All over bar the shouting

The 20-week New Entry Officers Course (NEOC 47) is close to being complete.  Our graduation parade is next Wednesday and between now and then all that is in front of us is 35-40 hours of marching drill practice for our passing out parade. Quite literally it is all over bar the shouting.

Someone commented recently; “ Surely they don’t shout at 52 year old ministers of religion turned Navy Chaplain do they?” Actually they do! Even today a very friendly Petty Officer suggested with considerable public volume that my about turn was about as “graceful as a penguin on ice scates ”.

Nonetheless much has been achieved since I last updated about 9 weeks ago.  

·      We researched and wrote a major naval history essay.

·      We survived three weeks at sea on one of the RAN’s oldest ships. We were accommodated in the “ troops mess” which was not exactly third world conditions but was not exactly first world either. 

·      We enjoyed port visits to Townsville and Noumea, including some very unusual outdoor accommodation at a French air base.

·      We experienced a flight back from Noumea in back of a C130 Hercules RAAF plane. 

·      We endured 7 end-of-course exams in 3 days. Some of us found these more stressful than the HSC. What is more interesting is that most of my fellow classmates were not even born when I last sat exams. The range of subjects included everything from torpedos, radar and naval guns, to business planning  to the Geneva Convention and to what types of pencils are used on the bridge of a ship.

·      We survived with arms (but not ammunition) exercise Matipan – a 5 day leadership field exercise. We interacted with helicopters, the police, the fire brigade and emergency services. We were challenged by role playing refugees, looters, lost fisherman, terrorists, camera crews and very demanding senior officers. We spent a day doing evolutions on a small ship on Jervis Bay and a 7-hour night on a much smaller life raft. We survived on ADF ration packs trusting, in spite of the evidence, that they actually contained food.

For me the experience of learning a new ‘charry’ language, adapting to a military maritime culture and learning to live with peers who are mostly younger than my children was always going to be tough. It has been. However like any challenge it has also bought great highs. Not to mention a load of precious memories, a huge number of very funny moments and a new very Gen Y nickname. (Q-Dog, or Q- Daddy and even Q Grand-daddy). 

For me faith in this context was an essential. People say that faith is a crutch for the weak. A better description is that faith is like a great pair of joggers. You still have to run. The pain is not eliminated. But the support, the strength, the confidence and the reassurance of knowing and being known by a loving God can make the journey so much easier.

Psa. 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.

PS. For all Word4Life readers in Sydney I would like to invite you to a special service called a “ setting apart service” which is essentially the Presbyterian Churches way of commissioning me to my new role. I commence on 03 Dec 2012 as Chaplain to HMAS PENGUIN. The service will be held on 07 Dec 2012 at 7.30pm at Macquarie Chapel (see www.macchap.com.au for address and details). The invitation is open to all. 

Through the fire and flood...

The theory behind the 20-week New Entry Officers Course (NEOC) is that after the first four weeks, (the Intensive Training Period) the course gets a little easier. The 17-hour days have been replaced by 10-12 hour days. Weekends have generally been off, except half of the time when duty or travel has reduced our weekend to just one day. Now as we are about to start week 12 and go to sea for 3 weeks it is worth looking back at the last 7 “easier” weeks. Where….

·      we learnt to drive small boats by passing a solid practical and theoretical test.

·      we completed a 4 day first aid course in 2 days with practical test and a written exam.

·      we survived a theory and practical test on how to abandon a ship and board a life raft.

·      we learnt, and passed a test to disassemble, reassemble and test, a Steyr 88 assault rifle. Then by simulation, and finally live fire, we passed a target test at 100 and 200m.

·      we sailed for a week on a small ship on and around Jervis Bay, where we learnt, amongst other things how to steer and command the ship, how to leave the ship in a small zodiac boat in big swell, get to shore and search for casualties.

·      we endured three grueling days in the field with heavy packs, carrying weapons, with plastic sheets to sleep under and ADF ration packs to sustain us. In the name of leadership we were examined to see if we could lead a small team in exercises like crossing a simulated mine field or leading a search party into a tent of well armed terrorists.

·      we had a week learning the theory (with a very tough written exam) and the practice of fighting floods and fires on RAN ships in a rather large impressive simulator. If that was not enough we ended that week learning to kit up and survive a tear gas attack with real tear gas.

·      we also learnt to be real RAN officers by attending the Captain’s Cocktail party while entertaining some very important VIP guests.

·      we also continued to spend countless hours in class room backed up with assignments, task books, marching, quite a bit of yelling and a history essay.

