It's Been a While

I know it's been a while since I blogged but it's been pouring rain for the last couple of days and the computer lab is a long walk. So here's what's been happening since last time. Nothing. The validation process proved to be the type of thing that's reinvented after every use. I did get validated mid day Tuesday, bought a ticket to fly home a few minutes after that, and am now writing to you from the comforts of my own home.

It was a happy reunion at the airport. I'm going to be home for about ten days and we're going to Disneyland for our first time as a family. I'm not sure who's more excited, my wife or my kids.

Remember the hotel fiasco? Well, the money finally caught up with me. The Army gave me about $1,200 more than what it actually cost me. I didn't realize this but if they don't provide you housing they will pay for your room plus give you a per diem. So they basically paid for my flight home and our trip to Disneyland.

At the risk of sounding like a preacher for two blogs in a row I have a question. What's the one thing in the Bible God says to test him in? Giving your tithe. The most miraculous part of this deployment has been our finances. With the change in income you naturally worry about money. We haven't had one problem with money that I know of. In fact, money has just been coming out of nowhere whenever we need it. Our church took up a collection before I left that made up the gap of the initial income change shock and then some. People from our church have been to the house to mow the lawn, fix some plumbing, babysit the kids. And now the Army was nice enough to give me the money to take my family on vacation before I head over to Iraq. I honestly think this is a direct result of our faithfulness in tithing. I'm not saying this to blow my own horn. I'm saying it to blow God's horn. I want you to view this as proof that God holds to his promises. When I share this story with people some of them say, " oh great, all I hear about church is give money, give money." It's not that at all. It's a test to see if I'm going to trust God with my money. Giving money has nothing to do with the church making money. Can I prove this? Yes. The amount of money the church gave my family the day before I left to go back into the Army was more than the total amount I had thithed in the whole year before. Business wise the church didn't make any money on the deal. So if the Bible talks about tithing only to make money that wouldn't have happened. If God is who he says he is, you know created the whole world and all, raised from the dead in three days, fed the five thousand, would he really need my money? No. It wouldn't mean anything to him. It's just a test to see if I'll be obedient when he asks me to give ten percent of my earnings to the church. Look at the returns he's given me. Anyway, give it a try, see what happens.

Well, I probably won't post to much while I'm on leave. For those of you tired of hearing me talk about God and the Bible stick around. I'm leaving for Iraq in less than two weeks and should have plenty of blood and guts and Army type stuff to post then. Should be something for everyone.