REMEMBRANCE OF PAST PLACES AND RELATIONSHIPS

Today is Amelia Earhardt's birthday and 35 years ago on this day I was commissioned as an officer of the United States Government in the US Air Force.  Seems very strange that so many years have gone by because i have very vivid memories of that time.

Praying for veterans, active duty and reserve military and Coast Guard members, and for families and friends of those who have sacrifices their lives for our country.  No one comes home from battle without being changed. Sadly, too many are severely wounded and suffering.  And the number of our veterans who have committed suicide in the last twenty years or so  . . .  and those who are still at risk, homeless, mentally ill and/or suffering from addictions.

We can all pray as we feel led and sometimes we can take part in the answers to prayers. There are many faith-based organizations: many people of churches, synagogues, mosques and other centers of ethnic cultures work hard to help people in need. Members of clubs, service organizations and all sorts of institutions work for people geographically close to them and for folks all over the world.

There is still more to do. If you recognize a need, there are many ways to find where you can help in person and/or through donations of funds, food, clothing, furniture and many necessities. The more we give of our selves and our resources, the more we find ouraelves in partnership with the power of love, however we conceive of that out of our cultural and intellectual backgrounds and because of our own experiences.

The more we act in loving ways to help people, beginning with our family mem reaching out to our neighbors, then our villages, towns, counties, cities, states and nation. When we show and share love in active ways, love comes to us, too.  We can't out-give God.

This is a universal principle about which Jesus was talking when He said, "Give and it will be given to you. With the measure you use, the amount will be given back to you multiplied.  If you give the equivalent of a scoop used to ladle grain into a bushel, you will be given abundance back from the Lord in a bushel; shaken, pressed down and flowing over."

Another related principle is that when you are feeling a lack, instead of holding on to what you have, giving to someone else in needs opens a channel for you to be able to receive the provision and blessings the Lord has for you.  It's similar to the way weather works -- high pressure systems flowing into (or being drawn into low pressure systems. Where there is abundance, that extra beyond what is needed has been given to you so that you may share it with peope in need -- not hoard whatever there is.

The Lord is so good and so faithful. He reflects back to us according to our hearts and how our hearts drive our actions. The more we are grateful, loving, kind and giving, the more we are able to take part in the work of Goodness. By the same token, if our thoughts, words and activity are occupied with worries, fears, anger, hatred and other negative thoughts, emotions and activities, the more we block blessings, grace, righteousnes, mercy and love.

The longer we stay in that negative and/or destructive and violent atmosphere, the more we have to struggle with adversity, fear and lack of all we need to sustain us body/mind/soul and spirit that are connected and a unity in us. We always have the option of turning away from the doubts, fears, worries, violence and negativity. This may be difficult, but all we have to do is ask, in peace, believing we will receive all that we need and more.

If you have questions or problems about anything I have written or said, you are welcome to let me know and we can discuss whatever you want to discuss

Meanwhile, always and forever, may you and yours be blessed and drawn closer and closer to the love of God in Christ Jesus, the Logos or Word -- the primary creative initiator, by the power of Holy Spirit ordained by God the Creator, also known as our Father in Heaven by those who have accepted the gift of faith that is offered to eqcj qnd every person.

I hope you have a good night's rest and/or a good day with many blessings and lovely time speny with family members and friends.

Always and forever in His grace, peace, joy, love, mercy, kindness and righteousnes by the Lord's will and help -- Kathy ❤️

GOD HAS GOOD PLANS FOR YOU

[The LORD said through Jeremiah to Israel: ] "'For I know the plans I have for you,' says the LORD. 'They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.'" [Jeremiah 29:11 (NLT)]

And Jeremiah 29:12-13 includes: "When you seek me you shall find me . . . When you seek me with your whole heart."

In March of 1986 after I left active duty as a United States Air Force Officer, I worked as a Security Awareness Instructor for EG&G, the NASA Base Operations Contractor at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on Cape Canaveral, Florida. My colleagues and I presented briefings on various topics related to national security involving the Space Transportation System (STS), also known as the Space Shuttle. We also published a newsletter pertinent to these issues for, if I remember correctly, the approximately 27,000 NASA, space and missile contractors and military personnel involved in manned and unmanned space launches and in missile tests.

During the last part of Preident Jimmy Carter's administration, I had been stationed at Patrick Air Force Base, 47 miles south of KSC, for my first assignment after Air Force Officer Training School and the school developed to prepare those who worked in various parts of the intelligence community.

[Before you ask, the answer is, "Yes, I have heard it said that 'military intelligence' is an oxymoronic phrase." And, "Yes, I find that insulting to brave men and women willing to give their livesfor their country." But take into consideration that beyond being a United States military officer, I was an "air intelligence officer." So please don't say whatever else you might think is cute and clever about THAT. I promise you that I have heard it before this.] 

Where was I?

Oh, yeah . . . in civilian clothes at work at KSC except when I was doing my duty weekend as a reserve officer back at my old organization withsome of the folks who operated much of the "national technical means" that were used to make sure all of the signatories to any and all of the nuclear test ban treaties were in compliance. We also watched out for indications that any other nations were attempting to join the "Nuclear Weapons Club." Since August 6th and 9th, 1945, when the second and third nuclear weapons had neen detonated first over Hiroshima and then over Nagasaki, Japan, the whole world had in a way been held hostage by first the United States and subsequently by The Union of Soviet Socialist Republica, by Great Britain, by France, and by the People's Republic of China.

