Being thankful, Day #8

Today i am going to express thankfulness for my brother.  Through all of my childhood he was the one constant.  While we tended to go our separate ways in regards to school and friends, he was always there.  In many ways i failed him as an older brother.  Looking back through my memories, i can only think of one time i ever stuck up for him.  I do not remember ever taking the time to spend with just him.  I don't remember ever being a mentor to him, or going out of my way for him.  This is not a good thing.  Still through it all, for some reason he has remained a good brother to me.

A few years back, my National Guard unit got activated with his.  Well, not entirely true, most of the guys in my unit were transferred to his, which was activated.  While i was not sent overseas with them, a lot of the guys in my unit served with my brother.  They were amazed at how different we were. and we really are very different.  Still, i am thankful that he is my brother.

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Random Dozen - 20100922

Poor Linda over at 2nd Cup of Coffee.  She had a set of questions all ready to do to celebrate the 1st day of Fall, but she misplaced them.  Doh!  So, she has promised that these questions are really, really random!  Enjoy, and you really should go check out her blog.

1. Have you, or has someone close to you, ever won an award for anything?

I have a few trinkets here and there.  Over the years i have come to learn that some are only worth the paper they are printed on, while others only mean something to the recipient/organization that receives/gives it.  I am not sure where the one that means the most to me falls, but the award that means the most to me was the Honorable Order of St. Barbara.  "The Honorable Order of Saint Barbara is awarded to those individuals who have demonstrated the highest standards of integrity and moral character, displayed an outstanding degree of professional competence, served the Artillery with selflessness; and contributed to the promotion of the Artillery branch."  That is a lot of military-ees for thank you for serving faithfully in the Artillery (perhaps), but the Artillery was by far my favorite time of service, and this award means more to me than all of the ribbons and other awards i earned sans the Humanitarian Service Medal.

2. Who is the nearest relative to you who has served in the US Military?

Myself, actually, but stepping aside i would like to honor my brother.  He studied his butt off to graduate High School a semester early so that he could go off and join the Army Airborne Rangers.  While that did not work out immediately for him (long story), he served on active duty for 15 years, being deployed to combat zones multiple times.  He took a break, but is within 90 days of being eligible to retire from the Army National Guard having re-volunteered (and subsequently redeployed to combat zones) to serve.  His brother has never had to deploy into a "bad area", but he has done it several times.  In the end he achieved his dream of becoming an Airborne Ranger, AND an Air Assault Pathfinder (which to me, the latter is a better thing ).

3. Share something that stirs the patriotic spirit in you.

For me it is things like the Pat Tillman story, the one before the friendly fire incident.  Men and women who set aside their personal goals to serve their country, be it in the Armed Services or even the Uniformed Health Services.  From the earliest onset of this country our history is rife with such examples.  What America is most fondly known for is how she comes to the aide of others.  While we should always try and do that in less than heavy handed methods, it may not always be possible.  In any event... when other people set aside their own ambitions and welfare for others... i find that pretty moving.  Even when

4. Where are you in the birth order in your family? Do you think your "placement" made a difference in your personality?

I have never really studied this.  Growing up my brother and i really didn't live a "normal" childhood, so it is hard to tell, and my sister was born 10 years after i was and we only lived together in brief increments on two different occasions.  So... i am not sure.

5. Name one trait you hope you carry that was evidenced in your parents or grandparents.

Well, my beloved has noticed many that i seem to share with my father... but these are not considered "good" things... so... i would rather not stir up the memories... even if she never reads this post.

6. If female, do you prefer wearing a skirt or pants? If male, shirt and tie or polo?

POLO!  I have a "thick" neck in my opinion and i have never been comfortable wearing a tie.  I will, on occasion, wear one... but they are not my preference.  Polo shirts on the other hand...  i have a closet full of them, as well as a dresser drawer.  I wear them year round, even in the winter time.  If it's cold enough i will wear a t-shirt underneath.  One must dress in layers.

7. Approximately how many times do you wake during the night? What do you do to go back to sleep?

I find that i will wake up usually twice a night, and almost always at least once.  Rarely less than that.  Usually i roll over, get re-situated, and close my eyes.  On the more difficult times i will pray.  If that doesn't work, and it almost always does, i will get a half a juice glass of milk and stretch (picture runner's stretches) my legs some.

8. Share a favorite movie quote.

That really depends on my mood and the situation... but being put on the spot... um...

"When some wild-eyed, eight-foot-tall maniac grabs your neck, taps the back of your favorite head up against the barroom wall, and he looks you crooked in the eye and he asks you if ya paid your dues, you just stare that big sucker right back in the eye, and you remember what ol' Jack Burton always says at a time like that: "Have ya paid your dues, Jack?" "Yessir, the check is in the mail."  ~ Jack Burton, Big Trouble in Little China.

