HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!

I saw this on another blog:

"...And the Navy can't march because THEY ARE THE NAVY, end of discussion. Lack of discipline would be the prominant factor there, not because of inexperience or ignorance." (12/Mar/06)

To the blogger's credit and gift of careful observation, a recent previous post of that blog offered ample visual evidence that the USN is slack when it comes to marching.  However, despite the accurate conclusion, the above post has extremely flawed and strange logic.  The USN's marching ability is because of the visual evidence, not just because the USN is the USN.  It is the same fallacy and flawed logic as the USN saying the USAF is the "chair force" and good for nothing just because it is the USAF.  End of Discussion.

The USN is better than the USAF in some military aspects and the USAF is better than the USN is some miltary aspects.  The same with the USMC and USA (i.e, US Army) relative to each other and the USAF and USN.  There is no significant overall superiority over the other. Get over the USN-USAF-USA-USMC rivalries and grow up.  To criticize them without helping them (i.e, destructive criticism rather than constructive criticism) is nothing but the vice of selfishness and extreme pride.  No wonder we are not winning Iraq and other campaigns.  We are too busy fighting and disagreeing amongst ourselves about which armed force is the best rather than uniting and accomplishing the winning objective of those just wars.  We are the UNITED States, not the disjointed States or Armed Forces.  This is not to say that miltary rivalries are categorically wrong since rivlaries can sharpen each other to be better and can foster comradery at games.  This is only to say that miltary rivalries taken to the extreme is not right.

Free!

Last Friday (3/Mar) was my last official day for my work with Uncle Sam, and I finished my checkout Monday.   Released from my Oath of Office (which contradicts Scripture), released from a job in which there is no longer a match/fit, released from an uneasy relationship with a colleague (though I remained charitable toward the person), and released to devote more time to job searching.  My supe and mentor mentioned I finished on a positive note, and the bridges are still intact (no burned bridges).

Benefits and pay were great, but God showed me that the 1st thing is serving Him and the 2nd thing is the fit, the interest, and enjoying a job regardless of how much I'm compensated.

Now to find something with less structural emphasis.....

The Chinese cookie at today's Chinese supper

"You will be fortunate in the opportunities presented to you."

I hope so, but that all depends on God's Sovereign Grace.

Flight Simulator Log (2/Feb/06 - 27/Feb/06)

(Leg, Duration, Aircraft, Altitude, Speed, Registry)

AMS-CDG, 1.1 h, Boeing 737-400, FL 210, 310 kts, N04SG (TC/KL Flt. #1237)

CDG-AMS, 1.2 h, Boeing 737-800, FL 210, 300 kts, PH-RSV (TC/KL 1224)

NAS-BDA, 2.0 h, Boeing 767-300ER, FL 350, M 0.8, PJ-TNQ (TC 2080)

BDA-BOS, 2.1 h, Boeing 767-300ER, FL 350, M 0.8, PJ-TNQ (TC 2080)

BOS-YHZ, 1.2 h, Boeing 767-300ER, FL 290, M 0.8, PJ-TNQ (TC 2080)

YHZ-BWI, 2.3 h, Boeing 767-300ER, FL 350, M 0.8, PJ-TNQ (TC 2081)

BWI-NAS, 2.2 h, Boeing 767-300ER, FL 350, M 0.8, PJ.-TNQ (TC 2081)

ATL-RDU, 1.1 h, Boeing 737-800, FL 290, M 0.79, N3742C (DL 839)

IATA Airport Codes

AMS = Schiphol Intl., Amsterdam, Netherlands

ATL = Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Intl., Alanta, GA

BDA = Bermuda Intl., Ferry Reach, Bermuda

BOS = Boston Logan Intl., Boston, MA

BWI = Baltimore-Washington Intl., Baltimore, MD

CDG = Charles DeGaulle Intl., Paris, France

NAS = Nassau Intl., New Providence, Nassau, Bahamas

RDU = Raleigh-Durham Intl., Raleigh-Durham, NC

YHZ = Halifax Intl., Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Airline Codes

DL = Delta Air Lines (Atlanta, GA)

KL = KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (Amsterdam, Netherlands)

TC = Tradewind Carribean Airlines (Hato Intl., Curacao)

The "fortune" from yesterday's Chinese lunch

The cookie at the Chinese restaurant had the following "fortune":

"There is a true and sincere friendship between you both."

I immediately thought, "both? as in me and who else?"  I am single and not courting at this time.  I was eating lunch by myself.  I was thinking about work and not a particular person at the time.  What did it mean by "both"?  I still have yet to figure that out.  It could be me and anyone else with whom I've a relationship.  Thursday, I hung out with 2 closer friends at  diner and a restaurant (mini-restaurant hopping).  Yes, I do agree with "fortune" regarding me and each of the 2 friends.  Perhaps that is whom the "fortune" applies?

