The Trips We Take

Tuesday July 21st, 2009

I know one of my blogs was recently right along these same lines but bear with me cause I guess GOD wanted me to expand.

As you can imagine sitting in a foreign country away from your family at times thoughts come into your mind of how did I get here. For most people that is about it, how did I get here and they go back to their last reenlistment or their initial enlistment depending on how long they have been in. For me it seems to always go a little bit further. I often think back to when I was 17 sitting on a bench waiting for the bus to take me back to my high school from the vocational school I spent half the day at my Junior and Senior years. Sometimes I even go back further and think about when I was probably 12 in VBS giving the teachers a run for their money, yes I was the kid saying "but what about the rest of the story....you know when David cut off Goliath's head and took it to the king".....I guess VBS didn't go that deep and I was just being disruptive. Anyways, sitting here thinking how did I get here a few things come to mind

1. Hind site is always 20/20 isn't it? Its always so clear when you look back. Why couldn't it have been that clear all those times I was struggling?

2. GOD had a plan and the funny thing was my youth leader, my parents, my pastor, and I am sure plenty of others told me that. But somewhere along the lines I forgot it for a while, as I think all of us do. We never want to listen when we are 17 and know it all.

3. No matter how rough it was I would never change any of it for the world. Lots of people would say the opposite. Man if I could do it all over again I would do it in a heart beat. If I could just go back to HS I would be a different person. Not me I consider myself a lucky individual to have done the things I have done, seen the things I have seen, screwed up the things I ROYALLY SCREWED UP, and enjoyed the memories that I have made.

Last night I was reading in Proverbs and I ran head first into Chap 16, Verse 9.

9 In his heart a man plans his course,
but the LORD determines his steps.

You see I had it all planned out from the time I was young. I can even remember being pretty young, I want to say Pre-Teen and watching 20/20 (The News Show) with my parents one Friday night. The main story that night was on nursing homes and how many residents were being treated poorly. I remember telling my mom not to worry that when she got old she would never have to live in a place like that and I would take care of her. You see I had aspirations of becoming a Major League Baseball Player. Lots of little boys dream of becoming a pro athlete but I was serious, I practiced relentlessly most days I couldn't find anyone to pitch to me so I would go and get this young girl in my town named Dana to pitch to me (to her credit she was pretty good after practicing with me for years). I knew the odds even at a young age of making it to the big leagues but didn't care. For some reason it didn't become a reality until my 8th grade Biology teacher made it real real for me, oh by the way I was in detention when he broke it down. I was good, and like a young kid I was cocky to some extent but he laid it out for me in a way I could actually put the number in real terms. What really did me in was when I started to lose some of my depth perception which for an outfielder who has to react in a split second not only is detrimental but becomes dangerous. So I continued to play but in my mind knew that after HS my days were pretty much over with Baseball. GOD had a plan.

So back to that bench at the vocational school. You see I was approached by an Army Recruiter, who to his credit was pretty smooth, and convinced me that the Army was the best idea for me. I had no idea how I was going to pay for Culinary School and had no plan besides that so why not the Army. Well I originally signed up to be a cook, Culinary School to Army Cook....makes sense right? Well about 3/4 of the way through my Senior year I called my recruiter and told him I would not go.....well needless to say he did what all good recruiters do and he made me happy, he got me a new job, a bonus, and I got stationed in Hawaii.....what a deal. GOD HAD a plan.

So 3 years in Hawaii I was about to get out but after a series of events reenlisted. At the time I figured I was just patriotic or whatever and it wasn't that hard of a job so why not a few more years plus I got to go to Tennessee which I always thought would be a good place to go. So the cycle continued on and on a few more times....almost out, stay in, almost out stay in. No real rhyme or reason just because in my mind it was a job and it was easy.

Fast forward to my last reenlistment. We had decided to go to North Carolina after some deliberation and going back and forth about our choices. Had it all lined up and was told we HAD to go to Colorado. Well it was originally our first choice anyways so no big deal right. Well needless to say Colorado is where it all came together. We weighed out a lot of options what to do with my career. I actually sought out a lot of people and spent a lot of time praying about it. Several people prayed for me and with me about it. I had some ideas but it wasn't until a friend of mine shared his story with me that I realized what I had contemplated in the past was one day going to become a reality. I had often had dreams of speaking to people about various things, in various settings. I often would get random thoughts that most people would brush off but I would seem to want to expand on in my mind and explain them. You see the me losing my depth perception was not an accident, joining the Army was not an accident that some 17 yr old made, reenlisting multiply times....no accident, coming to Colorado after 10 years of traveling all over the place not an accident. You see it took all that to get me here today.

In my heart I had great plans for my life, but you see GOD determined what steps I would take. No matter where I went everything that happened to me, every situation I was saved from, all the times I wasn't arrested or punished, the dwindling of my eye sight just enough not to be able to pick the ball up off the bat or the ball out of the pitchers hand, and everything in between .....you see GOD HAS A PLAN.

I know many of you that read this will say well yeah duh....but someone that reads this might not know it....maybe they have never even heard of Proverbs...to those of you that this applies to think about it. Everything DOESN'T happen for a reason....................Everything happens for GOD's Reason.

If you read all of this I know it was long but I hope it touches you in one way or another. Thank you for your time.

GOD Bless

Jason