Three things for me have been crucial to my endurance so far. One has been the wonderful support of my family who have supported and encouraged me constantly. Being away from your wife and best friend is the hardest part but somehow the distance is lessoned by text, phone, email, commitment and love. Family is one of God’s greatest gifts. Secondly my young fellow NEOC’s, and especially Phillip Division, (my ‘oppos’) have become increasingly like an extended family. Their humour, friendship, enthusiasm and confidence so often has helped me keep going. Finally God has been so evident and clear that my faith has been renewed, refreshed and replenished by the whole ordeal. The beauty of God’s creation, the gift of prayer, the touches of his grace and of course the encouragement of his word have been a daily experience.

I have been reading a Psalm a day. Starting on day one with Psalm 1 I hope to finish NEOC with the reading of Psalm 143. In the middle of the week before last we were battling flood, and fire in a simulator that the RAN could only insure by describing it as a theme park ride. I have new appreciation for the strength of fire fighters to wear heavy suits and man handle powerful fire hoses. On the Wednesday of that week I read these relevant words from Psalm 66.

Our God, you tested us, just as silver is tested. You trapped us in a net and gave us heavy burdens. You sent war chariots to crush our skulls. We traveled through the fire and through the floods, but you have bought us to a land of plenty.

Psalm 66: 13-15. (CEV)

…. but God is Good!

Josh Ling, interim supply minister at Macquarie Chapel, is one of those preachers who has a turn of phrase that is often so, so helpful. Some months ago he preached a sermon with the conclusion: Life is Tough but God is Good.

Having just completed the first 4 weeks (Intensive Training Period) of my 21 week New Entry Officers Course with the Royal Australian Navy, I am convinced again that life can be very tough, but God is very good.

Chaplains do the same course as all other new officers, so my last 26 days have included…

·      Days starting at 5.30am and finishing at the earliest at 10.30pm.

·      No days off – and really hardly an idle minute.

·      PT and fitness so tough that a number of twenty year olds have packed up and gone home – and quite a few are injured.

·      Pack marching and field exercises that left two in hospital and one temporarily not breathing.

·      Sleeping out under a bit of plastic when it is blowing a gale and really quite cold.

·      Time pressure like you would not believe ie. getting 18 guys through 4 showers and then dressed and down two flights of stairs in 4 minutes.

·      Only allowed to phone home twice and missing my family so much.

·      Hours and hours and hours of marching drill.

·      Almost 100 hours of cleaning and inspections that could only be passed after ironing your sheets on the bed every night.

·      And yes, as I was warned, quite a bit of yelling.

·      No time to read, think or barely get the bathroom.

Having said all that, the last 26 days have also been a time where God has been so good.

·      Marching past lazy kangaroos that scratch in the sun and wonder what the heck those crazy humans are doing.  

·      Looking out over Jervis Bay and being refreshed by the ever-changing beauty of God’s creation.

·      Parading each morning and watching the flag being raised and being given a ‘quiet time’ to pray and reflect on God’s goodness and my need of His grace.  

·      Going to a Sunday service run by a Navy Chaplain, where just 4 people worshipped with heart and soul and were reminded of a simple verse: I can do everything through him who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:13)

·      Being surprised that God sometimes allows us to do more than we ever imagined we could do.

·      Being given unsought opportunities to minister to others struggling with the pace and pressure.

·      And the greatest miracle of all is that the old body is somehow (with the exception of a few blisters) holding together.

Life can be tough – but God is good!!

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11: 28 

Not Lost On God

For a long, long, long time I have avoided a phone contract. I have bought my phones outright and paid as I went along. But the attraction towards the iPhone has grown, so the issue of facing a contract had to be considered again. I did the maths on buying outright and much to my amazement a contract was actually cheaper. As my daughter chirped; “ Dad, sign up. You can’t ignore the culture of instant gratification for a monthly fee forever”.

So with family unity in mind, my wife and I signed up to Virgin for a two year contract for new ‘his and hers’ iPhones. The salesmen at Virgin were surprisingly helpful, courteous, and not that condescending to a pair in their fifties signing their very first phone contract. They promised that with Wendy’s phone, transferring her service and number from Vodaphone, it would connect immediately - and it did. They warned that it would take a few days for the transfer from my old phone on Amaysim (on the Optus network) to Virgin (also on the Optus network). This did not really make sense, but they guaranteed that my old phone would work until the transfer and then I would enjoy the new service with my old number. So on Thursday night Wendy’s new iPhone was working fine and I was waiting for a transfer within a day or two.

