2021 Year in Review

 Just Sat down with Meghan and jotted down things that happened this year. A bit of a word vomit, but here it is, the Blansett Family's 2021 year in review. (Pay no attention to the careless hopping between 1st and 3rd person)

Blansett Family Year in Review: 2021

January: 

• Due to extenuating circumstance we had to be out of our house by the end of February – all out sprint to figure out what we were going to do – looking for new rentals in town, looking into living on base, looking into moving trucks etc.. Finally ended up deciding we would have to move everything into storage, Meghan would have to take aspen and the dogs and live with her mom until we were able to buy a house at our new duty station (we still didn’t know where this would be).

• Announced Pregnant on Christmas Day 2020 to Friends and Family

• Aspen turned 7 months old

• Meghan began to slowly pack up the house into boxes

• Courtney Bergeman Visits

• Meghan begins to show the house (that we are renting and she is packing up) to potential buyers per our property management company’s request.

• Infantry Officer Course Starts January 12 with the CET (Combat Endurance Test).

• Meghan helps me weave together a homemade ghillie suite (cobra hood) for an upcoming field exercise. 

February:

• Able to be home for Valentines day and take Meghan and Aspen to the Metro Diner (one of our favorite places to eat breakfast, enjoy coffee, and maybe play scrabble if Aspen was behaving.)

• Trade in the truck to get a Ford Fiesta. Reliable and good gas mileage.. But TINY. 

• Feb 21 I spend my last weekend at home before a long field event during which the girls would be moving to missouri. We had to say goodbye for the next 5 months until we are albe to all live under the same roof again.  We had a great last Saturday morning at Cracker Barrel and Aspen grabbed the menu all by herself. 

• Feb 26th Movers come to pack up the house in Fredericksburg and move our entire house into storage – Financial help from family made this possible. 

• Meghan drives to Missouri with Dana, Aspen, Olive in her Tummy, Rogue, and Mattis to spend the next few months living with Dana awaiting our orders to find out where we will live, and where we will need to buy a house. Unsure of when we will find this out!

March:

• Get orders to Camp Lejeune on Jo’s Birthday March 5. Meghan is now able to begin looking for a house and putting in offers. (She does this all by herself as Jo was in the field for almost the entire month.)

• March 27 Palm Fex is over (The last major exercise of IOC – There is no no chance of injury or being dropped, I will graduate!)

• Return from 29 Palms California and prepare to Graduate the hardest school I will go through. I feel too relieved to put it into words. 

• 29th after Palm Fex Is over I get my phone and meghan tells me an offer was accepted for a house! We are going off of a few pictures on Zillow and spending way over budget. But it is a house!

April:

• Meghan flys into DC and we spend the night together in the Trump Hotel April 1st and 2nd.

• Aspen crawls for the first time in the hotel on April 3rd. 

• IOC Graduation on April 2nd. 

• Spend easter together in DC as a family. Eat at the hard rock café and then on easter Drop Meghan off at the airport/ tears as I watch her carry both of my daughters away. One in her arms and one in her womb to spend another month away from their Dad. And to spend another month away from eachother. Begin to think about the sustainability of this career path. Watching your family walk through the airport terminal away from you is a sombering and saddening moment. But just one more difficult school to get through and then the rest of the year we will be at least within a 4 hour driving distance and be able to spend every weekend together. 

• Scout Sniper Employment Course Begins

• April 21st. Beth meets Aspen for the first time in Odessa. 

• Scout sniper Graduation April 30th. 

• April 30th at 1 am Meghan, Bill, Beth, Aspen, Olive in the tummy, and the doggies begin the drive from Missouri to Virginia Beach to an Airbnb that I will meet them at. 

• April 30th I arrive in VA beach at the air bnb later than expected around 9 pm and reunite with my family. 

• Meghans Birthday!

May:

• May 1st Aspen Goes to the Beach for the first time. 

• Tactical Intelligence Officer’s Course starts in Dam Neck VA

• Meghan is able to spend time with Mom and Bill in the Air bnb. Such a joy to see my Mom with Aspen. I love seeing her be a grandma and wish that I could see that more often. Such a treasured time. 

• May 6th Move to a different Air Bnb

• Celebrate mothers day on May 9th at Blue Petes restaurant. 

• We say goodbye to mom and Bill on May 7. I never feel like I am able to say enough of a goodbye. After they leave I feel I didn’t say enough to make them appreciate how much we love them and miss them. This is likely always the feeling when you are saying goodbye for the next year to two years. 

• Celebrate our 3 Year anniversary at the melting pot. 

• May 14th able to move into house early – We have an air mattress, pack and play, and no furniture but begin painting that weekend. 

• May 17th Movers arrive to move all of our household items that have been in storage the past couple of months. 

• May 29th Aspen gets her ears pierced for her 1 year birthday present. She did great!

• 31st have aspens zoom birthday party with cake . 

June:

• June 2nd Meg drives up to Dam Neck  - we go to the beach for crab hunting with Aspen. Stay the night in my hotel room (twin bed). 

• June 3rd Meg fly’s out to Missouri for Dana’s wedding. 

• June 4th Jo fly’s out to Missouri.

• June 5th Dana’s Wedding – Aspen has about 10 crazy poopy diapers, and unbeknownst to us is beginning to get sick. 

• 6th. All fly back to VA Beach together. Aspen gets very sick on the plane, A nice bystander gives us a pair of clothes in the airport because Aspen pooped and or threw up on all the clothes we had for her. 

• 20th Celebrate Father’s day together. 

• 26th finished our first home project, downstairs bathroom remodel. 

• 27th Finished a homemade babygate for the stairs. 

