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Green Ramp

Here are a few of the pictures from this past weeks Green Ramp.  Thank you for your prayers and your continual prayers as our troops return home and adjust.  It was indeed  a blessed celebration!

The Eagle Has Landed

It has been a really cool and exhausting week for me.  Here are the highlights:

1.  My son arrived home from Afghanistan Wednesday at 10:30 am...there were fourteen of us up at Fort Bragg.  It was really cool and amazing.  We all are so thankful for God's protection and his and this troops return home.

2.  I got to see my daughter Amanda.  I love her so much.  In some ways I feel like the father with the two sons in the Gospels...in this case a son and daughter.  The daughter has always been with me.  That is sort of my and Amanda's relationship.  We have always understood each other and related.  Dave has been a way...I have longed for his return and now we have killed the fatted cow....meanwhile all that I have belongs to Amanda and always have.  It is wonderful to have two great kids.  I am proud of both of them.

Amanda's boyfriend is leaving for the Marines on May 12th...I big step for a young man.  It looks like we are destined to be a family that is impacted by the military and War on Terror.  I think we all are!

3.  When I got home I had 51 copies of Breaking the Discipleship Code.  It was pretty neat since I had dedicated it to my son for his service to our country and for our freedom. 

I'll post pictures of the big day tomorrow.....for now I'm going to bed!

Coaching Network

I thought this was really cool.  Chuck Lewis is the lead pastor of Anchor Church which is south of Atlanta.  Chuck is in our Best Practice Coaching Network.  This is his fourth kid, first boy.  This past week we talked about Nurturing Vitality.  God is doing some amazing things in all of our lives when it comes to our spiritual, physical, emotional, and relational vitality.  I'm convinced that this little guy is going to get more of his proud dad, love God and the church more, and care more about the mission of reaching disconnected people because his dad is championing the idea of nurturing vitality.  Over the last two networks we all have played, celebrated, cried, and prayed together.  I love the guys in our network and they are fighting the fight and winning at life.   

Chuck is doing a great job as pastor of Anchor.  Check out his blog www.re-thinkchurch.blogspot.com

Also check out our next Best Practice Coaching Network.  I promise you it is worth your price of admission. 
 

Be Strong and Courageous

I caught myself praying this morning, "keep me safe and protect us".  Think about it.  Here is my prayer..."God I want to play it safe and I want a promise that nothing bad will happen to me and or my family.  Oh, While you are at it... bless me really big."  You see the narcissistic bent on my prayers.  In Joshua we read, "Be strong and courageous because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them.  Be strong and very courageous.  Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the let, that you may be successful wherever you go."  Joshua 1:6 & 7.

Just over two years ago my son came telling me that he was going to join the army. Immediately the words, "I would rather you die for something, than to live for nothing", came out of my mouth.  He replied, "That's what I was thinking".  On another occasion I talked with a young man who was contemplating going in the army.  I told him if he went he might die.  his reply was, "Then I will die."

We can't deny the fact that we all have a need for security, but at the same time their is something deep inside our souls that long for adventure.  We want our lives to count.  We become most alive when we take risk or narrowly escape death or injury. 

 

Jesus invites us to take up our cross, deny ourselves and to die daily. 

There is something daring and dangerous about following Jesus.  So today I changed my prayer, "Father make me brave and bold." 

Leaving

Sometimes leaving is difficult...other times it is really easy.  Well I got one of those calls where leaving is really easy.  It is official, as I write this blog, my son is going through customs and about to board a military plane that will take him out of Afghanistan...That's right, Afghanistan is in our rear view mirror.  We are looking ahead...kill the fatted calf, we are about to party!

After fifteen long months he is out of there...We are beaming with excitement, pride, joy, thanksgiving, hope, encouragement, gratefulness, and any other word you can use describe an emotional state of sheer beside yourself positive energy. 

I will blog more on this later, but I've got to go...I've got a meeting at Starbucks!

Peace!

Overwhelmed

(ATL Airport in October during Dave's 18 day Leave...You hadn't seen nothing yet!)

I am absolutely overwhelmed in the most positive of ways.  My son is coming home!  While he is still in Afghanistan he has gone out on his last mission...he has been extracted from his FOB...he is being debrief and in a few short days he and some 1000 troops will board their military planes and start the long trip home.  He will arrive at the Green Ramp at Fort Bragg the home of the All American.  I will be among the many proud parents, spouses, siblings, grandparents, uncles, aunts, friends, military personnel, diplomats, news reporters, veterans, and patriots, etc. welcoming home some of the bravest men and women in all of history.  For the first time in months we will be together as a family. 

For a few days I will be first and foremost a dad.  I will take a break from following the war and focus on welcome home my son...my hero.  We will ride our motorcycles...play video games...go to movies...eat a lot of good food...talk about old times...dream about the future...and experience moments of overwhelming pride, appreciate, gratefulness, and worship. 

Over the past 15 months I have constantly been reminded of God's amazing grace.  Almost every day I have received phone calls, e-mails, and comments asking about my son's well being and assured of so many of your prayers.  I have read Psalm 91 hundreds of times and been reminded of God's protection and provision each time I received a phone call that he had been in a firefight, ambush, rocket attack, or IED explosion and walked away unharmed.  I'm sure in time this reality will become even more apparent when long intimate conversations with my son become a source of healing for all.

