My story with God, Pt. 7
I next transferred to Norfolk. Normally, sailors have to go to a sea-going command after a shore duty. But my next duty station could be another shore duty because that duty in Connecticut wasn’t considered shore duty. This new duty was more electronic maintenance work, which I enjoyed. My new chief was an old acquaintance of mine. We had exchanged paperwork once when I was on the USS Norfolk. Now he was a chief and I was still an E-6 possibly destined to go down in naval history as the only person to hold the rank of E-6 for 15 years! I wasn’t proud of that status, but the Lord made me an E-6 in less than 5 years and I never felt capable being a chief. I never did become a leader like Richard, as I had asked of the Lord. So I did my best as an E-6 and I hope I compensated the Navy honestly for my pay.
One day, we got a medically disqualified sailor from a local Norfolk boat. Ron was a vocal, stubborn, staunch, Bible-thumping Baptist. He came to us because he developed Irritable Bowel Syndrome. This meant he couldn’t stand watch underway. He and I had much in common. We were both Bible-believing Christians, we were both E-6’s, we both loved our sonar rate, and we both played the guitar. We talked a lot to each other about our beliefs. He also liked to go into the storekeeper’s office and argue the Bible with our storekeeper, Steve, who was another E-6, and another Baptist Bible-thumper. Their arguing over the Bible could be heard outside Steve’s cubicle and I talked to Ron about this, and he eventually stopped it. One day, he came to me and exclaimed a discovery he made. He had stumbled upon Daniel’s account of a vegan diet which made Daniel and his three friends strong and glowing with health. Ron already knew I was a vegan, but it took the Bible to get the truth to dawn on him. Now he decided to be a vegan, too. Not long after that, he was healed of Irritable Bowel Syndrome, full of faith and beaming because God had helped him. Then he went right back to his old boat and convinced his old captain to take him back!
Finally, my three-year tour was ending and I had to look for another submarine, my last one! I wanted a Trident and asked for one. They are almost impossible to get because they have a regular sea schedule; so most married sailors want them. But one came open and I requested it. My request was granted. An old shipmate from my first submarine told me, “How did you get those orders?! I’ve been trying forever to get on a Trident and never could!” I wanted to tell him God did it, but I knew him enough to know that saying it would only force him to reject God more.
Then, I met another sailor on a fast boat we were working on who asked if I would trade my Trident for his fast attack boat. Of course, I turned him down. Then he began to forewarn me of the Senior Chief I would be getting. They were good friends from years back and this sailor knew him well. He told me that Senior Chief Lizotte either loved you or he hated you. If you didn’t get on his good side, if you weren’t political with him, he would make your life miserable. Judging what he knew of me, this sailor told me the Senior Chief would rip me to shreds. This made me nervous initially, but the Lord put that fear to rest. I sensed that the Lord would take care of everything. If the Senior Chief made my life miserable, I still had the Lord.
So I transferred down to Georgia and met my new Senior Chief. I found him to be honest, fair and brick-wall tough on the exterior, but he couldn’t hide the heart of gold that was inside him. I loved working with him, even though we stayed completely on a professional relationship. I could always trust him; I always knew where he was coming from. The Lord gave me the best! Senior Chief always reminded me of King Nebuchadnezzar who was converted at the end of his days. In him I saw more clearly than ever before that law and grace are working in the United States military. Its very structure was constituted in love, of a course kind. Until the U.S. Constitution is altered, I am proud that I served in the Navy. But I fear the days are coming and are already in the making, that our Constitution will be repudiated and powerful religion will weaken our military from the inside out.
Senior Chief Lizotte could tell I was a Christian and his fellow senior chief from another division in our department was also a Christian. So, to help time pass while underway, Senior Chief Lizotte would start a religious debate between me and his senior chief friend. Back and forth he would go carrying his friend’s rebuttal to my rebuttal and back again. The last debate was about the true diet of the Bible. It ended with my Senior ferrying to me a Bible verse from his friend, “There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him.” (Mk. 7:15). I thought of the mistake of trying to debate the truth. The only way to convince the other senior chief was for him to get cancer from consuming what God had forbidden. I was just on the verge of saying, “But wisdom is justified of her children.” I probably should have said it, but I didn’t because I was afraid it would have perpetuated Senior Chief’s game of irreverence toward the Bible; and the other senior chief may not have understood what I meant. Finally, Senior Chief Lizotte transferred to a shore command. But one day, he will be standing in the kingdom with King Nebuchadnezzar and we will all three be equals in rank and joy.
