Well today could adequately be described as a pucker factor day! I hate ladders. I mean I hate ladders! And I definitely have a fear of falling from ladders or other less than sturdy areas of height. Well that brings me to todays confidence course or as Chaplain Smith put it, "The destroy your confidence course." We had 4 obstacles - 3 of which were ladder type apparatus'.
The 1st a 40' section of 4 platforms separated by enough distance that you could only reach your hands to the next deck and pull yourself up/as well as being pulled/pushed up to each deck by the other members of the 4 person team. Oh, and did I mention that the decks were all the same size, so you had to lean over the edge to accomplish all this b/c there was no ledge to stand on. Fun, fun - not!
Another obstacle was some 70' in height. You climbed this tower that you could barely reach your legs between the rungs b/c of the distance, and then when you reached the top you had to lie on your back with your head facing the ground, hold on to the rope, throw your feet over the top of the rope, and make your way downward head 1st. Whew!
Another challenge - a 70-80' tower straight up that is nothing more than a bigger ladder with large expanses between the rungs. Once you reach the top, you must climb over and make your way down. And I forgot that all these 3 obstacles seemed to sway slightly. Inspiring confidence!
The last obstacle was easier - a set of 6 walls increasing in height that must be scaled using the entire team. Much easier than the other 3 obstacles.
Good new is this - I lived through it! I am not certain I am any more confident about climbing ladders than when this day began. Fun to be an Army Chaplain! Wish you all could have been there. Thanks be to God that He watched over us today!
A Faithful Pilgrim.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Saturday, June 18, 2011
CIMT Done!
CIMT - the basic training phase, i.e. mini-boot camp is done. Yeah! Most of the next 60 days of Phases 1-3 will be death by PPT with a few welcomed interruptions into the field for confidence courses & Capstone. 30 days complete and in the books is a nice thing to have behind me. I can honestly say that it can get boring here when you are off, but I thank God for the friends I have made that provide much needed distractions from the boredom of my hotel room. Today has been an uneventful, relaxing b-day. I felt so lazy this morning. I did not wake up until 8:40 when the cleaning lady knocked on my door. Have not slept that late since I have been here. Most mornings during the week (Mon-Fri) its PT at 5:30 and then the rest of your day, but on the weekends when you are not consumed with course work its a much more leisurely pace.
We have to go to 5 different chapel services and do a report of the different styles/denominational practices. I am going to my 5th different one in the morning - Church of Christ. I have already been to LDS, Catholic, Contemporary, & Anglican/Liturgical. I love Chapel Next, the contemporary service - they have great fellowship and its an inviting atmosphere where I feel free to express myself in worship. I feel like I am being spiritually nourished as I worship at Chapel Next!
It has rained more here in the 30 days of CIMT than all of this year in East Texas. It generally comes in the late afternoon or evening with thunderstorms. Reminds me of the typical south LA afternoons! It's raining pretty hard right now.
I miss you all deeply and anxiously await seeing you come August. Until then please continue to pray for me, my family, and my church ( NHBC). Thanks for all the prayers! Happy Fathers Day to my wonderful dad who has taught me what it is to be a great son, husband, & father! Happy Fathers Day to my Father-in-law, who is the most patient man I know. Happy Father's Day to my brother Scott and my brother-in-law Matt! And to all fathers, Happy Father's Day! Being a father is an awesome blessing and I love my children - Courtney, Jonah, Abbigayle, & Elijah!
We have to go to 5 different chapel services and do a report of the different styles/denominational practices. I am going to my 5th different one in the morning - Church of Christ. I have already been to LDS, Catholic, Contemporary, & Anglican/Liturgical. I love Chapel Next, the contemporary service - they have great fellowship and its an inviting atmosphere where I feel free to express myself in worship. I feel like I am being spiritually nourished as I worship at Chapel Next!
It has rained more here in the 30 days of CIMT than all of this year in East Texas. It generally comes in the late afternoon or evening with thunderstorms. Reminds me of the typical south LA afternoons! It's raining pretty hard right now.
