"Recollections" #1

Fifty one years ago today in the early morning, my Dad and Mom drove me to the Greyhound bus station in Paducah, Ky to begin an exciting and a little scary new adventure. I had just turned 19. My maternal grandfather, Sid Darnall, wasn't real happy with my decision to join the US Navy. He suggested that what I really needed was a new car to drive back to school and offered to buy me whatever I wanted if I would continue my college education. But, after long discussion with my Dad who told me, "I understand", I just couldn't face school any longer and had to get out from under the somewhat suffocating environment of Marshall County, Ky.
We arrived in Louisville in late afternoon and a Navy bus transported 9 of us to the State Induction Center. After two days of being stuck, probed and tested and finally pronounced healthy and fit, I boarded another bus to Chicago and finally arrived in the very early morning hours at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center.
At 5:00 that same morning we were awakened to march to the chow hall in below freezing temps, me in a light short sleeved cotton shirt, my chinos and loafers. We had to stand outside for what seemed like an eternity in the cold, frosty morning, but by the time I got inside the warm chow hall I was ready for anything they had prepared for our breakfast. Or so I thought.
I had never eaten navy baked beans, corned beef hash and boiled eggs for breakfast but as I sat there with all those other guys the realization hit me hard that I could not put my feet under my Mom's table for a long time. I tried to concentrate on the fact that I was not the first guy who had ever sat in the very seat where I was sitting. So, I made up my mind that if all those who preceded me there could make it, I could too. And I did.
David wrote - "Show me your ways O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are my God and my Savior, and my hope is in you all the day long." Psalm 25:4-5 NIV
That cold morning just outside Chicago, I had no real perception of the strong truth of David's statement. The faith I possessed then was pretty much my family's faith, which isn't a bad thing. Over the next four years however, I would gradually build my own faith and learn to listen to my Father's guidance as he did for me what David asked of him.
So, for the next few weeks or months or whatever, I invite you along on this journey of recollection, a journey from youthful ignorance to a place of mature surrender to the love of God. In fact, it may only be a repeat of your own journey. But, I pray it may bless each of you in some small way. HALLELUJAH!