This is Friday with some history

 Today’s picture:

 

Key West Methodist Church Kid's Day (many years ago)

BUT for today:

We all have a history.  That history is determined by decisions we make as we travel this road called life. Some decisions are made for us. As I navigated thru life, some years were directed by the Government via the military. They decided where I would live and the jobs, I would be assigned by tests I took. My first enlistment was the USMC for 2yrs. At the end of an enlistment, I could re-enlist or get out and find a job; I have done both. I always missed the regimentation of the military, when I took the discharge. Then came the USAF a 4yr enlistment.

The tests I took sent my life into into Computers. I had extensive schooling in Analog and digital computers. My last assignment in the USAF was a great one, I was a computer repairman at a small radar site near Kirksville, MO. At the end of that enlistment, I took a discharge because I had started a ‘side-job’ in the religious world of entertaining kids.i.e. chalk talks, drawings, ventriloquism and magic.

Instead of staying with kids, I decided to become a pastor. One short pastorate in Missouri, Another short pastorate in Rutherfordton, NC and then Sherry and I organized and built a church near Belmont, NC. We had wonderful people come and join with us.

The church grew; there was a lot more involved in that period. At this time I will not go into detail, but I lost my FAITH, my beliefs. I refused to stand in a Pulpit and say things I no longer believed, so I shocked my wife, my friends, my church by immediately resigning as soon as I came to the realization I was having a problem with my faith.

Above is the church we started now. The part to the left is the original we built.  It really grew.  We had a great location.

I told the church I was returning to school. WE bought a small house for $3000, moved out of the attached parsonage and I enrolled at Gaston Tech to study surveying.  BUT in all my wanderings and ‘still-times’ my mind kept hearing calls back to the military.

So, after one or two semesters at Gaston Tech, I enlisted in my 3^rd branch of service, the USN.  Again, the tests I took sent me to IBM repair school; I became an IBM repairman for Naval Intelligence Processing aboard the aircraft carrier, USS independence CVA62 at 28 years old. Our old house-trailer had been rented out. We moved it to Norfolk, VA. for a place to live. While at sea Sherry took care of our 2 boys and home.

Nite Shipslog

PS:   Thanks for coming our way (Maybe I Will continue tomorrow.)…