ST_Prayer Breakfast Testimony 16 Nov 19

Prayer Breakfast

16 Nov 2019

Good morning. I am following in line with what the speakers before have done which is to explain how God called me into the occupation I had. What the job was like, and what I think God has called me to now.

I am not sure exactly when Pastor Sean started this series on vocation, but I remember who gave the first testimony about work and that was George Giddens. He spoke about his good relationship with his Father. He talked about he tried emulate the good things he saw in his father. And as I listened to what he talked about, I thought about how opposite my experience was growing up as compared to George. My life wasn’t anything like that,

My mom and dad met while my Dad was in the USAF. My Dad had grown up in Stockton, CA. To avoid being drafted into Army during the Korean War, he joined the USAF. Among many things, my Dad had been a minor league baseball, but his baseball career wasn’t going to take him to the big leagues. At the time he enlisted in the USAF, he was working for my grandfather at his sporting goods store in Stockton. My Dad became radar mechanic on the B-36. He was stationed at Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane WA where he met my mom. They were married in Oct 1952. My dad eventually separated from USAF in 1955, and my Dad and mom and me moved to Stockton. And my dad went back to work for my grandfather at his sporting goods store. My parents had three more children besides myself. My life seemed pretty good, but when I was nine, I noticed that my Dad wasn’t around much. I guess was too young to know what was going on. I knew my parents were having difficulty, but I simply didn’t tie this to my dad being gone all time. Then shortly before my tenth birthday, my Mom told me that her and my Dad were going to get a divorce. I had no idea then, but I learned when I was older, I had learned my Dad was having an affair with another woman, and had been for over a year. As I said, I was 10, my brother Mike was eight, my sister Patty was six and my brother Greg was almost three. My mother hadn’t work in years, so she was going to have to go back to school. Our lives were in complete upheaval and I really didn’t like it. My parents subsequently married other people, and as a result, stepbrothers and stepsisters were added to our lives that caused even more turmoil. About the time I was 14 I realized I had to come up with a way to plan for my future and get away from my family and all the misery associated with it. My parents were so distracted with everything going on, I knew I couldn’t count on them to help me much. As I prepared to enter High School, we were told they were beginning a Junior AF ROTC program at my high school. The more I learned about the high school program, I decided to develop plan for what I did after high school. (even though I wasn’t in high school). My plan was to do well in high school so I could an ROTC scholarship so I could go college free. And then after graduation, I would go into the AF, serve for 20 years and retire, and have free medical the rest of my life. That was my plan at fourteen which was 52 years ago. When I graduated from High School, I wanted go as far away as my parents would let me go. They agreed to let me attend Arizona State University, over 700 miles away. I wasn’t going to have to deal with stepmothers, stepbrothers or stepsisters.

In college, I had majored in aircraft engineering technology. Growing up in central California, we lived within 50 miles of three Air Force bases. Planes were constantly flying over our house. It was not uncommon for my brother and I to see a KC-135 refueling a B-52 30,000 feet above our heads walking to school or on the playground. I loved airplanes and I wanted to be around them when I was in the USAF.

When I entered the Air Force, I became an aircraft maintenance officer. That meant I was responsible for the men and women and the maintenance they worked on the aircraft assigned to our unit. I quickly found out being an aircraft maintenance officer was very hard job. The reason why it was hard, because I didn’t do any of the work. I had to ensure other people got it done and that they got it done right.

My first experience with aircraft mishaps was when I was a first lieutenant stationed at Offutt AFB, NE. We had engine blow up on the wing of an -135 aircraft. The airplane was able to land and no one was injured. The engine failed because when the engine was at depot, they put the wrong part on it when they were assembling it. Something that was out of my control almost crashed one of my airplanes. I started to become very interested in aircraft accidents. I read almost every accident report the Air Force sent out. I figured if I became an expert on accidents and accident prevention, I could prevent losing any of my airplanes.

When you are in the airplane business, your life becomes what happens on the flight-line and in the maintenance hangar. You realize how close you come every day to losing an airplane. It is very detailed business and you can hardly let down your guard.

One of the things you have to do before an aircraft flies, is sign an exceptional release. This means you have reviewed all the maintenance in the aircraft forms, there is gas in it and the airplane is good to go. Usually a senior NCO sign them off. Sometimes, I would sign them off, and when I did, I would walk around the airplane and on the F-4 I would try to shake the wing tips to make sure the wings were lock, because on the F-4 you had foldable wings. While I was stationed at George AFB, CA a Lieutenant in another unit had performed an exceptional release on an F-4, but he didn’t shake the wings, neither did the pilots, or the crew chiefs. There is indicator on the wing to show you if the wings are not locked, but on this particular aircraft, the indicator was broken off. So, as the pilot rotated for flight with one wing unlocked, the wing started to fold and the pilot started to lose control of the jet. The pilot got the jet back on the ground, but they were running out of runway so they ejected. The back seaters chute failed to open properly, because of a drogue chute problem when he came out of the airplane his body hit the vertical stab which tore off his arm. He didn’t survive the ejection. The front seater ejected successfully. This incident even though it was not my unit, but at my base was life changing to me. Because you can see what could go wrong if you let your guard down.