By Friday morning my old phone had stopped working and then the fun began. Wendy started to receive all my calls and my new iPhone was working but with what looked like a new number. Sure enough, after a few phone calls it was admitted that there was a ‘patching error’ and Wendy was now on my number and I was on a temporary number. They suggested a quick fix that would take a couple of hours. Wendy could keep my number and they would retrieve Wendy’s number and then all we would need to do was swap the SIM cards, otherwise the problem could not be fixed inside a few days. So by Friday night it should be fixed - but it wasn’t. On Saturday we swapped phones, which meant I had my number but Wendy’s contacts diary and phone numbers, and Wendy had my contacts diary and phone numbers, with a new number that no one knew. Saturday and Sunday passed with repeated promises that things would be fixed. Continuing with the wrong phone seemed dumb, so on Sunday we actually swapped SIM cards as they suggested. So now I had my phone with my number and Wendy started Monday with her phone and a weird number.

By lunchtime on Monday Wendy again started receiving my calls on her phone. I then realized that instead of half fixing the number problems as they promised, they had completely fixed the problem, which meant we had the wrong SIM card in our respective phones. So after many days of drama we finally swapped the SIM cards back and voila, instant gratification! We are away (we hope).

The whole episode got me thinking about God’s knowledge of us. He does not rely on numbers or codes – he knows us by name and then at a level even deeper. God knew us from the womb and has our allotted days written in his Book of Life. He knows our strengths and he knows our shades of grey. He does not forget and even though we are often determined to be off line to God, He is willing to reconnect to us when we are willing to accept His incredible offer, on His gracious terms and conditions.

Psalm 139: 1  O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.

PS. Our last Sunday at MacChap will be next Sunday the 17^th June. I will be preaching for the last time at all three services 8.30am, 10.30am and 6.30pm. We are having a special day with morning tea after the first service and lunch and dinner after the others. Word4Life readers who are close by are most welcome to share in this special day.

Carpe Diem

Change happens. Just when we get used to our world the way it is, something moves. Or someone moves. Or we move.

Word4Life began almost 11 years ago and has been sent out via email most weeks for that same period. It began when a member of Macquarie Chapel told me he needed a mid week spiritual hit on a Wednesday to give his corporate life a spiritual jolt. It began as an attempt to see how faith and life interact, to take what we see in the news and to see if in some way we could look behind the event to learn eternal lessons from everyday events. Actually it's not really a new idea, as a certain itinerant spiritual teacher in Israel 2000 years ago told stories about wheat, lost sons, mustard trees and a surprisingly good Victorian (I mean Samaritan) - and he called them parables. Another word for a parable might easily be a Word4Life.

Word4Life, though written by me, has always been a silent partnership. Macquarie Chapel Presbyterian Church (known affectionately as Macchap) has always supplied the computer, the email management system and the time for me to write each week. A good friend, Peter Thomas, has for about 8 years been my unpaid and unacknowledged editor and spell checker. In spite of Peter’s assistance, I have still been able to make mistakes but Peter's gallant service has saved a great deal of grammatical pain and spelling embarrassments.

Last Sunday I announced to Macchap that I will be leaving my post here in mid June, to take a rather different position as a Chaplain in the Royal Australian Navy. There are many factors that have led to this and if you want to hear a much longer explanation then you can listen at http://www.macchap.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/02-the-church-in-3d.mp3. In short, as one friend said on Sunday, it’s a Jesus thing. We sensed that the Lord was encouraging us to have one more ministry assignment and the Navy seemed a place where I could follow my passion of connecting word and life in a very real, needy, challenging and, at times, extreme environment.

Starting in July I have to first attend 5 months of New Entry Officer Training at Jervis Bay and if you want an insight to the challenges ahead for this 52 year old, you could check out http://www.defencejobs.gov.au/navy/training/neoc38/#/episode1/. After that I will be posted somewhere in Australia to serve the men and women of the Navy.

Many have asked what will happen to Word4Life and at this stage the answer is a little uncertain. Many receive this email each week and politely delete it. But for others they read, enjoy and bounce it on to all sorts of people in all sorts of places. I have been humbled that these short thoughts each week are read by people all over the world, from those in the humblest of states to indeed a head of state. Some have suggested that Word4Life could now become Word from the Bridge, Word from the Seas or whatever, but to be honest I am not even sure what time or freedom I will have as I move forward.