• TIOC Graduation

July:

• Ground Intelligence Officer’s Course starts in Dam Neck VA

• Same routine for Ryans wedding in Missouri – meg drives up and flys out of VA, I follow a few days later day of the wedding. 

• July 3rd – visit our old friend Ralf in St. Louis , Aspen goes swimming in a pool for the first time. 

• July 3rd. Air conditioner goes capoot while we are out of state and floods the stairs. Our dogsitter is able to coordinate getting a tech in to fix. 

• July 3rd. visit Ken and Alex. 

• Aspen walks for the first time!

• GIOC Graduation July 27– Receive the Terrance C. Graves Award for being the Honor Graduate. Receive the Captain Brent L. Morel Award for being voted by peers to be the 0203 who will make the greatest positive impact on the USMC and Intelligence Community.

• Make the Drive from Dam Neck to Jacksonville NC for the LAST TIME and am Finally Home!!!

August:

• 3rd begin Garage project to make a home gym. 

• Become Members at Pillar Church of Jacksonville. 

• Keith visits for a weekend.

• Start taking Aspen to the Beach regularly.

• 13th False alarm. 

• Dana drives out to stay during expected due date to help.

• 17th Jo checks into 2 Marine Division

• 20th Begin work on the Fireplace

• 26 Meg goes into Labor

• 27 Olive is born at 8:02 Am!

• Meghan is Bed ridden for over a week due to bad epidural. ER visit unsuccessful/very frustrating, they want to separate meg from Olive for her to get treatment for her epidural and wont let me or aspen in the waiting room or the treatment room due to covid. The obvious hysteria is very evident as covid is valued over separating a mother from her newborn baby. We are disgusted with cool aid drinking going on all around us. 

September:

• 2. Olive’s first bath at home!

• 6th Family Photos!

• 7th. First outdoor fire in the partially completed fireplace. 

• 10 Cook Pizza on outdoor oven for the first time

• Spend lots of time at home together as a family this month. Also lots of work on the fireplace. 

October:

• Morgan Shippy visits for a weekend. 

• Aspen Wears bell bottoms to our small group for Halloween. 

November:

• 5 Jo checks in to 1st Battalion 6th Marines as the s2 Alpha. 

• Tony visits for a week. 

• Dana visits 

• Both girls get sick

• Olive spends the night in the ER. High temp and heartrate. 

 -     Jo shares testimony to the church

• Caleb and Lily visit for thanksgiving and we eat our meal on my moms old Africa plateware. 

• Caleb helps me put the mantle on the Outdoor fireplace. 

• Go to a Christmas tree farm and find a tree. 

• Caleb takes our Christmas family photo. 

• 27 Decorate for Christmas

December:

• Advent starts (Meghan makes a full calendar of events for each day and we follow a reading plan at dinner each night. Really helped us be in the right mindset to anticipate Christmas Day and be thankful and at peace. 

• Promoted to 1st Lt on 14th. 

• Hayride Christmas light show. Surprised that at the end they played the national anthem and everyone on the ride stood to say the pledge of allegiance (its been years we had seen anything like this outside of the military.) Was great to see patriotic americans in the public when so often this isn’t what is conveyed or observed. 

• Dana Visits for Christmas

• Deana suprises us and shows up on Christmas eve. The more the merrier! 

• What a year it has been!!!

Proposed 2022 Reading

 

2022 Reading

January:

• “The path to Being a Pastor” – Bobby Jamieson (Pillar Jax Leaders Cohort)

• “Weapons and Tactics” – Jim Wilson (Men’s book group on base)

• “Ploductivity” – Douglas Wilson (Personal)

• “Excused Absence” – (Plodding with Todd)

• “Orthodoxy” – G.K Chesterton (Commute Listen)

• “So Come to Jesus” – Douglas Wilson (Daily Devotional)

February:

• “Knowing God” – J.I. Packer (Pillar Jax Leaders Cohort)

• “Gates of Fire” – Steven Pressfield (Commute Listen)

• “Intelligence Preparation of the Battlespace” – Doctrinal Pub (Professional)

• “So Come to Jesus” – Douglas Wilson (Daily Devotional)

March:

• “Praying the Bible” – Don Whitney (Pillar Jax Leaders Cohort)

• 9 Marks Journal on The Church Praying (Pillar Jax Leaders Cohort)

• “The Killer Angels” – Michael Shaara (Commute Listen)

• “Warfighting” –MCDP 1 (Professional)

• “So Come to Jesus” – Douglas Wilson (Daily Devotional)

April:

• “Family Driven Faith” – Voddie Baucham (Pillar Jax Leaders Cohort)

• 9 Marks Journal The Pastor and Pornography (Pillar Jax Leaders Cohort)

• “Tactics” – MCDP 1-3 (Professional)

• “So Come to Jesus” – Douglas Wilson (Daily Devotional)

May:

• “The Unquenchable Flame” – Michael Reeves (Pillar Jax Leaders Cohort)

• “Word-Centered Church” – Jonathan Leeman (Pillar Jax Leaders Cohort)

• “Old Paths” – J.C. Ryle

• “So Come to Jesus” – Douglas Wilson (Daily Devotional)

June:

• “Hidden in the Gospel” – William Farley (Pillar Jax Leaders Cohort)

• “Multiply” (Second Half) – Francis Chan (Pillar Jax Leaders Cohort)

• “So Come to Jesus” – Douglas Wilson (Daily Devotional)

July:

• “Multiply” (First Half) – Francis Chan (Pillar Jax Leaders Cohort)

• “So Come to Jesus” – Douglas Wilson (Daily Devotional)

August:

