Friday, November 30, 2007

Wow, where does the time go?

It's been a busy couple of months. I have been busy setting up contact lists for a new system that the Coast Guard has for alert notifications during emergencies. I've also been giving presentations on the new law that was passed, The Transportation Worker Identification Credential. TSA will be doing all of the administration of this new law, the CG will just be doing the enforcement. The TWIC is an ID card. The requirement for TWIC was written into the already in place law MTSA (Maritime Transportation Security Act).

I have also started up the youth group again. The church I go to paid for me to attend the National Youth Workers Convention in Atlanta, GA. To save the church some money I decided to stay at Ft. McPherson. It's only about 5 miles from the Convention Center. I had a great time, really helped me get back to where I need to be spiritually. I wrote a testimony while I was there. I'll share it now.

When it came down to it, I couldn't count on my training. Instead, I
relied on God. Would I be able to find them? Would I be able to take the
information passed over a radio and know where to look on the chart to
pinpoint their position. I prayed that God would help me find them.


John(12:47) says: If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do
not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.


Being fresh into the Coast Guard I found myself being responsible for
the beginnings of saving someone's life. Four months after I joined this
lifesaving service, I found myself working to save someone. When the
case began it wasn't necessarily life threatening, it was only a
disabled boater. It was getting dark though, and it was winter. So the
possibility was there that it could get ugly.


Getting people to understand the Love God has for them can get ugly
sometimes. It's so difficult to get some people to see that Jesus died
so that they could be forgiven, to be saved. I don't know if I've
influenced someone, to the point that they were saved. So I'm not sure
how that feels. I hear of retreats where hundreds come forward to be
saved. To eat the bread of life.


I see so many similarities between my job in the Coast Guard, and
ministry. Both have the same goals. To save people. That is what the
goal of every mission is. Every mission I do in the Coast Guard is to
prevent the loss of life. Isn't this the same as the ministry of God?
Preventing the bad things in life, saving someone in the process.


Well, God was with me that day in February of 2003, I was able to find
their position and direct our boat to the place they were. We towed them
into safety, so that they could put their boat on the trailer and go
home. I found out that they had a toddler on board that day. It could've
gotten ugly. I like to think that I had a hand in seeing to the safety
of their lives, saving them when they were most vulnerable. The Coast
Guard stands for hope when the future is unsteady to mariners in
trouble. Jesus stands for Hope to us all, He came so that we may be saved.


How awsome it is, to have a job that I get to strive to be the things
that Christ is for us all.


Well that's all for now.

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