"Recollections #5 - USS Mount McKinley AGC 7"

Growing up in a rural area of western Kentucky, I was very familiar with large farm machinery and spent many hot, dusty days on a tractor, hay bailer or a combine. But, my experience was nothing compared to what I faced as I stood on pier 4 looking up at that huge ship and trying to work up the courage to walk up the gangway. I guess I thought once I made that short walk, I might never see the light of day again.
The MtMac was a command flagship, 460 feet long with this huge gun protruding over much of the forward deck and smaller guns around each side. When I had been there the night before as she was docking, she didn't seem nearly as intimidating as now in the light of morning. I was unable to go aboard the night before because they still had to complete all the paperwork to transfer me to the ship. So, now here I stood with all my worldly possessions in that large seabag, working up the courage to go aboard.
Guys were coming and going and I watched to see exactly what they did so that I would not make some stupid mistake and say or do something wrong. Finally, after nearly two hours, I hoisted my seabag, walked up the gangway to the quarter deck, saluted the OOD and asked for "permission to come aboard - Sir!" To my sheer relief he saluted me back, smiled, said "Welcome aboard sailor" and took the folder of papers I handed to him. He asked where I was from, how long I had been in the US Navy and if I had eaten lunch. He then summoned a nearby seaman to help me find my quarters and show me to the chow hall.
For the next year and a half, this beautiful, sleek warship was to be my floating home and a great contributor to the education I would need later on in service to my God and Father. I am forever thankful for the education I received growing up in a Christian family and the many things I learned as a student in a Christian college. But what I learned about ME in a far different environment, would eventually draw me to a life of commitment and service in the Kingdom of God that I might not have ever achieved had I not walked up that gangway into a new world of risk, challenge and opportunity. I didn't fully realize it at the time, but God was with me every step I took, even when I went in the wrong direction.
David wrote -
"Who then is the man that fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way chosen for him." Psalm 25:12 NIV