• “Principles of War” – Jim Wilson (Pillar Jax Leaders Cohort)

• “So Come to Jesus” – Douglas Wilson (Daily Devotional)

September:

• “Church Planting Basics” – Clint Clifton (Pillar Jax Leaders Cohort)

• “So Come to Jesus” – Douglas Wilson (Daily Devotional)

October:

• “Church Planting is for Wimps” – Mike McKinley (Pillar Jax Leaders Cohort)

• 9 Marks Journal on Revitalization (Pillar Jax Leaders Cohort)

• “So Come to Jesus” – Douglas Wilson (Daily Devotional)

November:

• “The Leadership Formula” – Juan Sanchez (Pillar Jax Leaders Cohort)

• “So Come to Jesus” – Douglas Wilson (Daily Devotional)

December:

• “Side by Side” – Edward Welch (Pillar Jax Leaders Cohort)

• “So Come to Jesus” – Douglas Wilson (Daily Devotional)

Don’t Know when; But in the queue:

• Rules for Reformers
• Restoring the Foundation of Civilization
• Mere Christianity
• Why Children Matter
• Reforming Marriage
• Standing on the Promises
• Thoughts for Young Men
• Future Men
• What he must be in order to Marry my Daughter
• Abolition of Man
• The Great Game: The myth and Reality od Espionage 
• Intelligence and Military operations: London Frank Cass & Co
• Intelligence in War: the value and limitations of what the military can learn about the enemy
• The secret war for the union. The untold story of military intelligence in the civil war
• G-2: intelligence for Patton
• Informal logic: a handbook for critical argumentation second edition
• How to lie with statistics 
• Cheating and deception: bell j bower
• Anticipating surprise: Cynthia grabo
• All 32 Worldview Guide Series from Canon Press
• Continued Reading with Todd
• Continued Reading with Men’s group on base

Others will be added as we go. 

This would have me at at least 40 books for the year. I would like to get as close to 100 as possible!

Books completed in 2022

-January

1. Empires of Dirt - Douglas Wilson
2. On Secular Education - R.L Dabney (Essay)
3. Worldview Guide Frankenstein - 
4. The Path to Being a Pastor - Bobbie Jamieson
5. Orthodoxy - G.K. Chesterton

-February

    6. It's Good to be a Man - Michael Foster

    7. 

-March

-April

-May

 8. Tribe - Sebastian Junger

-June

Easy Times

I recently saw a quote, "Hard times create strong men. Strong men create easy times. Easy times create weak men. Weak men create hard times. " 

This does illuminate a cycle present in history. It is very evident we are living in easy times, one must only look at the men in this country, and the sheer fact that saying "men" could be seen as a trigger. 

Belief in truth creates disciplined men. Disciplined men raise disciplined families. 

Belief in relative truth creates undisciplined, greedy men. Undisciplined, greedy men don't raise families, and when they do, they raise undisciplined, greedy families.  

The life of the latter feeds off the environment created by the former, and its ranks increase. 

The cycle repeats because truth cannot be undone, and the arbiter of truth cannot be unthroned. Truth prevails; but we are a sinful lot, for even our discipline can lead to the sin of self-righteousness. 

Before sending troops to stop the North Korean advance into South Korea the US Military had faced years of drawback. We sent in an Army contingent "Task Force Smith" and they lasted all but a few hours against the North's advance. The phrase is now commonplace in military circles - "No more Task Force Smiths" Untrained men do no good in war. 

We are living the warning laid out in Deuteronomy 6, and it strikes me each time we read it before Shabbat each weekend. You will inherent wells which you did not dig and cities which you did not build. And when you have eaten and are full, then beware lest you forget the lord your God. We are living in a country built by stronger men in our past, we did not labor for the freedoms we enjoy. We are plump and heavy from our pleasure driven culture, and as a nation, we have forgotten the Lord our God. 

Our family shall not forget. 

Don't shoot for a glistening trough.

 Proverbs 14:4 "Where no oxen are, the trough is clean; but much increase comes by the strength of an ox."

For oxen to gain strength they must eat from the trough. To accomplish work on the land, the oxen must be fed. If the trough is unused, it is safe to say the land is unworked. 

Don't be afraid of the mess that may be a byproduct of diligent work. Look ahead to the fruit of the labor. 

Where there are no children, a house may be perfectly organized and clean; but change in the world comes by the rearing of children. 

Great encouragement for myself and also Meghan as messes abound in this season. 

The implications of this verse are not limited to the application above. 

You don't have to worry about cleaning up after oxen if you don't have any, but you also won't have much profit. 

We will always have problems in life, we should seek after those problems that are associated with blessings. 

Some problems are good problems. 

Men's Breakfast Notes / Thoughts

 Attended a men's breakfast this morning at church - the topic of discussion was Worship and I wrote a handful of ideas down in my notebook that I wanted to transfer here and possibly expand upon if able. Also just some general notes/thoughts to follow

Books to read: C.S. Lewis "Letters to Malcom" also "The Analects" by Confucius. The latter was mentioned today in that Confucius wrote how conflicts arise generally because we miss title things or fail to define things correctly. Or we don't treat things as the title demands they be treated i.e. the title no longer has a meaning that it once did. Interested in getting a copy to read more. Also of note just came across Confuscious in another book I am listening to on my commute called "The hundred year marathon" about chinas strategic 100 year plan for world dominance which is currently being carried out, to be completed in 2049 so hang tight. I digress, Confucius was quoted in that book saying something along the lines of, the sky cannot have two suns, nor the earth two emperors. 

Psalm 96 vs 4-5" For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols." 