I miss you all deeply and anxiously await seeing you come August. Until then please continue to pray for me, my family, and my church ( NHBC). Thanks for all the prayers! Happy Fathers Day to my wonderful dad who has taught me what it is to be a great son, husband, & father! Happy Fathers Day to my Father-in-law, who is the most patient man I know. Happy Father's Day to my brother Scott and my brother-in-law Matt! And to all fathers, Happy Father's Day! Being a father is an awesome blessing and I love my children - Courtney, Jonah, Abbigayle, & Elijah!
Saturday, June 11, 2011
We're Not 18 Anymore
This week has been an exhausting week physically, and yet a rewarding week mentally and spiritually. To start - muscle failure days are legit! There is no shortage of sweating, grunting, and negotiating with your body and the pain it is enduring on these days. I have done exercises that I have never seen before. Let's just say I did not know my body could stretch like that! Or hurt like that!
We also spent 2 full days in the field doing land navigation at day & night, along with the 5 second dash, high and low crawling in the sand pit; plus running and diving behind barriers as we navigated a course designed to simulate combat situations where the chaplain assistance guides the chaplain safely from point to point; and to top it all off - the night infiltration course where we crawled 88 meters through the sand over logs & other obstacles, and under sections of razor wire while they fired machine guns overheard - sweet niblets that was fun. But let me honest, I am not 18, and that is the average age of the person going through this course, so 21 years on the other side of 18 I feel blessed to physically be able to navigate these courses. Let me not kid myself though - at the end each of these nights, I was flat out wore out - spent - nothing left in the gas tank.
I am thankful for the friends I have made here a Ch-BOLC, but I am also sad because 50% of our class will be leaving in the next 3 weeks. We have come together so well, and so to see them leave is sad. The word is that our class is going to grow in the next 3 weeks, b/c as those 50% leave, we will inherit new chaplains/chaplain candidates who will pick up where they left off in previous Ch-BOLC classes. Good luck to all who will be leaving and to all who will be joining us!
3 weeks are in the book - done - finished! Hooah! I am loving this training. I miss my family, but I know I am where God wants me to be - a missionary to our soldiers as I continue to serve in the local church also. Once again, I continue to covet your prayers! Please keep in touch through e-mail only at srevjds@gmail.com or joseph.d.sherwin@us.army.mil.
A Fellow Pilgrim.
We also spent 2 full days in the field doing land navigation at day & night, along with the 5 second dash, high and low crawling in the sand pit; plus running and diving behind barriers as we navigated a course designed to simulate combat situations where the chaplain assistance guides the chaplain safely from point to point; and to top it all off - the night infiltration course where we crawled 88 meters through the sand over logs & other obstacles, and under sections of razor wire while they fired machine guns overheard - sweet niblets that was fun. But let me honest, I am not 18, and that is the average age of the person going through this course, so 21 years on the other side of 18 I feel blessed to physically be able to navigate these courses. Let me not kid myself though - at the end each of these nights, I was flat out wore out - spent - nothing left in the gas tank.
I am thankful for the friends I have made here a Ch-BOLC, but I am also sad because 50% of our class will be leaving in the next 3 weeks. We have come together so well, and so to see them leave is sad. The word is that our class is going to grow in the next 3 weeks, b/c as those 50% leave, we will inherit new chaplains/chaplain candidates who will pick up where they left off in previous Ch-BOLC classes. Good luck to all who will be leaving and to all who will be joining us!
3 weeks are in the book - done - finished! Hooah! I am loving this training. I miss my family, but I know I am where God wants me to be - a missionary to our soldiers as I continue to serve in the local church also. Once again, I continue to covet your prayers! Please keep in touch through e-mail only at srevjds@gmail.com or joseph.d.sherwin@us.army.mil.
A Fellow Pilgrim.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Out of Touch
The next two days I will be in the field doing land navigation and WTT to about midnight each day. Long days. Definitely covet your continued prayers. As I will be in the field, I will not be available until Friday. You can e-mail me, FB me, or text me, but don't expect a return until Friday.