Steve, the storekeeper from the previous shore duty, and I continued to talk about the Lord and became good friends. Then, he was transferred to Georgia after I was, and we met up again and remained in contact for the next 4 years. Six months ago, when I went down for a week to my home in Georgia where I retired, and which is also where Steve retired, I was walking out from an enclosed ATM. I looked up and there Steve was standing. I hadn’t seen him in a couple of years, so I gave him a big Christian brotherly hug, and he gave me a big nervous smile and kind of hugged me back. But I noticed that the girl he was with wasn’t his wife. So he opened up and told me he was getting divorced. I sensed that he had left the faith and was hoping a fling with this non-Christian woman would turn into a good thing. I’m glad the Lord can make His child bump into another one of his sons or daughters who are trying to run away from Him and His truth. I plan to see Steve also in heaven one day because of our out-of-the-blue intersection. It’s going to be a grand reunion with lots of testimonies and heartfelt thanksgiving to God our Savior! He, in His infinite wisdom, lets us run away from Him until we catch Him. “This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.” (Is. 28:29).
The road to heaven continues for me. One day, I was working and a thought crossed my mind, the love of God. As I thought on it, I realized that I didn’t really know the love of God. I had heard about it from sermons. The phrase had been mentioned now and then, but only the phrase. But it accosted me with the fact that I couldn’t put my finger on an actual friendly act from the God in the Bible. I tried to do a quick search in my memory banks, and could come up with only two instances where I could honestly say I saw love in the Bible. One, “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28); and two, “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” (Jn. 6:37). About that time, I had been introduced to blogging. So, my new-found challenge was to find the love of God, as recorded in the Bible, and write what I learned on my blog. Every time I learn something else about God’s love or resolve some confusion in the Bible, I write a blog on it and I’ve been blogging ever since.
Now, I want to understand more about grace. I’m beginning to see that grace is the foundation of everything God has ever done before and after the entrance of sin to the universe. “Grace, grace unto it!” (Zech. 4:7). “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only Begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” (Jn. 1:14). “My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the King: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer. Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into Thy lips: therefore God hath blessed Thee for ever.” (Ps. 45:1,2). “Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence. When I said, My foot slippeth; Thy mercy, O Lord, held me up. In the multitude of my thoughts within me Thy comforts delight my soul.” (Ps. 94:17-19).
Grace is love in action—even if it must use pain and punishment to prepare the way for a rebel world to accept it. God is love; and He is confident in His love and grace for us. The proof of His love is in His she-bear fury toward the devil in us. He loves us too much to let us destroy ourselves. We may wander off and risk His desire to commune with us through all eternity; but not without His clear remonstration and dire consequences. The living God is a powerful and jealous God, and intercedes to bring us around to ultimately trust in His grace. Thus it is that Law keeps us in need of its fraternal twin, Grace. The Law is our schoolmaster, to bring us to Christ to be justified by faith.
There is nothing better than our God of grace. Grace is the best. Grace is fun. Grace is our friend. Zeny has warmed back up to me, and so have my children.
One day, we got a medically disqualified sailor from a local Norfolk boat. Ron was a vocal, stubborn, staunch, Bible-thumping Baptist. He came to us because he developed Irritable Bowel Syndrome. This meant he couldn’t stand watch underway. He and I had much in common. We were both Bible-believing Christians, we were both E-6’s, we both loved our sonar rate, and we both played the guitar. We talked a lot to each other about our beliefs. He also liked to go into the storekeeper’s office and argue the Bible with our storekeeper, Steve, who was another E-6, and another Baptist Bible-thumper. Their arguing over the Bible could be heard outside Steve’s cubicle and I talked to Ron about this, and he eventually stopped it. One day, he came to me and exclaimed a discovery he made. He had stumbled upon Daniel’s account of a vegan diet which made Daniel and his three friends strong and glowing with health. Ron already knew I was a vegan, but it took the Bible to get the truth to dawn on him. Now he decided to be a vegan, too. Not long after that, he was healed of Irritable Bowel Syndrome, full of faith and beaming because God had helped him. Then he went right back to his old boat and convinced his old captain to take him back!
Finally, my three-year tour was ending and I had to look for another submarine, my last one! I wanted a Trident and asked for one. They are almost impossible to get because they have a regular sea schedule; so most married sailors want them. But one came open and I requested it. My request was granted. An old shipmate from my first submarine told me, “How did you get those orders?! I’ve been trying forever to get on a Trident and never could!” I wanted to tell him God did it, but I knew him enough to know that saying it would only force him to reject God more.
Then, I met another sailor on a fast boat we were working on who asked if I would trade my Trident for his fast attack boat. Of course, I turned him down. Then he began to forewarn me of the Senior Chief I would be getting. They were good friends from years back and this sailor knew him well. He told me that Senior Chief Lizotte either loved you or he hated you. If you didn’t get on his good side, if you weren’t political with him, he would make your life miserable. Judging what he knew of me, this sailor told me the Senior Chief would rip me to shreds. This made me nervous initially, but the Lord put that fear to rest. I sensed that the Lord would take care of everything. If the Senior Chief made my life miserable, I still had the Lord.