If you read this and say amen, but then fail to identify what exactly the 'gods of the peoples' are in our society today then you may find yourself giving praise (with your time, effort, devotion, and fear) to one of the said gods of the people. So, it is necessary to ask, what are the false gods of our age? How do people serve them? Am I serving them? Do I fear them? Do I fear the repurcussions of not fearing them? You cannot answer those questions unless you actually define them. I think this is a point that is often missed in sermons and christian cirlces. We don't go deep enough to understand our current times and what to do with them. Like the men of Issachar, those men of old. 

Romans 1 vs 21 - 22 "Although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools" This verse came up in discussion, definitely one that is underlined in my bible. Worldly wisdom is not wisdom at all. 

On Abraham and Isaac. I had never realized until today that before Abraham took Isaac up the mountain and left the rest of their party at the bottom he told them to stay and he said "when WE return". He didn't know what was going to happen but he knew that someone there would be descendants as numerous as the stars that would come from Isaac and he trusted that Promise that God had given him. Made me think about recent things I have read in which people question God and request signs in order to believe him - this is a time when Abraham didn't need any further questions to be answered but fully trusted in the Lord. Genesis 22

2 Timothy 3: 1-5  Throws in that children will be disobedient to their parents with a whole host of other sins . that they will appear righteous but deny God's power. Just another great verse that is underlined. And a good one to have in memory when thinking about disciplining children. 

Starting a book study with two other Leutenants from church. Going to read through Principles of war by jim wilson first and go from there. Excited to be doing a study with other guys at work. 1x infantry officer and 1x ground intel officer. Hope to add more as we go. 

Will be promoted to first Lt on Dec 15, Comes with a pay increase. And increase in responsibility as well as room for maneuver as more will trust automatically that you know what you are doing. 

Enjoying our advent this year, today is baking cookies to take to the neighbors and I am holding everyone up by typing so farewell, lets bake cookies!!

Sun Szu on spoiled children

 "Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys; look on them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even into death. 

If, however, you are indulgent, but unable to make your authority felt, kind-hearted but unable to enforce your commands; and incapable, moreover, of quelling disorder, then your soldiers must be likened to spoiled children; they are useless for any practical purpose. "

-Art of War, Sun Tzu

Likewise, regard your children as soldiers, for they will need to follow you into the deepest of valleys. They will need to stay the course until death. 

My Battalion Commander, LtCol Robeson, assigned a book for the Lts to read: This Kind of War, by T.R. Fehrenbach - A comprehensive history of the Korean War. I am thoroughly enjoying it. One key piece I have already taken away is that society aims to make us soft, they do not understand what it is that needs to be done or what kind of men are required to do it. "For he who desires peace must prepare for war. " Task Force Smith is a prime example. The first US Troops (Army) engaged to stop the advance of the North Koreans. They only lasted about 7 hours. 

The reality sunk in that deteriorating our efforts in training and equipping in times of peace is not a recipe for success in times of war. And times of war will undoubtably arise. 

Its not the critic who counts.

 

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

― Theodore Roosevelt

Miracle on 34th St.

One of the activities Meg has included in our advent calendar was to watch a christmas movie. This weekend we were scrolling through potential options and ended up watching just the preview for "Miracle on 34th St." 

I have not watched the movie, but from the preview I gathered the general synopsis. There is an old man who dresses up as Santa Clause each year (as many do across the country) for photo ops and to hear children's wish lists. Differing from most Santa's, this man truly does believe he is Santa Clause. It ends up going to court (again I haven't actually watched the movie) and his defendant makes a statement that was the climax of the preview:

"Would you rather have a truth that sheds a tear, or a lie that brings a smile."

Let that simmer. Let it further simmer that in context this was meant to be a rallying cry to viewers to empathize and agree with the defense. Let it simmer again, and watch the grease splatter from the pan, as you realize that many in our culture today not only would prefer the latter in this hypothetical situation, but are, in reality, living out this notion.

Meghan and I had a good laugh. This movie was definitely made in the 90s or so, and you can see that this ideology (subjective truth) has been playing the long game. They call it "my truth" now, and in the 90's they admitted it was a lie, and appealed to your emotions to get you to be okay with it. 

First men could marry men because it would be rude of you not to allow it, you homophobic. Now Men can marry men because the definition of marriage has changed all together. The culture has believed the lie because it came with a smile, 'tolerance' they rejoiced. We would have been much better off to have the truth, and let a few cry. 

Praise God we know which long game will win in the end, and already has. 

Death has been defeated. The serpent and all his efforts, are in vain

 

Quotes to Remember

 I read this today in Orthodoxy and thought it worth its own post - nothing further to be said; other than that I whole-heartedly agree, I have seen it now in my own daughters, and I believe it is this that Jesus references when he says:

 “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven."

Think of all the men who stick up their noses to monotony because they simply are not strong enough to exult in it. 

G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy: "It might be true that the sun rises regularly because he never gets tired of rising. His routine might be due, not to lifelessness, but to a rush of life. The thing I mean can be seen, for instance, in children, when they find some game or joke that they specially enjoy. A child kicks his legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "do it again"; and the grown up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, and has never gotten tired of making them. It may be that he has the eternal appetite of infancy: For we have sinned and grown old, and our father is younger than we. The repetition in Nature may not be a mere recurrence; it may be a theatrical encore."

OMOLP

 OMOLP - One More One Less Project.

There are around 18 million adults in America who consider themselves to be part of the LGBTQ community. 

There are approximately 205 million christians in America, 141 million of them being protestant. 

Currently LGBTQ members are 3x more likely to adopt in this country than are christians. 

I bring this up, not because we are defined by what we are against, but because this illuminates an area that Christians are neglecting. 

