Even when the rain comes...

Re-blue? This is a slang term the Air Force uses to describe going to a certain event to help you appreciate the Air Force more. It is usually used by service members to denote something they do not want to do. Well, tonight was one of those nights. As one of the base First Sergeants i was scheduled to see the Fifth Chief Master Sergean of the Air Force. Well, i was re-blued as never before. Maybe i was blued for the first time. I've always described pretty quickly to my friends that i miss the Army and the way some things were done. I believe the Army has a greater love for the Service and the Mission and what they are a part of - being a part of history is what motivates me daily to do the right thing.

Tonight, i got to eat dinner with an 80 year young man who led life by the nose and bloodied it a few times as well. Wow, what a man, what an example of who i need to be as a leader. I know individuals who try every single day to be the best manager they can. They believe that if they manage the numbers, the numbers will take care of the men. Manage the numbers because you failed the men. WRONG - WRONG - WRONG

I will never say anything less than - IF YOU TAKE CARE OF THE MEN - THEY WILL BRING THE NUMBERS YOU NEED. To the detriment of my career, i will put the men first every time. They know that if i have to ask them for more... i've asked because i've been left with no other course of action.

Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Gaylor started his career in 1948 and still serves the men today. He told a story of how a First Sergeant early in his career changed his life forever. He remembers playing softball with the "shirt' and how much he admired him. I have the exact same story except that my shirt pitched and his played catcher. It just happened 50 years later.

I went to complain about a few things that really do need to be changed to better the life of those i serve and all i could do was sit and hope that i could just get a hand-shake and tell him what his stories meant to me. Thats what he did - he just sat around and told us stories of growing up in the air force - seeing the changes and being a part of what "was". This world has never been and will never be perfect, but there are small moments in our history where individual men do the right thing knowing that it may cost everything. Men stormed the beaches of europe and parachuted in knowing they would never return - some stayed at their post so that others could make it home - and some refused for four and a half years a chance at early parole from a prison camp because he would not leave his men. John McCain suffered beating almost every day of his 6 plus years in prison becasue he REFUSED to leave his men behind. His daddy was a general and they wanted to release him - he refused and suffered for it.

You know, the life within the service is not perfect, but WHEN THE RAIN COMES, i choose to think about the sun light right around the corner. WHEN THE RAIN COMES, i choose to remember those before me that did the right thing no matter. WHEN THE RAIN COMES, i'll choose to remember Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Gaylor's tears as he spoke of the love of those he had served with.

"Always take care of the least, before you consider the rest" sarge...

More than the sun...

I was looking at the pictures you see there of my children and i began to hum a Matthew West Christian song about how God loves us more than the sun and the stars, etc that He placed in the sky. Then i thought... Would i give up my child, even one of my children, so that others may live. What about giving one of them over to the terrorists who do some of the most unspeakable items on earth - NO. I think of my very best friends and would i give one of my children up so that he could live. The result... ABSOLUTELY NO WAY! You see, with Casey i have six children and i wouldn't give up a bloody nose or even a scratch so that someone else could go free. I've held Gracie or Sissy, etc when one of them had a cold and it tears me up. I remember being told about my daughter Sissy having a small hole in her heart and they were going to do some tests to see how bad. I remember sitting there waiting for the phone to ring (deployed, of course) and praying that God would take me to heaven in stead so that she wouldn't be in any pain or suffer. SHE WAS FINE. My heart is broken just to see my daughter get a shot.

God did this and more. He knew that sending Jesus, His only Son, to earth would result in horrible attrocities placed upon Him. He didn't just sit and watch what was going on, he sent him to suffer. He sent him to die upon that cross. We think about the love we have for our wife and children and imagine that it hurts so much to see them in pain. Think of the greatest LOVE of all giving everything so that you, a pretty miserable wretch, can spend eternity in heaven. God loves you so much that he purposely allowed the graphic mutilation of His Son just to one day sit around and listen to us pray... to one day sit around and listen to me worship at his feet. Then, take the physical pain of what was being placed upon Jesus and multiply it times an infinite number to see the amount Jesus suffered when God turned away. I believe that when Jesus spoke from the cross "why has thou foresaken me", i believe that is when Jesus BECAME OUR SIN, allowed the creepy little thoughts that enter into my head, the anger, the lust, and the etc etc etc that goes on every day to be placed into His heart. God can have no sin in His presence so Jesus took it for us. He bacame sin and God turned away! WOW!!!!

If there are questions in your heart....

accept that you're a sinner - accept that Jesus can forgive you of those sins and ask Him to - turn away from those sins and begin anew - washed by the blood of Christ!

How much does God love you - FROM THE EAST TO THE WEST!