So I transferred down to Georgia and met my new Senior Chief. I found him to be honest, fair and brick-wall tough on the exterior, but he couldn’t hide the heart of gold that was inside him. I loved working with him, even though we stayed completely on a professional relationship. I could always trust him; I always knew where he was coming from. The Lord gave me the best! Senior Chief always reminded me of King Nebuchadnezzar who was converted at the end of his days. In him I saw more clearly than ever before that law and grace are working in the United States military. Its very structure was constituted in love, of a course kind. Until the U.S. Constitution is altered, I am proud that I served in the Navy. But I fear the days are coming and are already in the making, that our Constitution will be repudiated and powerful religion will weaken our military from the inside out.
Senior Chief Lizotte could tell I was a Christian and his fellow senior chief from another division in our department was also a Christian. So, to help time pass while underway, Senior Chief Lizotte would start a religious debate between me and his senior chief friend. Back and forth he would go carrying his friend’s rebuttal to my rebuttal and back again. The last debate was about the true diet of the Bible. It ended with my Senior ferrying to me a Bible verse from his friend, “There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him.” (Mk. 7:15). I thought of the mistake of trying to debate the truth. The only way to convince the other senior chief was for him to get cancer from consuming what God had forbidden. I was just on the verge of saying, “But wisdom is justified of her children.” I probably should have said it, but I didn’t because I was afraid it would have perpetuated Senior Chief’s game of irreverence toward the Bible; and the other senior chief may not have understood what I meant. Finally, Senior Chief Lizotte transferred to a shore command. But one day, he will be standing in the kingdom with King Nebuchadnezzar and we will all three be equals in rank and joy.
Steve, the storekeeper from the previous shore duty, and I continued to talk about the Lord and became good friends. Then, he was transferred to Georgia after I was, and we met up again and remained in contact for the next 4 years. Six months ago, when I went down for a week to my home in Georgia where I retired, and which is also where Steve retired, I was walking out from an enclosed ATM. I looked up and there Steve was standing. I hadn’t seen him in a couple of years, so I gave him a big Christian brotherly hug, and he gave me a big nervous smile and kind of hugged me back. But I noticed that the girl he was with wasn’t his wife. So he opened up and told me he was getting divorced. I sensed that he had left the faith and was hoping a fling with this non-Christian woman would turn into a good thing. I’m glad the Lord can make His child bump into another one of his sons or daughters who are trying to run away from Him and His truth. I plan to see Steve also in heaven one day because of our out-of-the-blue intersection. It’s going to be a grand reunion with lots of testimonies and heartfelt thanksgiving to God our Savior! He, in His infinite wisdom, lets us run away from Him until we catch Him. “This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.” (Is. 28:29).
The road to heaven continues for me. One day, I was working and a thought crossed my mind, the love of God. As I thought on it, I realized that I didn’t really know the love of God. I had heard about it from sermons. The phrase had been mentioned now and then, but only the phrase. But it accosted me with the fact that I couldn’t put my finger on an actual friendly act from the God in the Bible. I tried to do a quick search in my memory banks, and could come up with only two instances where I could honestly say I saw love in the Bible. One, “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28); and two, “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.” (Jn. 6:37). About that time, I had been introduced to blogging. So, my new-found challenge was to find the love of God, as recorded in the Bible, and write what I learned on my blog. Every time I learn something else about God’s love or resolve some confusion in the Bible, I write a blog on it and I’ve been blogging ever since.
Now, I want to understand more about grace. I’m beginning to see that grace is the foundation of everything God has ever done before and after the entrance of sin to the universe. “Grace, grace unto it!” (Zech. 4:7). “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only Begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” (Jn. 1:14). “My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the King: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer. Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into Thy lips: therefore God hath blessed Thee for ever.” (Ps. 45:1,2). “Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence. When I said, My foot slippeth; Thy mercy, O Lord, held me up. In the multitude of my thoughts within me Thy comforts delight my soul.” (Ps. 94:17-19).
Grace is love in action—even if it must use pain and punishment to prepare the way for a rebel world to accept it. God is love; and He is confident in His love and grace for us. The proof of His love is in His she-bear fury toward the devil in us. He loves us too much to let us destroy ourselves. We may wander off and risk His desire to commune with us through all eternity; but not without His clear remonstration and dire consequences. The living God is a powerful and jealous God, and intercedes to bring us around to ultimately trust in His grace. Thus it is that Law keeps us in need of its fraternal twin, Grace. The Law is our schoolmaster, to bring us to Christ to be justified by faith.
There is nothing better than our God of grace. Grace is the best. Grace is fun. Grace is our friend. Zeny has warmed back up to me, and so have my children.
posted by David | 10:28 AM
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