Our church, Pillar jacksonville, will be joining with the One More One Less Project. This is a North carolina organization, founded by a couple with a heart for fostering and adopting whose mission is to see churches step up across the state to 'foster' a culture more dedicated to the mission of fostering and adopting within their communities. OMOLP simply helps churches organize to facilitate more of their families becoming licensed to foster and adopt. If nothing else they provide a vision that churches can share together to address this need within our communities. 

Isaiah 1:23 - "Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. they do not bring justice to the fatherless, and the widow's cause does not come to them."

My Testimony

 I have been asked to share my testimony with the congregation at church this Sunday. I am writing out my thoughts now so this is not my wedding speech 2.0. (Yes there is a video and I awkwardly admitted that I forgot to thank my father-in-law, and I also invited my father to live with us when he is old - Not my best moment)

So to the Testimony

To start, I very much dislike sharing my testimony. My attention was recently drawn to a passage in Proverbs, 

"A fool vents all his feelings, but a wise man holds them back" 29:11

And I thought, YES! Justification for the way my sinful nature already seeks to be. I don't have to have those emotional conversations with my Wife, see, Proverbs says so! I oftentimes find myself cheering scripture when I read something that I really wanted to read anyway, as if I want scripture to conform to my personality and affirm that my habits and intuitions are in fact correct and biblical. I have learned to proceed with caution when my inner "applause track" comes to life.  Needless to say, in giving my testimony I will try not to simply vent my feelings, but instead to tell you where I was, what happened in my life, and where I am now. 

So to the beginning. Shortly after being born, my family - consisting of my mother and father, older brother (1 year) and older sister (2 years) moved to Lilongwe, Malawi. This is where my first memories reside, as a missionary kid, playing in the mud. After about 5 years we returned to the states because my Parents sought marital counseling back at home. We moved back to a small town in Missouri where my father pastored a church, but shortly after my parents divorced. You could say this is when it all started for me, this is when my father left the home. 

As hard as we might try, I beleive it is impossible to hear the word, "Father" (Even in the context of our heavenly father) and not associate the construct and meaning of that word at least somewhat to the experiences we have had with our own earthly fathers. And mine happened to be largely absent from my upbringing. 

So my siblings and I were raised by my mother, we attended a Baptist church every sunday morning, and usually wednesday nights. We ate a full sit down breakfast as a family every day before school not complete without a devotional reading. The fact that God created the world and the universe, has authority over everything in it, and sent his son to die so that we might spend eternity in Heaven with him - Is a concept I understood, and having understood this concept and believed in it, I was baptized at a young age. 

I'm sure my childhood was very similar to many others, I attended a public school, played sports, went on family vacations - and every few months or so spent a weekend with my dad. 

This is where things get a little bit difficult for me to keep straight. I know that I was saved, and outwardly I might have appeared as though I had my feet on a solid foundation, standing firm, but inwardly I was sliding down a steep hill greased and oiled with lust and insecurity, which came in a convenient package I could hide from everyone else in my life - 

I remember one moment vividly that set the stage for my highschool, and early college years. I was sitting in the back seat of a car, next to my brother. My dad was driving. I'm not sure if it was me or my brother who asked the question, "Dad, should you wait to have sex until you get married?"The response was, "You should wait for your first marriage, but after that it is okay." 

"Does a fish know that it is wet?" - Aristotle

This question illuminates the impact of Worldview. I was a christian, but my worldview was not biblical, and my tree was not bearing fruit. I was in bed with the culture, and like the fish,I didn't even know I was wet. 

I think I was seeking manhood desperately. Someone to embody it in front of me, someone to clearly define it. The church is not where I found that definition. Though my mother tried her best, there was no father in my home, and thus I didn't find it there either. 

This search for manhood relplaced any search for truth in scripture or a deepening in my relationship with god. 

Luke 6:40 - "A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher." Unfortunately I recieved my "teaching if you will" from the other 16 year old boys I spent all of my time with, movies and music that i wathced and listened to, and what I found was that there are really only two qualifications for being a Man 1. materially successful 2. Sexually successful. 

During these years I slept around, I was addicted to pornography - I still attended church, and I still considered myself a christian , I still beleived that God was God. 

I continued in this fashion for several years, building up a haunting amount of memories and images, that even after being faithfully married for four years visit me. 

Another place I looked to in my life to define manhood was the military. Now there is a place that can make men, I subconsciously thought. I don't even have to do anything, its just a transaction. I join, there is a process, and on the other end the product is manhood, right?

around this time I met Meghan, and we attended a church together. We began to go to a community group that was led by one of the Elders at the church. He began to disciple me. We met weekly and he would sit across the table from me and explain to me things I had never heard before. He pointed me to scripture and applied it to my life in a way I had never been exposed to. I began to understand that believing in God made me no better than the Demons. "For even the demons believe, and tremble" James 2:19 All of my half hearted attempts to go through the motions of christianity were exactly that - half hearted. 

He challenged me to truly take captive every thought to make it obedient to christ - 2 corinthians 10:5

Every thought. That meant what I listened to, what I watched, my understanding of everything that I had seeced to a secular worldview, And god began to show me through his word, through his holy spirit and through faithful discipleship from a Godly man that I needed to take all of these thoughts captive and to make them obedient to him. 

As a young man I always had a picture of what I would be like as an older man. I knew I would be a husband. I knew I would be a man that would study the word diligently. I knew I would have children, have a great marriage. I knew I would not be addicted to pornography, and that I would be wise. 

And I also thought that that would come later. As if one day I would wake up and be the man I thought I would one day be. 

