From Civilian to Soldier

            So as many of you don't know I have decided to join the military! If I want to attend college I need some way to pay for it so this seemed like the best route to go. I wanted to attend college and at the same time make some money. Thus led to my decision to join the Army National Guard. Now other services look at the Guard as the pathetic group of the military. In defense of the Guard we are in fact not the pathetic group. If anything we are equal (or maybe smarter) with all of the other branches. Why? Because unlike all of the other branches, we not only have to swear to follow orders from the Federal government, we also have to follow orders from the State government. When I was sworn into the Guard, I was in the same room as a Marine and a fellow Army man. They only had to swear to follow the federal government. I on the other hand had to swear to the state and the federal government. This means that I not only have to follow federal rules, but state rules as well. Thus my job demands 2x as much. Why else is the Guard awesome? Well many people know about the threat of a Government shut down. Unlike other branches who receive their paycheck through Washington, I receive my paycheck through the state of Missouri. Which means I would still get paid in the event that the Government shut down.
             Well enough of me lifting up the Guard, I could talk about it forever. Moving on though...last Monday I took the ASVAB. For those who don't know what that is, it's a test that all applicants that want to join the Armed Forces have to take. I was nervous because I had no idea as to what was going to be on it. Let me tell you that EVERYTHING is on there. I mean we're talking; about 3x+2y=7 when y=2 what does x equal? Another question was like how do you measure the oil in an engine with no "dipstick"? (I almost lost it on that question) Now I never said the test was hard, it was actually rather easy in my opinion, it also was nothing like the ACT which most people said that it was going to be. I ended up getting a 92/99 on it. Which is extremely good! I then moved on to take the TAPAS. This was the weirdest personality test I have ever taken. Would I rather go to a party and be social, or go smoke some weed with some of my close friends? WHO ASK'S THAT?! There were 140 questions and I can honestly say some of them are not worth repeating. After taking the test and receiving my score on the ASVAB, I went back out front to the main control desk where I was told that I would be spending the night (which I already knew) in a local hotel. So they transferred me via van. Upon arrival at the hotel we had to check into a back room where I found out who my "roommate" was going to be. He was in the process of applying to be a U.S. Marine. Luckily we hit it off so all went well. The hotel had an exercise room, so we figured why not use it? I ran a mile in 8:30 and at the time I believe that I was 205 lbs. I would find out the next day that I had broken the 200 lbs. club and I was in fact 199lbs. So in my opinion the 8:30 was not all that impressive. I ended up going to bed at 9. We were told that the wake up call would be at 4:30, when we received our call it was at 4:15. The worst part was that we couldn't leave our room till 5:05 check in was at 5:15. We didn't pay attention to the time and when I glanced down it was 5:13 we scrambled (luckily we both were already packed) and walked fast down the hallway. We made it to the line in time not to be "late" but we we're not soon enough to not get yelled at by the guy in charge. When checking in we had to state our last name and "our roommate is here, and here is my key." Then we went in for breakfast, we had to eat in 10 minutes or less. I'm not a big breakfast guy but I know when I have a short amount of time to eat in to simply get food because I'm going to need it. It was powdered eggs, something that looked like bacon, and some sort of hash brown like material. Yes I said material. The fruit was the only thing that looked real. After that we reported back to the check in room and waited. Yes we waited. At approx. 5:50 we loaded up on buses and reported back to the M.E.P.S center where I had taken the ASVAB on Monday. It was here where we first were told where we would be for the morning and what we were doing. I was to report to the medical station. I reported back to the M.S. (medical station) and checked in using my right pointer finger (that is how you checked in and out of everything!) They gave me a folder with a single paper in it. The first thing I had done to me was get my pulse taken, at the same time I got my blood pressure taken. They put in 4 more forms and told me to report to a back room to have my hearing tested. So off I went and as I approached the room I could see 6 different computers set up on a rack. The woman in charge instructed me to go into this mini room that looked like a time capsule out of a Sci-fi. I was to take the seat on the far right side (there were 6 seats total, 2 of them were already occupied), she then stepped in and briefed us on how we would be tested on different frequencies, we were to push this button to make the noise quit anytime we heard it. Simple enough, I did well, there were like 7 different frequencies we we're tested on. She filled out our forms and told us to go report back to the desk that we had our pulse taken at, and from there they would tell me where to go.
