Continuing on with our saga, I have a correction to make in yesterday's writing. The Commanding GENERAL when I arrived in Saudi Arabia was Lieutenant General Pegonis. NOT Lieutenant Pegonis, that would have been quite a few years earlier, although he would have filled the position well, even then, I would think. But I do apologize to the General for his "reduction". You must be thinking "What is Gary talking about?" To a military person, it makes sense, but others . . . not so much!
So returning to Charleston, S.C. to out process from Desert Storm, and to having missed Pat and my 25th Wedding Anniversary, which I am still hearing about on occasion, I spent some time processing back into the wacky and weird, civilian world. This is where it is a difficult in some ways, but wonderful in other ways, time of a military persons life. The transition time turns out to be a very critical time of previous relationships and adjustments are a new area to work through. With a strong marriage to begin with sure helps . . . a lot! Shortly after becoming an almost full time civilian again, and finding out I have a new Reserve Unit in Bell, CA, I started to settle back in at work. During my 8 month deployment, my City of Las Vegas, Nevada, Graphic Arts Div. position was filled with what turned out to be the #2 person on the hiring list (me having been, of course, #1) and also a graduate (two years behind me) of Minneapolis Vocational H.S. Technical Institute! Ron TeGantvoort became a fantastic, wonderful and now, long time friend! He was able to stay on as they adjusted work responsibilities and I eventually moved into a new position as a Customer Service Tech. that worked with the Department Directors, Council and Staff, and generally EVERYONE that needed the services of the Graphic Arts Division. It was my responsibility to get the best, and least costly end product for the City, and it was a fantastic and wonderful position. The vendors I dealt with were top quality people and I have some of them as personal friends to this day....particularly Dick Fishbach who lives close by in Kentucky whom we will get to visit one of these days! ha ha My new position as Graphic Services Technician had been duly publicly advertised, over 100 folks came in to take the test, and the selection was made. Puffed my chest momentarily before I rolled up my sleeves, and went to work. I discovered that my Printing training at my Dad's print shop during those many years of growing up, time at Vocational High, and my Navy active duty time as a Lithographer (printer), was starting to pay off! We had a great crew at the print shop to give that quality product needed...professionals all of them. When I turned 60 yrs old, I was eligible to retire, so with Pat taking care of her Father in our home, I chose to retire and help her in her task of loving care. At my Retirement send off, Pat and our youngest Son, Todd and his family were there to see the many, many people that came to say goodbye. What a humbling experience that was! Now, what wonderful memories I have of my time with the City.
Returning to First Henderson United Methodist Church was a wonderful homecoming for me as well. A loving community of Christian family is what we all need, and for me, it was a necessity. Shortly after my return, there was some difficulty with the process of my Local Pastor journey, and in that time frame the the Pastor asked me if I would be interested in designing a Praise and Celebration type Worship Service for an additional Sunday morning Worship experience. Since spending the last 8 months doing just that, I said SURE! Along with the most expert advisor, and great friend of the Music Director, Ms Vickie, we developed what has been a wonderful Worship service style for over 20 + years now. As a team, we had singers such as Sue, Dorothy, Carol, Marcie, Ken; Ms Vickie on the electronic piano, over time we acquired a Bass Guitar player, Hugh Craig, and his singer wife Christine, and their daughter Chrissy. A Fantastic family of gifted musician/singers, blessed beyond belief! We had many wonderful singers with us through the years and we even found out that Ms Vickie could sing! We even put on a Saturday night show once that highlighted Vickie singing "My Rock". What a hit!
Vickie sings "My Rock"
(Sue, Dorothy, Carol, Chrissy back up)
Some years later, we were again blessed to get a professional quality drummer by the name of Brad! Turns out he sings very nicely too! What a blessing indeed. So "The Celebration Music Team" continues today and I am so glad that God has been with them all these years to help provide a music support for His people to understand His message through music. The CMT was a BIG part of my life and will ALWAYS be grateful for the opportunity to serve, lead and love each and every one of them. As time progressed, the Worship service changed a little, but has never lost it's impact on the congregation. Music is what became my "gateway" to contentment. It provided stable and lasting relationships founded in Jesus Christ. It provided an opportunity for me to develop a foundation of confidence to share the Message of Jesus through music and eventually other areas of leadership.
Gary (me), Carol, Chrissy, Sue, Marcie, Ken singing at a Revival
(Vickie is at the piano to the left...sorry Vickie!)
During this time I have had physical struggles from Desert Storm and was able to work through them. During this time we had major family crisis' which we dealt with. During this time we had the help of our church family and our firm Christian Faith to help us process our challenges. There were many tears along the way, but there was also much laughter and joy as we journeyed along the path that God had set out for us. Just because we claim to be Christians doesn't mean we will lead a totally blissful life, 100% of the time! Adam and Eve took that off the table right at the beginning! So we deal with challenges as they come up and move on. And that is what we have done...some well, some not so well.
As we moved on, I was again asked to start a Saturday evening Worship Service. So I got a Praise group together and we called ourselves "Generation". I was the oldest at 40 something and the members went down from there. 35 yr. old Larry, Bass player; singers: my (now) daughter-in-law, Shannon; Brittany and 15 yr old Craig on the electric guitar. So we spanned several Generations and felt it was an appropriate group name! We even cut a CD! Our service was Praise music based, with a lot of time for testimonials, scripture readings, a short message, and lots of prayer. There was no scheduled stop time as we went until we finished, which is a refreshing change for us to consider. It was a very good service and we had an average attendance of about 25-30 folks every Saturday evening at 6:00. A Wonderful experience.
I am finding that this is a series of events that is giving me a broad base of information and experience to draw from in my Walk with the Lord. It is perhaps, giving me the tools to bring others to know Jesus Christ as I have, and that their experiences can do the same thing, in another way. Together, our joint efforts will bring Glory to our Heavenly Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Point of the day: There are many journey's we can travel. The task at hand is "where do I go?" or "What do I do?" This is where your dependency on someone other than yourself comes in. TRUST IN JESUS is not only a great song, but a very Firm guide to follow. Pray about it. Wait for the gentle nudge to take action. Listen for the whisper of God's plan. To do this you must be still! If you are making a lot of noise like a clanging cymbal, you won't be able to hear or feel what you need to be doing. Also, I have learned recently that you must be ready to make adjustments along the way . . . just in case God has additional plans for you. Life is full of wonderful side trips and knowing that the final destination to be in the Glory of God, will be the highlight of your journey! Now ain't that worth the effort?
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