I became even more obsessed with safety, and I was known as a no-nonsense guy. One Monday morning, my family and I were driving back from Stockton CA to George AFB, CA from vacation. As we were driving through Mojave, CA on the radio we heard about a George AFB airplane crash from another unit. This airplane crashed up on the Tonopah range in Nevada. Because it happened to a different unit, I didn’t pay much attention to it. After we got home that afternoon, my boss came by and told me they wanted me to be part of the investigation in Tonopah. So, the next day they drove me to Nellis AFB, NV to be part of the investigation. After the investigation was over, I had the opportunity to attend AF Aircraft Accident Investigation School at Norton Air Force Base. There I learned tons more about aircraft accidents and investigation It is always easier and more interesting to study an accident that happen to someone else.

With all the accident experience I was getting; I was working hard to try hard not to have something bad happen to me. Sort of like when I moved away from home when I was young. I could make things better for myself if I just moved away.

So, the question is, can I a person keep bad things from happening to him? And the answer to that is maybe some, but not all. So, if you have bibles turn to . I like parables and Luke has a lot of them.

There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And he answered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."

One of the things these brothers who are speaking to Jesus are trying to find out, is there a way to keep evil from happening to them. Was these who perished greater sinners than the rest. Jesus tells them no, and unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."

You can see the pattern in my life, and that it is if I could work really hard, and make good decisions, bad things won’t happen to me. I was working under a false assumption.

In 1989 I was assigned to 23 Equipment Maintenance Squadron commander, which was part of the 23 Tactical Fighter Wing, “the Flying Tigers”. Our squadron did the heavy maintenance on about 80 A-10s. This squadron had a terrible safety record before I got there and it didn’t get any better with my arrival. Within 60 days of being assigned one of my maintenance people got killed in a towing accident on the flight line. I was off station going to squadron commander training when I got the call of what happened. I flew back to Louisiana; His parents flew out and I met them at the airport. It was very awful time for them, and I was trying to keep the wing commander off my back until I could get the safety culture in my squadron turned around. I had started to attend a PCA church in Louisiana. And from what I learning at church and from my job was the sovereignty of God. That is when I learned was that everything that happened to me was under God’s hand. I could work really hard and pray really hard, but that wasn’t going to keep God from completing his sovereign work in me.

Unfortunately, we had some more bad things happen in my squadron. So, the wing commander called me into his office and told me if one more bad thing happened, he was going to fire me. I had known many maintenance squadron commanders that had gotten fired, so I had known for awhile this was a possibility. I actually thought he was going to fire me that day. But at that time, I knew we starting turn things around, the question I had was whether I would last long enough to see it. About 6 months later our wing was inspected by Tactical Air Command Inspector General. The unit I commanded was the only maintenance squadron out of the three that was rated excellent, the other two were satisfactory. About three weeks later after the inspection, I was out on the flight line and the wing commander drove by me and stopped told me to get in the car. He then drove me across the active runway out to the dead runway. There was nobody out there. He told me I was off his s—t list, and that he knows he had been very hard on me. And then said, “sometimes you have to shake the tree to see what falls out.” I had three more assignments before I retired from the USAF 1999. As moved up in the Air Force, and became very good at analyzing aircraft logistics’ data and metrics. After I retired from USAF, I used the skill to worked as a contractor for 8.5 years and a civil servant the pentagon for 8 more years doing aircraft logistics work.

I retired from full time work in 2015, though I worked part-time through 2017. Since then, I have spent more time doing different kind of ministry. I became an elder in 2017 here at New Life. I started teaching at Christ Covenant School in 2018. Because I had time available being retired, I was able to visit shut-ins with Pastor Doug, and participate in communion services with them. You may have heard me quote this statistic before, but we have over 100 a people in our church over the age of 60 (roughly a quarter of the congregation) Because of this I see this ministry beginning to expand. I have felt a calling me to the ministry voluntarily to shut ins and the terminally ill. In the PCA only a minister can administer the Lord’s supper, so in August I began the licensure/ordination process, and it is my goal to get ordained next year. Because of my previous studies with New Geneva Seminary, I have a lot of the requirements already completed. I think God has prepared me for my whole life especially in my time in the USAF and all the things that have happen to me personally to minister to shut-ins and terminally ill.

I would like to close with a question, someone was asked when he was getting licensed by the committee. You think you know, and you may get part of it right, but not all of it.

What is pure religion? Bridling your tongue, visiting orphans and widows in their affliction and keeping oneself unstained from the world. []