           After waiting in line (there was a lot of waiting all day) I was told that I would need to go to another room and have my sight tested. Once again I waited until it was my turn, it was just like getting my eyes checked for glasses (which I do wear) it was a simple easy process, they also tested me for color blindness. I passed the sight area with flying colors. Once again I had to report back to the front desk, they told me to go to a large assembly area with desks. When I went in and grabbed my tube and pen (I was told to) I was informed by a fellow guardsman that it was time for the breathalyzer test. This is a test that is designed to see how much alcohol content is in you at the time of the application. I of course passed seeing that it is illegal for me to drink at this age. They waited until the room was full before testing us, they wanted to do everybody at once. It took probably 30-45 minutes before the room was full. After breathing in the tube and seeing that I passed I was told that it was time for a urine test. YAY! (sarcasm) I'm not going to go into to much detail with that, its simply a test to see if you are using illegal drugs or not. I was the first out of that room and was told to go around the corner and sit. From there a lady came up to me and asked if I was ready to give a blood sample. Well I give blood all the time so of course it was not problem. It took her forever to get it though. I had to help her remove the needle from my arm! After that I once again was to report to the front desk to see where I was to head next. From there came the horrid stuff that all guys dread. Men (and some women) know what I'm talking about when I say "turn and cough". Not to much detail there. From there I was told to report to the "gym". It really was not a gym at all it was more like a master bedroom with no furniture and tile floors. I was told to undress but keep on my underwear, they took my height and weight (199!!!) and then after more guys got in there the Head Dr. came in and made us to a bunch of ridiculous exercises. From there he signed off on all of our stuff. I happened to glance at his office clock and noticed that it was 10 a.m. He told me to report back to the M.S. check in desk so that they could make copies. After waiting in line and having them make my copies, I was told to report back to the National Guard Liaison. Once again I found myself waiting in line. Before they took my folder I counted how many papers I had, my folder had grown from 1 paper to 25! They said that it would take quite some time to do, so I went to the T.V. room and waited, it was already past 10:50. Lunch was going to be served soon. We all had name badges and on them were barcodes. When you went to lunch you not only signed in but you also were "scanned." Lunch was ok I finished it quickly and at the same time my recruiter walked in so I talked with him briefly and let him go back and talk with the Liaison. I went back into the T.V. room and listened to a bunch of Marines bash on the Army in general. I was tempted to respond but I didn't. I remained silent. I wish I had a camera when my recruiter came and got me in his Army uniform. They were shocked that here they were bashing on the very group that I was joining and I didn't say a word. The room went silent. I walked away with my recruiter and that is when I was told the bad news. The MOS (Military Occupation Specialty) that I had wanted was no longer available, the only one available was Infantry. Now don't get me wrong that job is awesome, but I worked so hard to get a good ASVAB score just to become an infantryman....NO WAY! He told me that he would see what he could do. I went back to a silent T.V. room. About 10 minutes later my recruiter once again came and got me. He told me that it was a good thing that I was smart, because they had called the Master Sergent. They had told him about my score on the ASVAB and that I was only a High School Junior. He was impressed and decided that the unit could use one more in the job I wanted. IT WAS AWESOME to hear that. They brought me back to the Liaison where they had me electronically sign some documents. This is where trouble struck. None of my signatures were going through. So we had to scan them in by printing off the documents. 3 of the 4 went through and we tried for 10 minutes to get the last one to go through but it wouldn't. they had to call the help center (who knows where it was located) to see about getting it fixed. In the meantime I was sent back to the T.V. room. about 30 minutes later they brought me back to try again, once again it did not go through. So the guy called the desk again and told them that it wasn't fixed. Yet again I was sent back to the other room. 15 minutes later they called me back they had scanned the signature in and got it to work! It was about 2:15. From there we went over my contract and they sent me back to be fingerprinted and have a final review. No problems with that and so I was to go back and tell the Liaison that I was finished and ready to be sworn in. The time was about 2:50.