9. What is your favorite Fall candle scent?

I absolutely love the smell of a distant fire on a crisp cold evening.  The promise of warmth, the possibility of fellowship with a few friends, maybe a nice meal.  That my idea of a little slice of Heaven.

10. What is one Fall activity you're looking forward to?

Not sure really.  Watching Football is always good.  We have a Saturday planned where several families are going to meet up at one of our houses and spend the day cutting firewood and maybe some chili.  That seems really nice.  My beloved and i will also be celebrating an anniversary.  We won't be doing much just the two of us, but... maybe we can get a nice evening out somewhere in there.

11. Tell us about a pleasant surprise that happened to you recently.

Maybe it's just the late hour and/or the hectic schedule i've been running of late... but i cannot honestly think of anything.  Don't get me wrong... i am blessed with a home, a family and a good job.  We are not in want.  It blends all together, and right now no one thing really jumps off the page of my memory.  Although... my beloved giving her blessing to my upgrading my phone to an Android powered phone was pretty cool.

12. What was it like when you first met your in-laws-to-be?

I still remember meeting my then future father-in-law.  My beloved had brought me home so i could take her to one of her High School reunions.  We came in the front door, and i walked through the kitchen where her father was on the phone.  I was VERY grateful that he was on the phone because he has a presence about him.  Not menacing, but authoritative, if you know what i mean.I was shown into the family room while my beloved went and found her mother.  While i was there alone i had time to compose myself and catch my breath so to speak.  Both my future in-laws were very nice and gracious hosts.

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Who am i

• Parents divorced when i was 2ish ~ custody battle lasted until i was 10 when i got to choose (?!?)
• Suffered severe head trauma when i was very young, twice. This appears to continue to affect me (negligibly) still today
• Lived in 3 possibly 4 places before even starting kindergarten
• Was sent off to a near by Sunday School on a bus that went around our neighborhood, mom did not come with us
• Once shattered a glass bottle with my hand in a play ground
• Attended at least 3, maybe 4 Elementary Schools, 2 Middle Schools, 4 High Schools
• Had to repeat the 6th grade because i wanted to be in the same grade as my best friend at the time
• My best friend at the time became my friend only after i decked him because he called me "chicken"
• My mother remarried once, and was divorced 4 months later
• Her second husband was a bear of a man who spoke with his fists
• My brother and i stayed with a Christian family for a few weeks where all i remember is getting my first King James Bible, delivery newspapers, eating liver once (yuck!), and being baptised
• Severely sprained my ankle by pole vaulting down a hill
• Lived in 5 places and attended 3 different schools during the 9th grade
• The summer between 9th and 10th grade my brother and i were sent of to stay with our cousins as my mother no longer had a place to stay
• That summer was the best summer of my childhood and had a profound affect on the rest of my life
• Went to church with the mother of the guy my mom (and i) was living with
• Pastor asked me how i liked the service (i believe it was Methodist), my response was "i didn't like the wine" - she never took me to church again
• One of the cousins i spent that summer with was murdered a year and a half later
• Dropped out of High School half way through 12th grade because most of my tools from my auto-mechanic class were stollen- should never have passed 11th
• Except for the 2 years i lived with my father, and for the one or two years i went to a sitter's house during the week, i grew up a latchkey kid
• I learned to make macaroni and cheese, cinnamon toast, because my mother was rarely home before 9pm
• Attempted college twice before giving in to life's other demands
• I've broken my collar bone, and a bone in my right foot.  Both of these were easily avoidable
• I have scars on every limb, both earlobes, on my head and one eye brow
• I have torn muscles in both shoulders, and my left knee does not like stairs
• Apparently i cannot sleep deeply unless i have positive air pressure applied directly to my nose
• When i joined the National Guard it was not because i wanted to serve my country, i needed a job
• It took me almost six months of constant bothering of the recruiter to enlist
• My initial enlistment was for 3 years active reserve and 5 years inactive ready reserve
• I have three high points
• The first - getting to fire a live TOW missile
• Serving after Hurricane Katrine and Rita, and pretty much every other flood call out - I earned the Humanitarian Medal
• And when i was awarded the Honorable Order of St Barbara medal
• I retired after 22 years of service
• The Guard was the main reason i obtained my GED
• I was baptised at least once before i was born again (i was baptised after i was born again, during the winter of 1989-90)
• For several years i felt a tugging to go to church and "church shopped" by looking at the outside of the building, but i never attended a service
• While testing for green belt in Ta-Kwon Do i over heard a couple cancelling a Bible study, told them i was interested in attending, was invited to go to church with them
• What i experienced at church that Sunday - they were meeting in a High School Auditorium and not a formal building, it was already 85+ degrees outside (it was August) and just as hot inside (no AC that day), people were raising hands and clapping - there may have even been people dancing during the "singing part", the preacher was so passionate that he was actually shouting during parts of the sermon, it lasted over 2 hours
• I accepted Christ as my Savior the following Thursday only after one aborted attempt by a couple who were following up on my visitation card on Sunday night, and an almost aborted attempt that night
• I was baptised a few months later and i still remember the incredible joy i felt when i made that public confession and acknowledgement that i was dead in my sins and i am raised into new life with Christ
• I had a dream of entering a cave where people were diving off into an abyss, there was a 'shadow' of someone with me.  When Christ came to me and told me i didn't have to do that.  Both my 'shadow' and i left the cave into the sunshine - i later found out i had the dream about the same time as my Beloved
• I met my Beloved on a blind date with a roommate of hers