My primary role while on active duty from late November, 1980, until mid-January, 1983, had been to support the mission of the U.S. Air Force Technical Applications Center and the Commander of the Eastern Space and Missile Center. As I imtimated previously, this included supporting all operations at Patrick Air Force Base, at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, at Kennedy Space Center and at down-range radar installations and air bases used and or maintained by the US military, the US Space program and the US missile test program. 

The early 1980s were an exciting time for all NASA personnel and US government aerospace contractors because we were finally going to launch human beings into space again. Sincethe end of the Apollo lunar landing and return program, the Soviets had been the only nation launching, maintainig and returning humans to and from the orbital and suborbital regions surrounding the Earth. Frankly, we had gotten tires of Soviet teasing and superiority over all of their cosmic achievements.

As I mentioned earlier, I became an air force officer during the Carter Administration. At that time there were several programs that were initiated to afford women opportunities in the military that had been denied them since the draw down of forces at the end of World War II. One program was called "Join Spouse" and through it, if a husband and wife were both on active duty in the US military forces, there would be efforts made so that they were both stationed on the same base or in the same area as much as possible. Now all military service members know very well that if they stay on active duty long enough that there will be time spent away from their spouses and/or families. But the "Join Spouse" program tried to minimize that.

While we were still married, my ex-husbamd sucessfully completerd US Air Force Officer Training School (OTS) about ten months before I did. So when it came time to receive the orders for our first assignmets after training for our primary specialty, I was blessed to be given an assignment on the same base where my then-husband was assigned and where he and our kids had been living since I was about halfway through with my time at OTS. And that was Patrick AFB where he was a communications officer in support of space operarions and missile tests over the Atlantic and further downrange, and where as I already told you, I was involved in intelligence work. This concerned not only space operations and missile tests; but also Soviet political and military affairs; international relations; the strategic triad; and advanced weapons developments, etc.

After working at Patrick AFB I was sent to Alaska to work with F-15 and T-33 pilots in support of the mission of the Alaskan Air Command (in conjunction with our Canadian neighbor's military forces). The mission involved protecting Alaska, the lower 48 states and Canada from the threats of the use of Soviet conventional and nuclear weapons (as well as chemical and biological weapons). I served a three year controlled tour at the 21 Tactical Fighter Wing until February of 1986.

My ex-husband and I had been divorced during the summer of 1984, and he stayed in Alaska in what turned into a remote assignment on an Aleutian island. So it was a sad time for our kids to be separated from him again until they were able to spend the summer with him.

We left mainland Alaska on a flight to Juneau, stayed a few days to sightsee, then flew in a light plane to Skagway where the gold was brought down from the Yukon to be transported by ship wherever it was going. From there we took an Alaska State Ferry back to Juneau, another on to Sitka where we again were tourists for a few days. The first morning we woke up in Sitka was the day of the Challenger accident. 

I had tapped my connections with colonels I had worked for at Patrick AFB who had retired and were working for NASA or aerospace contractors to find a job after leaving active duty. Several said they would do what they could to help me. However, the loss of the astronauts ans spaccraft on the STS-25 mission changed a great deal. I had only had verbal commitments over the phone, so from the day of the accident, my kids and I were in suspended animation, living with friends and wondering what would happen.

The former Commander of the Eastern Space and Missile Center had become NASA's Chief of Safety a bit less than four months before the Challenger accident. We arrived back on Florida's East Central Coast in early February, and my former boss was able to help me get the position as a security awareness instructor for the Base Operations so that I started working at KSC on St Patrick's Day (March 18, 1986).

And though I have taken a REALLY long way around to tell you, the connection with Jeremiah 29:11 came when I briefed at KSC Headquarters. The NASA folks were very proud of the technology developments shared with various scientific and medical disciplines and organizations. The American Heart Association was one of these.

After the briefings, employees often hung around to ask questions or chat. That was the first time I had briefed in the headquarters building. One of the people in attendance was a man who worked for the American Heart Association dealing with what was being learned about and deveolped so that astronauts could spend time in orbit, back and forth to the moon, and on the lunar surface.

He came up to talk to me and somehow we ended up sharing our faith. He said he felt led to give me a book by Reverend Dr. Lloyd John Ogilvie, a Prebyterian minister who served a large congregation in Florida (and later became the US Senate Chaplain). A study of St. Paul's Epistle to the Philippians, the book is called, "Let God Love You," and the premise is that St. Paul maintains that he has learned that the only way to love God is to allow God to love you. And that happens when we choose to be obedient to God by trusting Him.

The book came to me ina plainbrown wrapper through the NASA office mailing system. Besides my name and office mailing code, the gentleman from the American Heart Association had written, "Jeremiah 29:11." That was the first time anyone gave me a verse of my own.

And the Lord has used it for good many times beginning six months later when my kids and I went through a very rough time. God is so good and so faithful, Beloved. What a joy to love amd serve Him in response to His love for each one of us!

So please remember . . . whatever you are going through or will go through, God has good plans for you. He loves you and He will never leave you or forsake you.

If you don't consciously know Him yet, won't you please give Him a chance?

If you already know, love and serve Him, do you know that there is always a deeper level of trust that the Lord wants to draw you to so that you can learn more about Him and how much He loves you? There is! Please open your heart to Him and find out how much deeper He wants to draw you into His Life, Love and Light.

Those are my prayers for you today and always, Beloved.

May the Lord continue to bless and keep you and yours in His Love, Peace, Joy, Mercy, Grace and Righteousness. Alleluia! Amen and amen.