Why, Oh, Why?

Awhile back, we decided to go full force with the Navy. The Army recruiter was kind of being...not nice. He basically told Mr. H. that he's not qualified to join the Army as a chaplain. Okay, that's fine, we like the looks of the Navy anyway. Thank you, Lord, for closing that door and making it obvious to us that the Army is not where we're supposed to be.

Fast-forward to July 9th. We get a voice mail from the Army chaplain recruiter. He's just checking in to see where Mr. H. is at in the endorsement process. What? Why would you care-- you said he wouldn't get in anyway. So, he calls Mr. H. again on the 14th (Mr. H.'s birthday). He said they had a lot of chaplains leave/retire and now they're taking about 90% of those applying to fill all those spots left vacant. Um, okay....now what, Lord? We did pray for open doors, right? Is this an open door?

If you know Mr. H., he takes days and days and agonizes and analyzes and frets and worries about things. I was gone to Iowa for a mini vacation with some family while Mr. H. was busy at home worrying and wondering about what to do. He sought advice from his deacon friend and his wife. He asked me about it. I would waver. I think he would enjoy the Navy more, but this door to the Army is WIDE open.

In the end, we decided that we would stick with the Navy. For a few reasons. It seems like a good fit for Mr. H. Lots of different opportunities. He had already begun the paperwork for the Navy. And for me, one last reason....if we went for the Army, what kind of glory do we give God? The job was practically handed to Mr. H. Where is the Sun Stand Still in that? Could someone look at this situation and see that God did something BIG? I didn't think so myself. If Mr. H. gets into the Navy (which is quite competitive), then we will have no doubts that the Lord made the sun stand still on our behalf!

Mr. H. made the call to the Army recruiter and said no thanks. Mr. H. called the Navy recruiter and continued the process. Right now, he's still working on his security clearance. He's still got to go to MEPS. It sounds like that will be scheduled pretty quickly. MEPS is the Military Entrance Processing Station. It's like an amplified physical. Then he also has to be interviewed by a Chaplain when he comes to the KC area. I'm not sure when that will be scheduled.

His entire packet (paperwork, MEPS info, interview info) will go before the board in October sometime. Depending on when that is, we'll know by late October to mid-November whether or not he was accepted as Active Duty  Navy. As I understand it, he will then leave in January for 12 weeks of "camp." The first 5 weeks will be Officer Development School in Newport, RI. Then, he has another 7 weeks in Fort Jackson, SC. There will be a week-long course for me to attend, if I choose to and then there's graduation for Mr. H.

During or right after his schooling, we will find out where we're going to be stationed. My daughter and I are hoping for Hawaii. :)

Please pray for us, as we're letting our church families know this week. Some will know today and some will find out on Sunday at the Men's Retreat.