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.