."

Here, John Piper explains the importance of arcing:


I recently finished the 44-step tutorial on learning how to arc at the website here. It was pretty deep for me, mostly because my English isn't very strong right now. But it was totally awesome!! I loved learning how to arc, and then being able to see the bigger picture of the text that was being looked at. It really helped me to gain insights into God's Word that I wouldn't have been able to see if I hadn't broken up the verses into propositions.

This seems like a great tool to use for sermon or lesson preparation, but I'm planning on using it for my personal devotions; and maybe if I run into some sweet passages of scripture that I really like, I will post my arcs of them here on my blog. They definitely won't be perfect though.

The tool that I have been using (not very faithfully though) is Tim LaHaye's method of personal devotional study. He outlines it in his book "How to Study the Bible For Yourself". I really like his approach to Bible Study and will definitely still use some of the same principles that he recommends. However, I am going to supplement that with some arcing, because frankly, arcing excites me! It really breaks the text up and helps me to delve into the issues of the text that I never have before. My impression has been that only those who have been to bible college or seminary have received training on how to properly exegete (sp?) scripture. But now there is a method for the common, untrained laborer to really wrestle with the text, the author's intent, the nature of the passage, and how that applies to my life??? SWEET!! Sign me up.

I encourage everyone to check it out, if you haven't already.

Joy

I took a couple days of Annual Leave this past week to spend some time with Joy and get things ready around the house in preparation for the arrival of our baby, Isaiah. It was a much-needed week off of work. I have not taken leave since last year, and that time was less than a week as well.

Monday was spent doing some chores around the house; sweeping the floors, giving Izzy a bath, organizing things in the baby's room, deep cleaning our carpet, vacuuming and cleaning both vehicles, etc. We got most of the stuff done that we needed to complete before Isaiah's arrival, on Monday.

We did some errands on Tuesday and picked up a few things for the baby's room and some odds and ends here and there. But then the rest of the day (and subsequently, the rest of the week) was for US!

I think somewhere along the line in the past year, I forgot that I was a husband. I mean, I didn't "forget" that I am a husband, but I forgot what a husband is supposed to do. And as a result, I forgot about my wife. I have gotten so caught up into work and military life and the busyness of it all (taking college classes, extra formal courses thru the Marine Corps, participating in training exercises... let alone all of the extra time during evenings and weekends that the Marines need something that requires my attention or presence), that I have forgotten that I am first and foremost a husband who's number one priority (apart from God) MUST be his wife. And in this past week that I have spent with my wife, I have seen where I have so epicly failed.

I have taken my wife for granted. It is so obvious to me now, I don't see how I missed it before. She is so patient with the demands of the military on our relationship. She is so patient with me, as day after day I seemingly place a higher priority on other things in my life than on her. She is so understanding of my lack of love and leadership as I feebly attempt to be a good husband and leader of the home, all the while forgetting who I am a husband to. I have somehow forgot who I married over the past year. And in taking some days of leave that were spent solely with Joy, I realized that I forgot who my best friend was. And I missed her!

I remember when we were dating and courting and even after getting married, a lot of times we would just sit down and talk. Talk about what God's been doing in our lives, talk about goals and plans, talk about choices to make and bouncing ideas off of each other.... and somewhere, somehow, that kind of ended and all of these other things started taking up my time and devotion so that I forgot to simply sit down with my wife and see what she's thinking and just spend time with her. WOW! I have missed that time with her, and along the way she has been changing and I haven't even seen it. So this last week, I spent some time with my best friend again.

It was a wonderful week. Pretty much every morning we'd sleep in (well, mostly me) and then we'd do a little devotional and then just talk. About whatever, but mainly future choices that we are going to have to make, like staying in the Marine Corps or getting out, etc. But it was good. Because we were sharing our thoughts with each other and coming to conclusions together, rather than just one of us. I remember when we were going through pre-marital counseling together and our missionary friend that was counseling us told me some very specific things. He said that when we became married, I must remember to always be 3 things to Joy. Her lover, her leader (spiritual and otherwise), and her student. I have been okay at being the leader of our home and to her. I have been even worse at being her lover. But I think I have totally forgotten to be a student of my wife. To learn her, discover her likes and dislikes, understand her disposition under certain situations, sympathize with her strengths and weaknesses, etc. And when I've figured her out, continue learning!!! Because after our first year of marriage, I think that I had Joy figured out. But unbeknownst to me, people ACTUALLY change as they grow older. Who d've thunk? So maybe Joy reacted one way to something when we were first married, but now two years later and a whole lot more mature, she acts a little differently to the same situation. And I missed that concept entirely. I stopped being a student of my wife and stopped studying her and learning her and learning how I can be the best possible husband and best friend, fit only for her. THAT is where I have epicly failed.

