Memorial day memories

I finally met someone I know (in person) who actually reads my blog! It was cool, and disconcerting all at the same time. Almost immediately I found myself thinking back wondering about the things I've written about. :) In the end, I think it's pretty cool. And he was very encouraging. :) Yesterday was a long day. I had a mandatory drill day yesterday. Although it's inconvienient, in the end it is sort of an honor to be able to do this to celebrate our countries veterans. In my opinion it's not just for the military either. It is for all those who set aside their personal intrests in order to serve the country as a whole. Firemen, policemen, forest service, Coast Guard, merchant marines, etc. I think celebrating such service in for the good of others is a good thing. For our part we had about a dozen and half guys and three howitzers. It was only a couple of miles (3 at most) and end the end of the parade route we pulled into the local cemetery and performed a 21 gun salute. It went off spelndidly. Every five seconds - BOOM! I was a little self consious during the parade though. All along the route there were people clapping and saying thank you. Now I know people tell me that what I've done is a good thing, but I don't feel that I've done all that much. I did say thank you back though. :) After the parade and the salute was over we received a call from a small group of guys that we send to a VFW about 30 miles down the road every year. For some reason the FDC section gets this mission every year. No walking, and they get a free meal and a bonus case at thend end. In any event they didn't send any 13B's with them (cannon crewmen). The howitzer was not firing properly and I was sent to get them a spare firing pin. When I got there the firing pin looked fine, but upon inspection the breech seemed to be malfunctioning. Well they hadn't brought any tools with them so it was an intersting endeavor to get this very heavy block of metal pulled out, and the breech repaired. In the end it all worked out well. Once all of that was done I was able to get home by 3:30. I wanted to take a nap pretty bad because of having to get up early and then doing the parade and fixing the howitzer in the sun and heat. I did get a nap, but it was one of those that even though you've been out for 20 - 30 minutes you'd swear that you had just closed your eyes. But it was time to get to a friend's house where we had been invited to come over for a BBQ. They had planned a get together for their care group and they invited us to come along as well. We've known them for over 13 years, and God recently brought them back to the area. Their oldest son has also been diagnosed with a 'high functioning' form of autism. They are in the process of learning about the disorder, and those kinds of things. In the years to come I think it will be good to work with each other as we both navigate the school system and society in general. :) Well, I need to wrap this up for now. I hope you all had a great, grace filled, and peacful Memorial Day weekend. Verse for today: Romans 1:8-17, esv First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you—that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. I want you to know, brothers, [2] that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, [3] both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, [4] as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” [5]