We all know this is illogical. We don't show up to war having not trained and expect to be lethal or tactically proficient. All of us in the Military, all we do is prepare. But I had not applied this to my life. I was not preparing to be a husband. I was not preparing to be a father. I was not preparing to recieve wisdom. I was on a trajectory leading to the all too common and ever deadly nominalism. 

In all of this that has happened in my life, My brother is an aetheist, and my sister is now a Mormon. Only God saves, but the impact of fatherlessness is far reaching.

I can not tell you the exact time that the sun rose this morning. I around about when it happened. I know that at 6 am it was dark, and I know that now it is light, and I know that sometime in between light crested the horizon. Similarly I know that I was living a life distant from God, and I know that now I am walking faithfully in his word. There was not a single day or moment that I experienced a sudden change. But The sun has risen in my life. God gives me all my definitions, he defines what a man is, the world does not. 

Until sin be bitter, christ will not be sweet. I recognized the total depravity in my life, and God's grace is all the more sweet in me for it. I am thankful for the Grace of God, and the Mercy of God. Giving me salvation of which I do not deserve, and withholding from me from damnation of which I do deserve. 

God has blessed us to be in a church led by Godly elders, and one that leads its members to come together in homes to study his word. It was in a church like that I was discipled. God has blessed me with a beautiful wife and two beautiful daughters. We are assiduously seeking after him, and experiencing the freedom that comes to being rightly a slave to christ. We are excitingly sharpening the arrows God has entrusted us with and will one day fire them into the heart of the enemy. Praise God. 

Poverty

 We are reading through the book of John at home and this morning read in chapter 12:

"But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, who whould betray Him, said, 'Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?' This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it." John 12: 4-6

Sound familiar?

President Johnson announced an 'unconditional war on poverty' in his first State of the Union address in January 1964. A 'war' that is still being waged by progressives today. If we truly had cared for the poor, or truly wanted to end poverty, we could have simply wrote everyone in America a check for 500k and wiped our hands- war over. If you want poverty to continue forever, then exactly what you should do is declare war on it, give people jobs in order to fight it, tax people in order to fight, create an entire infrastructure who's mission is to fight, all the while funneling money through bureaucracy. This is the greatest way to incentivize poverty to continue forever. The only way many keep their job, or continue to get re elected is if poverty remains. So, like Judas, they will proclaim with their mouth to care for the poor, and with their hands will ensure poverty remains. For poverty is their profit. 

"I've never understood why people(on the left) say, 'wealth is a cancer, you should spread it'" - Doug Wilson

Mission...Objective?

In a recent meeting with the General on a current planning initiative, our Col stopped the discussion and posed a simple question to the panel.

 "Are we an objective looking for a mission, or a mission looking for an objective?"

If you are a mission first, seeking an objective, you are likely in love with a process and not a result. This means you will remain in love with said process even if it is taking you somewhere you did not intend on going. 

If you are an objective looking for a mission, the end is already clearly defined. The route however is subject to change. 

If you are a parent who is a mission looking for an objective, this may look like a couple who is committed to homeschooling, regardless the yield. Homeschooling does not save children. 

If you are a parent who is an objective looking for a mission, you have already decided where you want to take your children, and if homeschooling is the way to get them there then its what you'll do. 

Start first with the objective, and do not fall in love with the mission. 

National Defense Authorization Act Fiscal Year 22

 The 2022 National Defense budget was recently passed through the house and the senate ( deadline extended to December) and a caveat of this bill that many have not realized and almost no one is talking about is the small fact that Women will now be required to sign up for selective service - the draft. 

As disappointing as this is to a father of two girls, it is consistent with the trajectory our nation has been traveling and moreover it is consistent with the nation's worldview. 

Women have been in the military since 1948 when Harry Truman signed the Women's Armed Services Integration Act. Women were then allowed to enter combat arms communities in 2015, and services have steadily been "adapting" (lowering) standards ever since. *I watched this firsthand at IOC*

If women have been deemed equal on all fronts to men and the general culture agrees wholeheartedly with this, then they should be exuberant that finally women have the equal requirement to leave the home and their children and register to be shipped to a future war. That is what our culture wants. 

Many however, who were given the cake, and are now eating it, are about to find out someone didn't add in any sugar. There is nothing sweet about sending your daughter, or your wife off to war. "You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk" - Exodus 34:26 - That which was created to give life should not be used as an instrument of death. The realization of fathers and husbands across the country that their loved ones will be signing up for the draft may cause them to think again about this worldview they have all adopted and where it is leading. 

Watershed moment type of question. The answer will lead the droplet down the west side of the mountain and eventually into the Pacific Ocean, or it will lead the droplet down the east side and into the Atlantic. Are women and men equal? If you answer yes to that question and you give up any basis for an argument against your daughter's being forced to go to War. Answer no to that question and you end up somewhere else ( but to do this you will need some sort of foundation to stand on other than ' Matter fizzed up and this all appeared out of nowhere' - You need God )

The truth is we (as a nation, but even many people claiming to be Christian) gave up the authority of scripture a long time ago (Point to an example below) and ceaded to the false authority of an Atheistic, secular humanist worldview. In that world we are all just evolved meat. Because that is commonly believed, there will be no basis to argue against Beastiality, Polygomy, Abortion, Socialism (theft), Pedofilia - all of those things are consistent with a secular or atheist worldview. 