So that's what I did this past week. We spent time together. We didn't really do anything fancy, but just hung out like best friends do. And I got to know my wife again. And let me tell you, she is an amazing woman. It takes a special kind of woman to be a military spouse, and an even more special kind of woman to love someone as special (deet da dee!) as me. I am so thankful to God for how He has blessed me and blessed my family. I truly do not deserve His goodness.

Maybe I will write another blog soon about how amazing my wife is, but that might be boring to everyone else but me. So I'll save you. But I hope that this blog encourages anyone who reads it (who's married or hopes to be someday) to share life with their spouse, and to not forgot about that faithful lover who is at their side thru thick and thin.

Here we are (yesterday) enjoying some coffee at Hiro's Coffee Farm, a local coffee farm that grows, roasts, and produces their own coffee on Okinawa.

Family Driven Faith

Joy and I recently started reading a book together called Family Driven Faith by Dr. Voddie Baucham. So far, I think it's pretty outstanding! Brian and Keri turned us on to Voddie Baucham back when we were in North Carolina, and he's got some great stuff to read and listen to. I subscribed to his podcast awhile ago, but haven't really listened to too many of his sermons. The ones that I have listened to are very good though.

I'm only on like the third chapter, but I've been convicted and challenged already! Basically, what I've gotten so far out of Family Driven Faith is that the salvation and sanctification of our children is of the utmost importance. But it doesn't start there; first it starts with my marriage. Which is the convicting part for me. If my marriage with Joy is not loving, God-honoring, and focused on Him, then it will be difficult to point my children to the Lord and show them how to honor Him. Very convicting!

Speaking of marriage, it is Joy and my 2nd anniversary this Sunday, July 4th. Pretty crazy, we've already been married for 2 years! It is amazing. I look back on these two years and see that I have been a fool sometimes in the way that I lead my family and treat my wife. It is a miracle that we are still married, but only by God's unfailing grace do we continue on. I am so undeserving of such a wonderful woman who has followed me halfway around the world and who has been patient with my hard-headedness and pride. She is very patient and understanding of military life, and she is truly my better half that keeps me sane and somewhat level-headed (as best she can, lol). I look forward to welcoming Isaiah to our family, and to see the kind of mother that Joy will be.

I don't really write on this blog very often, even though I have a lot of stuff that I'm going through. I guess I'll just chock it up to laziness. I'll try to be better about it. I will say one thing though: I really really really miss my family. Sometimes I feel like I'm missing out on everything that is going on with them back in the states. My nephews are growing bigger, my parents' business is growing, things are happening with my brothers, Joy's parents are going through a different stage in life, and her brother Jon is taking college, and things are happening at Grace Bible Church and definitely Maranatha Baptist Church that I wish that I could be a part of. I feel like my family and friends back home are living life without me, and I'm watching life pass away in front of me. Cause I'm kind of stuck here in Okinawa, and everyone's getting older and doing different things and enjoying new things, and I'm going to come back and will have missed out on all sorts of birthdays and milestone events in my family members' lives. I guess this is the tough part about being in the military. Or well, at least ONE of the tough parts. Buuuuut..... I know that God has placed me here and that I need to be content with where I am for the time being. It's just hard.

Future Grace

Just started reading the book Future Grace by John Piper.

I've only read the first chapter, but so far it's great.

Future Grace.

Faith in future grace, to be more exact.

I have not thought about something like faith in quite some time. I've been caught up with daily activities and work and the stress of everyday life, and just trying to stay afloat spiritually by doing the small things right like devotions and stuff. I have been seriously lacking in the faith department. Maybe that is why I struggle as much as I do to stay faithful? Because I have little faith....

I have definitely been convicted of my lack of faith, having just started this book. And I also ran across a good video from John Piper from his "Battling Unbelief" DVD, concerning this topic. It's a good listen:

I pray that my faith would grow as I read and understand more of what God has

done and will do for me.