Veterans Day

In all my antics in growing up, and with all the titles that I ever thought I would hold, Navy Verteran never would have been one of them. However, that is one of the titles that I hold in my life. I shouldn't say proudly, because the Lord does hate pride, but I can say that I honorably served in the USN for 5 years (I have the DD214 form to prove it).

This picture was taken in 2000 and I was 20. Oh how much I had yet to learn, even though I thought I knew it all back then. Who would know that within a years time I would be stationed in Sicily (a country I had always hoped to go to), standing watch on front gate (on the look out for terrorists) and that I'd come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as my Saviour.


However, this leads me to a thought. While those of us who have given up chunks of our lives, yay even some lives entirely, in order to protect both hearth and home; serving in the armed forces for our Nation is nothing like serving in the Lords armed forces. Once we enlist in those there is no DD214 separation paperwork, and our honorable service is only recognized upon our promotion to glory. We can only hope to hear "Well done, thou good and faithful servant", Matthew 25:21.

The word Veteran is a noun & means - One who has been long exercised in any service or art, particularly in war; one who has grown old in service and has had much experience.

Sadly I believe that there are all to many Christians that fall out of the spiritual battle before becoming seasoned enough to hold the title of Veteran. I believe primarily because alot of people don't ever learn to use their sword, Hebrews 4:12, and because of that they don't know how to use their weapon against the attacks of the enemy. Just like a military service person, the Christian has been given a weapon in order defend themselves, which is the Bible. One way to hear the afforementioned scripture is to know your Bible. And while I admit I have a lot to learn from it and that I'm still learning how to use it better. It is has by far been the best means of defense that I've had in the past 9.5 years.

11 years ago I joined the Navy to serve my country and get money for school. A year and a half later I was actually saved to serve in a much greater capacity than I could have ever imagined. The serving has not stopped and I hope one day that I can count myself worthy of that Veteran status.

Until then however, let me just say that I am happy to be called a Veteran of my country and want to thank all of those that have served and are still serving in our nations Armed Forces. Let yourselves always be counted Semper Fi.