Was there a definative moment that the U.S. adopted the secular religion? Gary Demar in his book 'Restoring the foundation of civilization' believes there is and he points to Abington School District v. Schempp - A 1963 Supreme court case in which it was declared unconstitutional for a public school to sponsor bible readings. This was an 8-1 vote. The only dissenter, Justice Potter Stewart wrote this, :

If religious exercises are held to be an impermissible activity in schools, religion is placed in an artificial and state-created disadvantage.... And a refusal to permit religious exercises thus is seen, not as the realization of state neutrality, but rather as the establishment of a religion of secularism, or at least, as governmental support of the beliefs of those who think that religious exercises should be conducted only in private.

I firmly believe there is no neutrality. Abandoning Christianity in schools was adopting Atheism as the new religion taught to our nation's children. 

Now that we have just a small amount of background, lets jump back to the draft.

I think it is clear for all to see that Women are no longer valued for their incredible ability to bring life into the world. They are simply valued as Men who happen to have the biological capability to reproduce as an additive (or hinderance). As Voddie says - "Eve's curse isn't good enough, they want to share Adam's too"

It is the differences that make something important, however our culture tells us it is the similarities. Did you know we share 99% of our DNA with Bonobos Chimpanzees? But its the 1% difference that makes all the difference. Where are the Chimps' schools, libraries, roads, courts, art, music, architecture? No, the world is their toilet. This is somehow supposed to be important to evolutionists, a breakthrough if you will. You see this with men and women also, Our culture praises women anytime they do something that men have been doing for a long time as if this is special. What they don't praise is what women can do that men cannot do, what is actually so beautiful about them, creating life. 

 

Notes following recent sermon on Love

Everyone agrees that love is a good thing. The disagreement however is in the definition of love and the object of its action. How love is manifest. 

1 Corinthians gives several definitions of love and the sermon largely centered on love being kind and taking the backseat to the feelings of inclusion experienced by others. Specifically if there are those in your congregation who are fearful of covid and will not attend church because the church does not mandate masks, then the rest of the congregation, out of love, should simply wear their masks to show kindness to the other members. 

It was stated that many christians today would rather correct a brother's theology than show compassion to him. 

Isn’t correcting a brother actually showing love? - "Love does not rejoice in iniquity but rejoices in the truth." - 1 Corinthians 13:6

On the masks.. we would be willing to give up truth to affirm the false fears of others. Our culture loves fear.. we fear death, sickness, the media preys on the fears of their viewers, we embrace horror movies, halloween . All to draw us away from fearing God.  - "Make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts" - Romans 13:14 We love fearing things other than God and this misplaced fear has become a lust of the flush that we are commanded to make no provision for. Affirming this false fear is the opposite of loving truth and the opposite of love. 

Love is not conformed to the expectations of the world (being non-abrasive about covid) in fact, 1 John 3 says the way we love should result in the world hating us - because those in the world who are lost hate truth. We should not dabble in any footing that is not the foundation of truth. This is not supposed to only be done in our speech behind closed doors but acted out in our everyday lives. Our love and our stance for truth should bleed out of our fingertips - "Let us not love in word or tongue but in deed and in truth" - 1 John 3:18

For those who would err on 'love causing no rifts' Matt 10:34 says that christ did not come to bring peace but a sword. He who loves his father, mother, son, or daughter, more than Christ is not worthy of Christ. And certainly he who loves the guy in the back insisting everyone affirm his fear and put on a mask would then also not be worthy. Love does have hierarchies. We are to first love Christ and therefore truth, and the sake of kindness should not betray this. Win the man and not the argument, but we do actually want to win the man, not allow him to continue the way he has been. 

It was argued that proverbs 26:4-5 is contradictory on purpose to prove the point of proverbs that it takes wisdom to address fools. But I would argue that these verse do not contradict one another but perfectly describe how we are to address fools and they build the same case not contradict eachother. Verse 4 says” do not answer the fool according to his folly, lest you also be like him.” So this means, do not answer a fool by affirming their presuppositions and accepting them as your own. If you are talking to a fool you do not have to assume evolution in order to speak to him about how evidence does not scientifically back evolution because you have already given up your foundation and now are in danger of arguing not on the authority of god and scripture but on the authority of evidence, making you and your new friend the judge and not God. So do not answer the fool if it means you are going to accept his worldview. Verse five then says “Answer the fool according to his folly, less he be wise in his own eyes”. Now this is telling us we are to answer the fool according to his folly, but in order to show him he is wrong. So answer the fool while standing on your foundation of scripture and truth. (Sympathy) because it would not be loving to allow him to continue thinking he is wise while living in foolishness. Answer him according to his folly from our solid foundation in order to truly love him. 

If a man is running towards a cliff it is more loving to tackle him to the ground in order to make him stop than it is to give him a hug and say “see you next fall”. Unfortunately this is not how many will behave in practice. We give up truth in order to appear friendly.

Good Fences

I began reading this week 'Papa Don't Pope' by Douglas Wilson with Todd. I have enjoyed the approach that Todd uses when reading and that is to Plod through a book a little each week. (For him I think it would be more accurate to say a little each day, or maybe even a little each hour - he does some serious plodding - and reaps the rewards.) 

This week we are in the introduction through chapter one. In the introduction I came across an interesting phrase: " Good fences make good neighbors"

At first glance what do you think this phrase means? I asked some peers in the office and the general response went something like: "Boundaries are good for relationships" which in its own right is a very vague statement. 

What Doug meant by the phrase however is that when two parties come to a disagreement, before they can reach an agreement they have to go through the in-between phase of clearly defining the disagreement. Clear distinctions help solve issues. 

What are some of the more public disagreements many have in our country?

Covid: Vaccines? Government Overreach? If we could clearly define what we disagree about which actually has really nothing to do with the Virus itself and everything to do with The state claiming 'In loco parentis' making decisions for autonomous families across the countries as if it were everyones father. My savior is the God of the Universe, not the United States Government. 