I am all of these things (and many, many more), and i am none of these things (and many, many more).  One can read this list, and all of the other meme questionnaires and still not really know me.  Such is true of anyone else we meet.  We only reveal what we want to reveal.  There is only One who knows us, even better than we know ourselves (because we can lie to ourselves, and actually do it convincingly).

Never assume when it comes to another person.  People are dynamic, they are complex, and you are only seeing a sliver of what there is to know.  While i know Christ and follow Him, my brother is a professing wycan priest.  We grew up in the same house, experienced the same things (except he actually completed high school and joined the Army to serve his country as an Airborne/Ranger).  If you were to look at my brother and i side by side sans the religion part of our lives, you would give the edge to him.  He did the right things, said the right things, and yet we are vastly different (as stated by many a soldier who has served with both of us).  We have some similar personality traits (fiercely loyal is one of them), but we are most definetely not the same.

And, never give up on anyone.  Years after we were married, my Beloved ran into an old co-worker.  The had worked together before she was a Christian.  She actually told her that she never witnessed to her because she thought she would never become a Christian!  Sometimes it's timing, sometimes it's the person, or the place, but in the end if God is prompting you to witness to someone you can do it.  Perhaps it's not right.  Maybe you do have to shake the dust of your feet and move on.  But never fail to show the compassion and love of Christ.  You never know how the Holy Spirit is going to nurture the seeds you leave behind.  I cannot count how many people, how much time, was invested in my life before my spirit responded to my Savior's call.  My Beloved took a while to respond as well.  She was introduced to the woman who would be instrumental in leading her to Christ in college.  There first interaction was when my Beloved introduced herself and announced that if she needed any alchohol she was of legal age and could get it for them.

God sees the end from the beginning.  He saw us completely before He laid the foundations of the Earth (young Earth, Old Earth, Evolution over millions of years or all in seven days), before Christ was born to a virgin girl, before He went to the cross, before He rose again, and before He ascended to Heaven where He now sits at the right hand of the Father and intercedes for you and me.  Never give up on your friends, your family, or yourself.

Welcome home brother

This weekend my beloved and I will be traveling about two hours to welcome home my brother from a trip overseas. In many, many ways we are very different. Even people who have interacted with the both of us have a hard time seeing that we are brothers. But some how we keep a little close.

When I left for basic training back in 1986, I left having a girlfriend who vowed she'd wait for my return. I did return, but I could tell something was different. Three months later I overhear a conversation between my GF and my brother, and I knew - but refused to believe - what the difference was. Still, it took another three months, when they announced that they would be getting married before it really slammed into me. Years later, after a very nasty divorce on his part, I told him, "of all the contests we had between each other growing up, that was one that I was really glad that you won".

My brother is a professing, and an actively practicing, pagan. The part that pains me the most was he once told me that he had questions about Christianity that no one could answer. My reply to him was that he had never asked me those questions - and to this day has refused to share those questions with me.

But somehow, through all of our differences, we seem to understand each other. He is married for the third time, but this one really seems to be a good fit for him. I've missed him somewhat and it will be good to catch up with him and the rest of my family.

May God bless each of you wherever He may lead you this weekend.
Verse for today:
Proverbs 18:19-24, ESV
A brother offended is more unyielding than a strong city,
and quarreling is like the bars of a castle.
From the fruit of a man's mouth his stomach is satisfied;
he is satisfied by the yield of his lips.
Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
and those who love it will eat its fruits.
He who finds a wife finds a good thing
and obtains favor from the Lord.
The poor use entreaties,
but the rich answer roughly.
A man of many companions may come to ruin,
but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.