         I was the last person that was supposed to be sworn in that day. Two others were with me in the swear in room as mentioned earlier. We waited and waited for the officer to show up only to find out that he was in a meeting and we were going to have to wait till he was out. I was warned that his accent was going to be hard. It was. Probably the hardest Spanish accent I have ever heard. I was supposed to repeat after him. That was sooooooo hard to do, I was having to think about what he said, process it and spit it back out. I then was to report to the final station where he would sign off on my contract. That took 3 minutes or less. From there I was to finally report back to the Liaison and tell them that my contract was complete. They handed me my orders for when I was to be shipped to Basic training (which is the 21st of June) . They told me to report to the central desk where I was to turn in my name tag and after that I was free to go. It was a long day. I left at 3:10. Crazy! I was so tired but the process was done! I have to report to drill this weekend but I don't care I get paid for it! I'm sure your probably thinking, well Joel was this worth it? I can honestly say YES, I feel great pride knowing that I am serving my country and my state at the same time. I would not change a thing.
                Well that is how my Tuesday went, if you read it this far THANKS! More updates to come!

One Mission pt. 6

          I want to welcome you all back once again to FCA. This is the last Monday for you seniors that must be pretty exciting. For the rest of us underclassmen we’ve got 2 more to go, we can make it! These last few weeks we’ve been studying the book of Acts, and this week we’re going to wrap up that series. Act’s is one of the coolest books in the bible! Now I know that we’ve only been studying Acts for 6 weeks, but I figured 6 weeks is a lot shorter than an entire year, that’s how cool this book is. Did you notice how instead of titling this book study “Acts” how we named it One Mission? That name really sums up the book of Acts, they had one mission and that was to spread the good news. They lived their lives dedicated to that one mission. And people noticed people looked at them and went “Woah what do they have that I don’t?” As a matter of fact if you look at Acts chapter 20 versus 24, Paul actually shows us how many of those in the early church lived. “But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.” We need to live with this idea that we have a MISSION. That word mission comes from the Latin word sending or to send. Being a Christian follower doesn’t mean that we just gather on Sunday’s or Wednesday nights or even Monday mornings, it’s about being sent into the world. We’ve been sent as missionaries, did you know that you have been called to be a missionary. You don’t have to go to a third world country, live in a hut, and eat worms to be a missionary. You can do it in your own state, your own town, your own school. Jesus sends us out for the same reason that he was sent to us. Jesus’ mission was to bring man back to God; our mission is to bring man…back to God. It was his mission but now it is our mission. God desires to have a relationship with his people. He doesn’t want a religion with his people…he wants a relationship. As followers of Christ we’re called to evangelize to others. We’re not to call people to religion; we’re to call people to a relationship. And when we call people into a religion, it puts a lot of misconceptions into people’s minds about who God is. Religion keeps people from having a relationship with God, because they begin thinking “well I’m just not good enough.” See religion is man’s and woman’s effort to try and fix our relationship with God. It’s an effort for us to try to make this thing with God right. And we can’t make it right. You can’t earn your “spot”. Jesus Christ gave his life for you so that could have that relationship with God, and that’s great news! The great news is that God loves us, God has redeemed us, God has restored us, God has saved us from our sin, and Jesus has now brought us back into this right relationship with him. Now that’s not good news, THAT’S GREAT NEWS! In Romans chapter 10 Paul asks how are people going to know God, unless somebody tells them?  Somebody has to put it into a language they can understand, from who God is and how sin to us apart to what Jesus did to bring us back together again. And that somebody is you and me, and I believe most of us understand that, most of us know “ok I have to do that.” But not a lot of us know how to start. There is a story in the book of Acts that will help us understand how to share our faith. That story is found in Acts chapter 8 and it’s a story about a man named Philip. Philip was in a revival meeting, and the Lord spoke to him and sent him to the desert. Interesting how the Lord works isn’t it? From a revival to a desert, who would’ve thought? Beginning with Act’s chapter 8 verse 26 “As for Philip, an angel of the Lord said to him, "Go south* down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza." So he started out, and he met the treasurer of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under the Kandake, the queen of Ethiopia. The eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and he was now returning. Seated in his carriage, he was reading aloud from the book of the prophet Isaiah. The Holy Spirit said to Philip, "Go over and walk along beside the carriage." Philip ran over and heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah. Philip asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?" The man replied, "How can I, unless someone instructs me?" And he urged Philip to come up into the carriage and sit with him. The passage of Scripture he had been reading was this:"He was led like a sheep to the slaughter. And as a lamb is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth. He was humiliated and received no justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth."* The eunuch asked Philip, "Tell me, was the prophet talking about himself or someone else?"  So beginning with this same Scripture, Philip told him the Good News about Jesus. From this story there are a few steps we can learn about sharing the good news of Jesus.