Also currently enjoying Webster's 1828 Dictionary and studying biblically based definitions of words. Foundations are so important. 

Many today argue for equality that is 'guaranteed to us by our constitution' but forget the foundation of our equality which is stated in the very document they cite. 

"We hold these truths to be self evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among theses are...."

Psalms 11:3 "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?"

On the note of forgetting the Lord.

 Lets look at just one word defined in the most recent Merriam-Webster edition, and compare it to Webster's original 1828 edition. 

Marriage

Today's Merriam Webster:

mar·​riage | \ ˈmer-ij  , ˈma-rij \

Definition of marriage

1asee usage paragraph below : the state of being united as spouses in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law

b: the mutual relation of married persons : WEDLOCK

c: the institution whereby individuals are joined in a marriage

2: an act of marrying or the rite by which the married status is effectedespecially : the wedding ceremony and attendant festivities or formalities

3: an intimate or close unionthe marriage of painting and poetry— J. T. Shawcross

Webster's 1828

MAR'RIAGE, noun [Latin mas, maris.]

The act of uniting a man and woman for life; wedlock; the legal union of a man and woman for life. marriage is a contract both civil and religious, by which the parties engage to live together in mutual affection and fidelity, till death shall separate them. marriage was instituted by God himself for the purpose of preventing the promiscuous intercourse of the sexes, for promoting domestic felicity, and for securing the maintenance and education of children.

Marriage is honorable in all and the bed undefiled. Hebrews 13:4

1. A feast made on the occasion of a marriage

The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king, who made a marriage for his son. Matthew 22:2.

2. In a scriptural sense, the union between Christ and his church by the covenant of grace. Revelation 19:7.

What is left out in Today's version? Almost everything of substance. First the uniting of One man and One woman. Marriage is both a civil and religious union. Live together in fidelity until death. Instituted by God. Prevents promiscuous intercourse between the sexes. For securing the maintenance and education of Children. 

When we try to rid our words of God's influence the result is empty carcasses void of meaning. We need to be careful where we get our definitions from. God defines the things of this world (seeing as he made it and all) not man.  

Keep your Prosperity in check

This morning I read in Joshua and found a parrallel to Deutoronomy that applies so well to our situation as a culture, nation, and generation today. 

Joshua 24:12-14 "I sent the hornet before you which drove them out from before you, also the two kings of the Amorites, but not with your sword or with your bow. I have given you a land for which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant. Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord!" 

The Israelites possessed a land for which their generation did not wield the sword for, cities for which their hands did not build, fruits for which they did not plant - And they therefore receive a the warning not to forget who gave this to them, not to forget the Lord. 

Deuteronomy 6: 10 "So it shall be, when the Lord your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, houses full of all good tings, which you did not fill, hew-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant - when you have eaten and are full - then beware, lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage."

Here we see the same warning. 'When you have eaten and are full THEN beware lest you forget the Lord.' 

Voddie made a statement that went something like, "Trials have a way of sending us to our knees, but prosperity has a tendency to drive us away from worshipping God. Keep your prosperity in check."

 Keep your prosperity in check. 

One key piece here that stands out is free prosperity, or that which you did not earn yourself. The Israelites possessed a land with wells already dug and cities already built. 

Our generation possesses a land that we ourselves did not wield the musket to defend, we did not toil for its founding principles. Our prosperity for which we were born into has a way of driving us away from God. We should beware, lest we forget. 

Of more importance than just our Nation, what else did we not labor for, or earn? Our salvation. Not by our hands we received the greatest gift in the history of the universe. Let us not forget.

"To what shall I liken this generation?"

 Jesus, speaking to the multitudes about their own generations says,

"It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their companions, and saying: ' We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we mourned to you, and you did not lament'"

Here he is referring to  an ancient version of the game, Simon Says - when a designated child pretended to play a flute the other children were supposed to dance. Essentially, beginning to say that when both John the Baptist and He came to them, they did not respond. He goes on to say, 

"For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon'. The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a freind of tax collectors and sinners!' But wisdom is justified by her children." Matthew 11:16-19

Many people become frustrated with a situation and seek answers. Many Christians even want to know where they are going wrong in their marriage or in childrearing; But will reject any answer given to them, even those that come from scripture. We become just like the generation Jesus was speaking to and reject any wisdom. We had an answer already in our mind which was to continue to receive affirmation in our hardships from those around us, and not to take biblical action, regardless if scripture clearly commands us to. The people were given John and they complained because he didn't eat that he must be demon possessed. Then the Son of God came and they complained that because he did eat and drink that he was a Glutton! Regardless who brought the message, they were going to reject it. They had preconceived in their minds that they would not change their lifestyle and therefore could fabricate an excuse against anyone who would require them to. 

There are so many parallels today, one I mentioned above was that of people seeking advice and when pointed to scripture reject it. They had already decided they only wanted to appear to seek advice, what they actually desired was someone to complain to who would affirm them in their present state. 

Our generation rejects truth just like those who lived 2,000 years ago did. When the truth is provided we will find an excuse, we only wanted to appear to seek the truth. 

We are willing to blatantly contradict ourselves in order to continue living in folly. To draw just one more parallel: Many in our nation support sacrificing our children on the alter to a God that will promise material wealth and success (abortion) and in order to justify this they say it is their body therefore it is their choice. Then when Covid hysteria comes about the same people want the Government to force needles into peoples bodies against their will, completely contradicting their argument for killing children. They don’t want John who eats locusts or Jesus who eats with Sinners, they just want what they want and they want it now because they want it, and by Golly they want it okay? 

Pray that we can be humbled to receive the teaching of the Lord.