Brotherhood of the Guam

It's been quite a journey since the day that I gave my heart to Jesus in September of 1983. There have been awesome moments along with seasons where I really struggled, but the Lord has been very longsuffering and Philippians 1:6 is so true. "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." Recently, I regained contact with some of the saints with whom I was in the navy with. I was stationed on board the USS Guam from June of 1984 until December of 1987. It was during this time that some awesome memories came to be. (It's important to not dwell in the past; only to use it as a reference to know what the Lord has brought you from and how he has worked in your life.) We held free-form bible sudies at all hours of the night and would regularly share the gospel in the streets of any town that the Guam took us to, providing we knew the language. It was also during this time that I began to learn the awesomeness of quality time spent in prayer. My favorite hangout was the forcastle (ours was enclosed because of the flight deck) and there was nothing better than to come into the presence of the Lord with nobody else around. (I'm not a hermit, but you need time like that and in todays world, such moments can be hard to find.) It was an incredible time of developing a closer walk with Jesus and learning to have compassion on those around me. (Every one that you will ever come into contact with, regardless of how froward they may be, it's important to remember that Jesus paid for their sin just as he did yours.) I remember the days on the Guam because it was there that the Lord began to really start guiding me into the strait (that's the King James spelling) and narrow way that Jesus said we must seek. Two years ago, I was able to reestablish contact with Tony Cicatko again and this past summer, contact was established with Mark Gardner and Alfred D McNeely. Mark, while currently in the states, has been a missionary to Angola and plans are in place to go to Namibia next June. Bro Al remained in the navy for several years and now works for the navy in a civilian capacity. He resides in Millington Tennessee. Bro Tony, during his navy years was (and still is) married with four kids. I now can really appreciate the balancing act that he had to perform; raising a family while being in the military, as I now have four kids also. The primary difference is that I don't have to go on six month deployments. That had to be rough but God is faithful and bro Tony was always full of the joy of the Lord. As mentioned in previous posts, Gods peace doesn't hinge upon physical circumstances; it's always there if you keep your heart upon him. It's been quite a journey. Sometimes I look and it seems that I have so far to go in growing into the fullness of Christ. Each day we must strive to be less like us and more like him. But as far as I still have to go, when I look back I can see how far he's brought me already. Before I became a christian, I had a very dark occult-like viw of the world and made a mockery of the children of the most high God. Truly, he has brought me a long way from the road to perdition and I will forever praise him for it. My heart is firmly on the race that is set before me and I pray that yours is also. Well, I have to get ready to go work at the chariot of Egypt known as "American Axle and Manufacturing." I will post again when I get a chance. I really enjoy blogging. Even if nobody reads it, it's good to engage in heavenly conversation.