I need to get off my butt and start focusing again on God's Grace.  I have a strong tendency and temptation toward legalism especially when I repent and then a short while later, fall back into the same sin.  Legalism leads to unbelief in Christ and is an inaccurate view of God's Sovereignty and Power.  That, in turn, leads eventually to apostasy.  God is indeed sovereign and powerful enough to defeat sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  I thank God that He through Christ has freed us from sin and freed us to serve Christ instead of our sinful nature.  He has further promised to glorify all of whom He has justified and to complete that which He has begun. 

Christ, Nationalism, and Loyalty

This stems from the British-Irish situation that has existed for 500+ years, but it applies to any loyalty, nationalism, or "national pride".  My confronting UK Loyalist Protestants (and Irish Republican Christians) recently brings to mind Christ and nationalism relative to our loyalities.  A Loyalist Protestant in the UK has a three-fold loyalty to Christ, Protestant Christianity, and His Majesty the King.   A sterotypical Irish Republican is one who supports Ireland as a Republic (hence "Republican", not the same as American Republicanism) and also supports a united Ireland free of British occupation.  Most Republicans are Catholic since the Republic of Ireland is 90% Catholic; however, there have been historical and modern Irish Republicans that have been Protestant.

Our first loyalty is to Christ.  Any loyalty to a State or a world cause is secondary, subordinate, and subservient to Christ.  It both angers and saddens me to see certain Christians compromise their loyalty to and profession of Christ for the sake of nationalism by their unScriptural actions (e.g, one UK Loyalist Protestant I saw calling Irish Catholics "damn Papists" when God through Christ and Paul commanded us in clear terms to love, pray for, bless, and not curse our enemies and persecutors OR certain Catholic and Protestant Irish Republicans I've seen calling Loyalist Christians names and curses and maintaining, unScripturally, that an armed struggle in necessary).   Such loyalty to a State or a world cause is extreme and idolatrous.  Why compromise something eternal (Christ and His Kingdom) for something temporal (a State and the related "national pride") and effectively elevate the temporal to a level equal to or greater than the eternal Christ?!!  Compromising actions, in private and especially in public, undermine and negate our profession of Christ.

The British were welcome guests when Ireland invited them in the 1000's, but the British have overstayed their welcome for 900+ years.  The UK can have Ireland, but not until His Majesty the King and his successors rule justly and uphold the Covenants: the National Covenant of Scotland and the Solemn League & Covenant (and their later renovations).  Charles I, Charles II, the English and Scottish Parliaments, and the highest Irish legislative body ratified the Covenants and, before God and human witnesses, promised in oath and writing to uphold them.  Both the UK and Ireland (and their current and former colonies) are still bound to uphold those Scriptural Covenants, which cannot be annuled by any man, ecclesiastical body, Revolution, attainment of State independence, or legislative body.  Charles II, his successors, England, Scotland, Ireland, and their current and former colonies have broken the Covenants and opened the door to religious pluralism/anarchy, the heretically Erastian Government of the UK, the re-introduction of (quasi-)Catholic worship innovations (and therefore the undermining of the Reformation), Cromwell's merciless and bloody campaign in Ireland, political and legal tolerance and immunity for heretics (and heretical diplomats), the extreme extent of Church-State separation in the US, and the current spiritual apathy and coldness in the aforementioned States and colonies.  (Catholicism is also a reason for the spiritual apathy and coldness in Ireland.)  From Elizabeth I onward, His Majesty has oppressed Ireland through the Protestant Settlements, Oliver Cromwell's campaign, and Victoria's (and her Prime Minister Disraeli) Laissez Faire handling of the Great Famine.  (However, thanks be to God for Disraeli's successor William Gladstone, albeit a liberal, who championed Irish Home Rule, which opened the later to door to independence from the British heretical government and its oppression of the Irish.)

My personal loyalties are in this order, from greatest to least:

1. Christ and His eternal Kingdom

2.  Covenanted Presbyterian Christianity

3.  Covenant Life Church

4.  The Church Universal

5.  Family and Friends

6.  Work (currently linked with 7 by my Oath of Office)

7.  The United States of America and her President

8.  The Cause of the Confederate States of America (except her unScriptural institution of slavery)

9a.  Ireland

9b. The Cause for a united Ireland free of British occupation (conditioned upon 10b)

10a.  United Kingdom

10b.  His Majesty the King (on the condition that he and his Parliament upholds & enforces the aforementioned Covenants)

11. España

Flight Simulator Log (12/Jan/06 - 23/Jan/06)

(Leg, Duration, Aircraft, Altitude, Speed, Registry)

W63-BKT, 0.4 h, Cessna 182 Skylane, FL 030, 130 kts, N9COF

PER-IAD, 18.6 h, CLC Jet (Boeing 747-400), FL 330-370, M 0.85, N01CLC

IAD-MXP, 6.8 h, Boeing 767-300ER, FL 330, M 0.8, I-DEIL (Alitalia/AZ Flt. #623)