I can't wait to meet his fellow troops and families members that we have grown close to over the past months through myspace...one of the key ways we have kept in touch and built a network of support.  We have prayed for and with and cried for and with people we didn't know.  Over time we have become a family. 

I am so grateful to my family, my family at MLC, my church planting family, and my new military family for being a source of strength and comfort for Tami, Amanda, and me.

Finally, Welcome home my son! 

My First Church Plant

Let the movement begin!  Rick Warren was right when he said, "We tend to overestimate what we can do in a short period of time and we underestimate what we can do over a long period of time."  My good friend and pastor of Crossroad's Church e-mailed me the link to his blog with this picture.  While you can't tell the guy behind the podium is me, this was my very first church plant that launched on March 26, 1989.  We had 178 people attend and we met in an elementary school.  Here is an excerpt from Ken Adam's blog,

"This past weekend we had over 6500 people attending in seven different Crossroads Churches in the U.S. That wouldn't have happened if this church had not been planted nineteen years ago. At Crossroads of Newnan we had over 3900 people walk in the doors of our church this past weekend. Dozens of people raised their hand indicating they had accepted Christ in our services."

Is that cool or what!  To read Ken's blog click here.

Probabilty

We finally got a definitive word from the military when our son will return from Afghanistan. In order to understand their answer you have to know something about conditional probability   Conditional probability states that the probability of event A (Dave arriving at the Green Ramp at Fort Bragg at a specific time) is conditioned on a sequence of other events happening.  The challenge is that these other events share the same dynamic nature and therefore are impacted by similar variables, like joint or marginal probability. 

In order to determine the probability of a certain event happening, based on a conditional relationship, mathmatically looks like this P(A|B) = P(AnB)/P(B.  However, in this case the complexities are multiplied by the introduction of multiple conditional probabilities. 

Here are the variables: 
1) He will be extracted from his FOB (forward operational base) within 48 hours. 
2) He will be transported to a the major staging area for the military in Afghanistan where his stay there will not exceed seven days, but may be less. 
3) From there he will fly to another major staging area outside the US where he will spend 48 hours. 
4) Leaving there he will fly directly or indirectly to Fort Bragg where we are going to have one of the most amazing celebrations imagined.  The celebration is not a variable. 

Given that we received this word on March 25th here is what we understood the definitive word from the military to mean.  Our son will be home no later than April 6, unless there is some conditional variable that upsets this sequence of related variables.  However, given the probability that he may not stay the full seven days at variable 2, he could arrive home prior to the 6th. 

It's great to finally get a definite answer! 

Two Choppers

Let's go boys...we are out of here.  Fifteen long months are behind you.  You can hear the whoooomp, whooomp, whooomp, whoooomp of the huge rotors of the CH 47 Chinook Chopper.  The last time you heard that sound you were being inserted into the middle of a TOP SECRET Operation.  This time all you can think about is that you are going home.  You made it, you are really going home.  You long for what is normal, but normal isn't normal anymore.  Your family awaits.  Troops that have been scattered by the war will unite once again under the flag of the 82nd.  Some did not make it...rumors have echoed off the distant mountains of the battlefield...some were not rumors.  The wounded will be united with the less wounded...none have escaped unharmed. 
Those of us back home will embrace our loved ones.  I'll complete a tattoo I started fifteen months ago.  A book I dedicated to my son released under the caption "Welcome Home" stays.  My tears will meet my pride...I've never stood so close to a real live hero...my son, and the brave men of the 82nd Airborne 4-73 Cav Recon. 

For now I wait...each day seems like an eternity.  When will my phone ring...when will I hear his voice?  I am not alone...there are 1000 families that wait with me.  They are now my family...we are now America's family.  We have paid a price...tears and pride once again mingle.  Soon...very soon our wait will be over.  The phone will ring and we will gather at the Green Ramp.  It will be heaven.  It was hell when he left...when we didn't hear from him...when we got word that their was an ambush...an IED had exploded.   It was hell when we read of another brother who had fallen...it was hell last night when we heard that 4000 had fallen in Iraq.  It will be hell as long as the war continues...It will be hell when the call comes once again, another deployment scheduled for '09.  For now it will soon be heaven when reunions will not want...

Whoooomp, whoooooomp, whoooooooomp...another chopper...this time it's a Harley.  The sun is beaming brightly on our faces as we head to the coast.  Healing is in the air...for now the war is behind us.  I'm cruising down the road with my son....

Soon....but for now I wait...I wait on that call...I wait on that reunion...I wait on that touch...I wait on that assurance...I wait on that joy...I wait on that peace...I wait. 

Waiting for a Call!

Waiting is tough...the more at stake the tougher it is.  I'm waiting for a call from my son saying he is headed home from Afghanistan.  The first call came early in March.  Good news he was headed home in 10 days.  The next call...change of plans...headed home on the 24th.  Today's the 24th...I'm waiting on my next call...it could be today or it could be next week...all I can do is wait. 

I will keep you posted...get ready to party.