June 13, 2021 – CountUp

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday June 13TH 2021, and this is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. Let us celebrate another new day in His presence – on this journey that He set forth for us.

On this exact morning 36 years ago in 1985 (a Thursday) I arrived with others on a bus from San Antonio International Airport to Lackland Air Force Base. We arrived at around 0100 (after traveling all day the previous day), and we were instantly yelled and screamed at by our Training Instructor (T.I.). He put us to bed about an hour later, and he woke us up 4 hours after that for our first full day of military indoctrination.

I still work for the USAF today, so this is officially my 36TH anniversary. I’ve been serving as a Department Of Defense Civilian for the past 28 years. (I was Active Duty for 8 years.)

The first 22 years of my Air Force career (1985-2007) were mostly forgettable. A majority of those years were “bad years”. There were some highlights along the way, and I worked with some good people, but overall it was not a positive time professionally (or even personally). 1991 to 1993 stands out as the best 2 years of that early part of my career. Ironically I went to war in Saudi Arabia (Operation Desert Storm), and I watched Hurricane Andrew destroy my military base and surrounding region during that time. But it was the peak of the military portion of my career.

It went downhill fast after that. If there’s a “rock bottom” of my career (and life) then it was 2006. It was really spiraling downward for about a dozen years prior to that. I don’t think that it could have gone much further downward by the Summer of 2006.

By then my God had seen enough. He stepped in and intervened. He saved my life.

I’m approaching the 15TH anniversary of the start of my salvation, and it’s actually the inspiration behind the current sermon that I’m writing titled “Salvation & Hope” (based on 1 Peter 1:3-12).

This salvation began a little more than 11 months before my career did a complete 360. (I did a lot of newfound praying to my God during those 11 months.) I was placed in a new building – with a new job – and with all-new people (most of whom I had never met before). I’m currently enjoying the best 14 years (and counting) of my Air Force career.

I often wonder if I would know God today if it weren’t for those first 22 years, and particularly those dozen years leading-up to 2006, and especially 2006 itself. I was far from God during that time, but somehow God reached me as I was dying. Nobody led me to God. Nobody invited me to church. Nobody asked me to attend a concert with them. Yet God intervened. He rescued me. He saved me. He entered my heart. A new life had begun.

My salvation continues today, and it will lead to my inheritance in heaven – my final and eternal salvation – when Jesus Christ returns.

And through your faith – God is protecting you by His power until you receive this salvation – which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see. (1 Peter 1:5)

Thank you for reading my blog for this day, and may:

The LORD bless you, and keep you.
The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you.
The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. AMEN.