           The first thing Philip did to share the good news was LISTEN. He listened and heard the Angel speak to him. God speaks to us all the time, God speaks through his spirit, he speaks to us through other people, and some of you may say that he speaks to you through songs. We’re just too busy; our minds are just too clouded with thoughts of worldly stuff for us to really hear the voice of God. In John 10:27 “My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me.” We know the voice of God. The second thing we do is we GO. Notice that Philip listened to the voice of God and then he went. We have the good news/Great news that God desires for everybody to hear. You know what I understand that often times its pretty intimidating to share the good news wouldn’t you say? I know it scares me sometimes to share the good news, it intimidates us. But remember that the Holy Spirit is inside us and will speak through us. The other thing Philip did was he LOOKED. He knows that God has called him, he heard the angel say to him “go.” And now he is looking for who it is that he needs to engage with. The fourth thing that we see is that Philip ENGAGED. Philip ran to the carriage, and this is where we make the move, and this is also where it gets a little risky. We’re taking a chance and its going to cost us something. We’ve all been rejected at times when we’ve tried to share something with, or share faith with, and so there is that risk of being rejected and that risk of not being rejected. After Philip engaged, he OBSERVED. Philip observed that the man was reading from the prophet Isaiah. It’s important for us to be observant as to what’s happening in other people’s lives. When we observant it makes it easier to do the next step.

        The next thing Philip did was he ASKED. He asked if the man understood what he was reading. When we ask questions, we begin to understand that person’s situation better, we show that person that we care, and that makes it easier. Ask questions because it opens the door of relationships and makes the conversation run smoother. The final thing Philip did was after asking all the right questions he was able to ANSWER. In verse 35 we see that he began with that very passage of scripture and he told him the good news of Jesus Christ. You have to be ready to answer. In 1 Peter 3:15 “Be ready at all times to answer anyone who asks you to explain the Hope you have in you, but do it with gentleness and respect.” Some of you may be going well I won’t even know what to say! Trust me there are times when I don’t know what to say either. But we can be reassured that we do know what to say when you look at 1 John 5:10 “Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony of God in them.” You have the testimony of God in you. You’ve got the story of what God has redeemed and changed in you. It’s what God has done and what he is doing. It’s your story and some of you may think well my story is not really that cool. This week I challenge you to go home and write down you story and put it in a safe place, after 2 days get it back out and see if you can add to it, and continue to do so until you can’t remember anything else. Then read it over and I guarantee that you will have an awesome story that you can use to tell others about Christ. That’s all I have for this week, thanks for reading!

One Mission pt. 5

                    Welcome back to FCA we’re continuing our book study on Acts. I hope you all have been reading along because this truly is an awesome book. I hope your all ready and awake this morning this is sure to be an awesome Monday! Today we’re reading from Acts chapter 9. Now this chapter is about a great transformation. Acts chapter 9 verses 1&2 read “Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord's followers.* So he went to the high priest. He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them—both men and women—back to Jerusalem in chains.” Notice how it says “followers of the Way” the followers of Christ were known as the followers of “the Way” We know where they got that from. Jesus Christ said “I am the Way the Truth, and the Life.” So Paul was going after the followers of the Way of Christ. Now if you remember 2 weeks ago we talked about Stephen who was the first Christian martyr, and the boldness of his faith. Remember when Stephen was being stoned to death, who was standing beside them? Saul. He held the cloaks of those who killed Stephen. Saul was the one that brought Stephen to trial. Saul was on this mission to remove all of the followers of the “Way”. Continuing on beginning with verse 3 “As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?"
 "Who are you, lord?" Saul asked. And the voice replied, "I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do."
