Field Trip

Every Wednesday we have a staff meeting at church. This includes our 5 pastors, 1 woman counselor, 2 interns and myself. It's a time for building a sense of "team," catching up on what and how the others are doing and praying for each other. Every once in a while, Pastor Mark schedules a "field trip." A couple of months ago we took a trip to Camden to observe a ministry to the homeless, ex-cons, and prostitutes. It was a great encouragement to the work there for us to be interested in what they were doing and to show our support.

Yesterday was another field trip. This one was to McGuire Air Force Base.
We have a number of military families that attend our church. One of those is Lt. Col. Tim ____. He arranged the whole day for us. He had lunch for us, then we toured the air force base. We checked out the simulators and even had a chance to "fly" them. Andy loved that and did a good job of pushing the right buttons. Tim had the computers set up to be night time with a snow storm, and then helped Andy bring in the plane to a perfect landing. You couldn't even feel the bump as we landed!McGuire has a fleet of refueling aircraft. We actually went into one and were able to see how it was done. They are huge planes weighing about 580 tons when they are fully loaded with gas and cargo. They can pump 1,000 gallons of gas a minute when they are refueling. There were a lot of other statistics that we heard but I can't remember them all. It was pretty impressive, though.
One interesting note: There is a plane on the base that is no longer in use, but it has a claim to fame. It carried Elvis back from Germany when he was done with his time in the military. He landed at McGuire before continuing on to his home.

It was an interesting, informative and impressive day as we learned some of the things about the air force. We are very thankful for the sacrifices our military make to defend our country. Tim was telling us that his wife didn't sign up for the military, but she is expected to help out families when there is a need: like take meals when there is a new baby, collect clothes, etc. for other families who might have a need. Her role is like that of a pastor's wife. The men often work long hours and are sometimes gone for months at a time.

We were happy to show our support yesterday to these great men and women. Many of them not only serve our country, but they also get very involved at our church. We are very happy to have them because they love to serve. It is a way of life for them and it spills out into everything they do.

In other news:
Our friend came over last night with his rototiller and got our plot of land ready for gardening. Now Andy has to put up some fencing to keep the critters out, and I'll be ready to plant.

The pansies I planted in the fall are looking great,
even after that long cold winter.

The hyacinths are blooming and this one miniature daffodil.

It's still so cold, though.