Had PT today - muscle failure day! I sooo much like the run days more, but I can honestly say I have achieved muscle failure on these muscle failure days. We start at 5:30am, but I still sweat like a pig on these days of muscle failure - its a good burn though, but not much fun during it. SFC Ramirez, or as Chaplain Cline lovingly referred to her, "The Ab Queen", works us very hard on these muscle failure days. I am most appreciative of her and of all the cadre for their hard work in pushing us physically, mentally, and spiritually. We are blessed with an awesome cadre!
Well, need to go to bed. These long days generally have me in bed by 10:00pm. I am so thankful for the opportunity to serve the soldiers as a missionary of the Gospel! Hooah! Miss you all! The 3rd week will be done soon. Love you Karlyn, Courtney, Jonah, Abby, & Eli!
Had PT today - muscle failure day! I sooo much like the run days more, but I can honestly say I have achieved muscle failure on these muscle failure days. We start at 5:30am, but I still sweat like a pig on these days of muscle failure - its a good burn though, but not much fun during it. SFC Ramirez, or as Chaplain Cline lovingly referred to her, "The Ab Queen", works us very hard on these muscle failure days. I am most appreciative of her and of all the cadre for their hard work in pushing us physically, mentally, and spiritually. We are blessed with an awesome cadre!
Well, need to go to bed. These long days generally have me in bed by 10:00pm. I am so thankful for the opportunity to serve the soldiers as a missionary of the Gospel! Hooah! Miss you all! The 3rd week will be done soon. Love you Karlyn, Courtney, Jonah, Abby, & Eli!
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Semper Gumby
That title may seem strange, but those 155+ of us who are in the Army Chaplains School this summer it says a great deal. Our Chaplain Course manager, Chaplain Cline, constantly preaches this to us. From day one we were told to be Semper Gumby - Always Flexible! Our motto is to be rigidly flexible, because things are always changing in this environment. Change is something that many of us battle with and against, but change is a good thing. Think about who you were before you embraced Christ as your Savior - yes change is good!
It is excessively hot here and we are definitely working hard from a physical standpoint in this first part of CH-BOLC during CIMT. But praise God that the Lord is merciful, always meeting and exceeding the need of His children through His bountiful blessings. Had a great time yesterday during our team building exercises on the Confidence Course (Team Development Course). I would love to do that again. I am forging many wonderful friendships with brothers and sisters in Christ, and I am excited about serving in this missionary capacity to our soldiers. Tonight I was reminded about this great missionary task that my Lord has called me to, and that my family, friends, and church stand behind me on. Missionaries go to new cultures, learn new customs and new languages - they immerse themselves in the new environments with the purpose to open new doors to share the love of Christ. That is exactly what Chaplaincy is about - I am in a new culture, learning new (yet old) traditions, and how to speak a new langauge - all for one purpose - to share the love of Christ with soldiers and their families as we soldier through this life together. Hooah!
Thanks again for the many prayers and words of encouragement. These sustain me daily, along with the abiding presence of my Savior! I miss my family and kids, and I welcome the opportunity to embrace them in my loving arms again. I love you family! I love you friends and church family! To God be the glory!
It is excessively hot here and we are definitely working hard from a physical standpoint in this first part of CH-BOLC during CIMT. But praise God that the Lord is merciful, always meeting and exceeding the need of His children through His bountiful blessings. Had a great time yesterday during our team building exercises on the Confidence Course (Team Development Course). I would love to do that again. I am forging many wonderful friendships with brothers and sisters in Christ, and I am excited about serving in this missionary capacity to our soldiers. Tonight I was reminded about this great missionary task that my Lord has called me to, and that my family, friends, and church stand behind me on. Missionaries go to new cultures, learn new customs and new languages - they immerse themselves in the new environments with the purpose to open new doors to share the love of Christ. That is exactly what Chaplaincy is about - I am in a new culture, learning new (yet old) traditions, and how to speak a new langauge - all for one purpose - to share the love of Christ with soldiers and their families as we soldier through this life together. Hooah!
Thanks again for the many prayers and words of encouragement. These sustain me daily, along with the abiding presence of my Savior! I miss my family and kids, and I welcome the opportunity to embrace them in my loving arms again. I love you family! I love you friends and church family! To God be the glory!
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