 The men with Saul stood speechless, for they heard the sound of someone's voice but saw no one!8 Saul picked himself up off the ground, but when he opened his eyes he was blind. So his companions led him by the hand to Damascus. He remained there blind for three days and did not eat or drink. Now there was a believer* in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, calling, "Ananias!" ”Yes, Lord!" he replied. The Lord said, "Go over to Straight Street, to the house of Judas. When you get there, ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying to me right now. I have shown him a vision of a man named Ananias coming in and laying hands on him so he can see again." "But Lord," exclaimed Ananias, "I've heard many people talk about the terrible things this man has done to the believers* in Jerusalem! And he is authorized by the leading priests to arrest everyone who calls upon your name." But the Lord said, "Go, for Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well as to the people of Israel. And I will show him how much he must suffer for my name's sake." So Ananias went and found Saul. He laid his hands on him and said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”  Instantly something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized. Afterward he ate some food and regained his strength. Saul stayed with the believers* in Damascus for a few days. And immediately he began preaching about Jesus in the synagogues, saying, "He is indeed the Son of God!" WOW! What a radical transformation of this man’s life. When I look at this story and Gods AMAZING grace to transform this man named Saul into the great apostle Paul that wrote 13 books in the New Testament, other than the life of Jesus I don’t know if there has been any other life like Paul that has impacted more people throughout all generations of time, than this man. I’m amazed at God’s grace that it would come to a man like Saul. A man that completely hated all Christians and sought to destroy them and their very existence was shown such grace. Paul was so perverted in his thinking that everything that was pure and holy had been turned around in Saul’s life and it became the base of his hate. When I look at this story I see God’s light shining through touching Saul. And here’s the great thing about the light of heaven. God sees us for who we truly can become. He does not stop at the surface of our lives he continues on straight to our soul. And he looked beyond the hate, the faults, the failures, of this man and he saw the potential of who this man could be. With a life fully surrendered to God. Aren’t you glad that God looks beyond our faults and failures? Through his grace he forgives us and he transforms us. That is exactly what happened in the life of Saul. When I look at the verses and the story, it reminds me that God wants to shine that light into all of our hearts. God had to come in a dark moment and literally physically blind Saul. So that Saul was blinded to the point that he could now see the spiritual light and truth in his own life. God revealed that to him and transformed his life. God will come to us in our darkest hours because he loves us and he cares for us. You know what I love about the story of Paul; it’s no matter how far you’ve fallen into the darkness God’s grace will always be there to life you up and pull you out. Isn’t it amazing that in verse 9 that Paul was there 3 days and 3 nights nothing to eat nothing to drink, and he was blinded, but you know what truly is amazing is that God’s TIMING is always best for us.
                      God knew exactly what he needed to do to get Saul, he needed to lay him there and strip him of everything, during those 3 days. Saul was totally dependent on God and those that God had sent his way. This self reliant, self confident, self made man, could no longer rely on his own strength his own wisdom, he was laying there abandoned before God. And you know what God has to do that with us as well. God will allow us to go through very dark times in our lives. Most of the time so that everything that we hold onto that we think is dear and precious, can be stripped from us, so that we can really get a grip and grasp on God. We must understand there is only one thing that is eternal and that is our grasp on God and his truth. Paul was there communing with God, praying with God, and God was revealing himself to Paul. Three days on a street called straight, don’t you think that God has a sense of humor? God was going to straighten Paul out so why not put him on a street called Straight to straighten you out. Jonah was in the belly of a whale for three days. Jesus was in the grave for three days, Paul was blind for three days. There are times when we are in situations that we can’t and don’t understand why we’re here or we don’t understand why God is letting us go through this. And for some of us it’s God why are you allowing this to happen. There’s a lot of the “Whys” that we don’t understand but we can always trust Gods heart. We need to understand that God is always working for our GREATER GOOD. For me right now this is hard to believe, but I believe it. See a close friend of mine got injured over the weekend. Me and her grew up together and were best friends. She liked the idea of riding bulls and wanted to ride them professionally so she was taking classes. Well this past weekend she was bucked off of a bull and severely injured her spine and the spinal cord. The chance of her walking again is slim, in the single percent range to be exact. She has surgery today or tomorrow they don’t know yet. But as I was typing this last night it was so hard for me to think of what good could come of this. And I’m still confused as to why this had to happen and what good will come. But I know that God will take care of her just as he has taken care of me. See God has a plan and we may not understand it at first but if we trust in him then we will prevail.