MXP-BOM, 6.8 h, Boeing 767-300ER, FL 330, M 0.8, I-DEIL (AZ 770)

IAD-BOM, 12.0 h, CLC Jet (Boeing 747-400), FL 330, M 0.85, N01CLC

KIN-SPP, 1.9 h, DHC-8 Q400, FL 200, 350 kts (GS), PJ-DHW (TCA Flt. 0700)

SPP-SJO, 0.8 h, DHC-8 Q400, FL 160, 355 kts (GS), PJ-DHW (TCA 0700)

SJO-SAP, 1.4 h, DHC-8 Q400, FL 200, 355 kts (GS), PJ-DHW (TCA 0701)

SAP-KIN, 2.0 h, DHC-8 Q400, FL 200, 355 kts (GS), PJ-DHW (TCA 0701)

AUA-BON, 0.6 h, Boeing 737-800, FL 170, 305 kts, PH-BXA (TCA 0030)

BON-GNO, 1.1 h, Airbus 320-200, FL 330, M 0.83, PJ-TXA (TCA 0030)

GNO-CUM, 0.8 h, Airbus 320-200, FL 180, 310 kts, PJ-TXA (TCA 0031)

CUM-AUA, 1.5 h, Airbus 320-200, FL 310, M 0.83, PJ-TXA (TCA 0031)

CUM-AUA, 1.1 h, Airbus 320-200, FL 310, M 0.82, PJ-TXA (TCA 0031)

IATA Airport Codes

AUA = Queen Beatrix Intl., Aruba

BKT = Allen Perkinson Airport / Blackstone AAF, Blackstone, VA

BOM = Chhatrapati Shivaji Intl., Mumbai (Bombay), India

BON = Flamingo Field, Bonaire

CUM = Antonio de Jose Sucre Airport, Cumana, Venezuela

GNO = Port Salines Intl., St. Georges, Grenada

IAD = Washington-Dulles Intl., Dulles, VA

KIN = Norman Manley Intl., Kingston, Jamaica

MXP = Milan-Malpensa Intl., Milan, Italy

PER = Perth Intl., Perth, Australia

SAP = La Mesa Intl., San Pedro Sula, Honduras

SJO = Juan Santa Maria Intl., San Jose, Costa Rica

SPP = Gustavo Rojas Pinilla Airport, San Andres, Colombia

W63 = Marks Municipal Airport, Clarksville, VA

Three Things on my mind

1.  I got my quarterly sinus/strep infection this week.  Stuffy head, scratchy and tickly throat; weaker voice (I'm softspoken anyway...don't need any weaker voice); headaches.  On top of that, the doctor gives me antibiotic and cough syrup.  The antibiotic is fine, but the cough syrup has some type of narc in it.  It leaves me in a weak stupor when I take it.  Stayed home from work yesterday.

2.  It boggles me how loose professionalism is becoming in correspondence especially e-mail.  A recruiter or salesman, unknown to me, e-mails me out of the blue and immediately starts addressing me by my first name and uses a comma instead of a colon.  That in effect says that he and I have an established relationship and on a personal, non-professional level.  Hello??!!!  I know what I want to say in return, but I have to exercise self-control and say the charitable thing for the sake of Christ.

3.  As I exhorted my close friend Dave, I exhort all who care about passionate, sound worship to stay away from those teachers and theologians of the IPW (Informed Principle of Worship) such as John Frame, Steve Schlissel, and others.  (Unfortunately, my church home CLC has 2 of Frame's books.)  The IPW is a defection from the Reformed distinctive of worship (The Regulative Principle of Worship), is heading toward heresy, and is thus going back to the harlot Church of Rome.   The Regulative Principle of Worship (which is a Reformed distinctive and the Scriptural principle of worship is bascially "We worship God not according to our preferences but according to His."  IOW, what does not have warrant from Scripture is not permitted in worship since God alone is perfect, knows how he is to be worshipped, and has revealed how in Scripture, which is entirely sufficient for salvation and equipping us for every good work..  Frame in his book "Worship in Spirit and Truth" is not consistent with his testimony on worship regarding his professedly fierce loyalty (and ordination vow) to the WCF, WSC, and WLC (which are some of the several Confessions define the Regulative Principle of Worship) on one hand; his historically confusing the Puritans and Presbyterians; and his open rejection of the aforementioned Standards, whether in part or in whole, on the other hand. (That would also call into question the integrity of the ecclesiastical courts of his denomination since loyalty to the WCF, WSC, and WLC is an explicity ordination vow.) Schlissel, unlike Frame, does not contradict himself (or his ordination vows), not misrepresent the Puritans or Presbyterians, and calls the "non-traditional" view accurately like it is (the IPW).

WCF = Westminster Confession of Faith, WLC = Westminster Larger Catechism, WSC = Westminster Smaller Catechism