So the weekly Word4Life is going to be replaced by an occasional Word4Life. (I will write it when I can and if possible continue to post on the blog and to my Facebook friends). My passion remains to understand this fascinating world we live in and do so with reference to our gracious God, who loves us in spite of our unworthiness. Knowing God and following Jesus has been for me an amazing adventure and I am looking forward to this next posting, with the sadness that comes with any change. The Latin phrase has always challenged me: Carpe Diem - sieze the day.

The words of Scripture remain a light to my path.

This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.  

Seasons

Back in late 2007 when the Federal ALP was swept into power under the leadership of Kevin Rudd, it seemed the Labor Party was set to enjoy a golden age of power. Not only did Rudd win with a considerable majority, but the Labor Party also led the State Governments of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania. The only conservative remnant of power left in the country was the then Lord Mayor of Brisbane. Now less than 5 years later the political landscape of Australia is remarkably different. Before last weekend the State Governments of Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia had all, in recent times, replaced long serving Labor premiers with conservatives. Following an electoral tsunami last weekend in Queensland, the conservative LNP (Liberal National Party) has now taken power in Queensland. The ALP did so badly that people are asking, “What is the difference between the ALP in Queensland and a Toyota Tarago?” The answer, of course, is that a Tarago has 8 seats – slightly more than the Queensland ALP now has in the Sunshine State.

The Labor Party is hanging on by a thread in minority governments federally and in Tasmania, and with a small majority in South Australia. Back in 2007 Labor supporters were suggesting that their conservative opponents were on the edge of oblivion, but less than 5 years later many fear it is the ALP that might now, at best, be heading for an extended period in the political wilderness.

Life is more seasonal than most of us appreciate. Sporting teams have their times or even eras in the sun and return just as quickly to periods of darkness and defeat. Personally we too have periods in our lives when things go our way: when we achieve our goals; when life follows a predictable path; when love seems to answer all our needs; and when we seem to be able to handle with confidence this thing we call life. But it normally does not stay like that for long. Relationships are fickle and change, often for the worst. Careers have a knack of changing direction with lightning speed. Sickness has a habit of humbling the well. Misadventure seems to unsettle those so sure they were lucky. And then old age invades even those most determined to stay young.

The Old Book encourages us that God is the God of all the seasons of life, for the seasons of life are as inevitable as the seasons of the year. We are called to enjoy God in the good times and seek His comfort in the struggles. In the depths of winter we can trust God that in time we will feel sunshine on our backs again. And when the sunshine seems too good too last, we can enjoy the moment knowing our future is secured, not by the season but by the One who ordained the seasons.

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:”  Ecclesiastes 3: 1

Pulped Fiction

What do the well respected Encyclopedia Britannica and the not so well respected ‘lads’ magazine FHM have in common? Not much, you might say.

Encyclopedia Britannica has been in print for 244 years and can be found in most English speaking libraries in the world. As even a rival concludes… “Since the 3rd edition, the Britannica has enjoyed a popular and critical reputation for general excellence.” FHM was first published in 1985 and was described as a glossy feast for those interested in grog, gadgets, gags and girls. Both originate in the United Kingdom but strangely enough that is not the thing they most have in common. No, last week both announced that their publications were coming to an end. Britannica seems to have finally succumbed to its ubiquitous online nemesis, Wikipedia. In the end there were not enough people left to pay thousands for a multi-volume encyclopedia that was out of date by the time of delivery, even though its reliability and credibility were never challenged. The explanation for the termination of FHM’s Australian edition in May was declining sales, because reportedly men have found similar ‘information’ online.

The rise and fall of magazines, newspapers, books and other print material highlights the remarkable longevity and survivability of the greatest old book, the Bible. It too has its online versions now but is still very much in print: in hundreds of languages; in all sorts of editions; in quite a few different translations; and with a future that seems assured.

When I first read the Bible in my late teens, it surprised me for a number of reasons. Firstly, in a good modern translation it was far more accessible than I had imagined. As much of the Bible is taken up with a mega multigenerational story, and then smaller stories within that story, it was surprisingly interesting to read. Secondly, I was surprised how much of the Bible was familiar, even to someone who had not read it before. So many of the stories, lessons and even phrases permeate western culture, plus I must have absorbed more Hollywood Biblical classics than I cared to admit. I kept reading and thinking – is that where that comes from? Finally, reading the Bible was a lot more serendipitous than I expected. The passage or story I read not only made sense to me – it made sense to today, to what was happening in my life, the very day I was reading it.  

When I was given a Bible as a 19 year old, my friend left me with a simple encouragement – “This is the Word of God – read it and live”. It was good advice and I am still reading it and more convinced than ever that it is the eternal Word that will never pass away.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words (Jesus said) will never pass away.   Luke 21: 33