No, I’m not dead.

January 24, 2007 at 2:41 pm | In Memories | 4 Comments

So I’ve been getting some pushback from a few folks about the long delay between posts here at the Captain’s Logbook. Well what can I say? It’s been a busy 35 days and sometimes it’s hard to remember you are supposed to draining the swamp when you are up to your ass in alligators! I actually started a post back during our recent IE ice age but ran into technical difficulties. I wanted to post some pictures of icicles that Martina took, but my WordPress interface wouldn’t let me post thumbnails. I haven’t had time to figure out what the issue is yet. OK, Enough whining!

Christmas – Christmas was great! I have some great photos of me (the world’s biggest kid) playing with my brand new Lego crane that Jessi and Paul gave me. There is also my rockin LGB train set that was my present from Martina, mom and my mother in law. The LGB train was a 30 year old Christmas wish come true. We got to hang with the kids and play with Adelaide so it was a good time.

The Living Desert – On Dec 29th we took a road trip out to Palm Desert to visit the Living Desert Botanical Gardens. Why you ask, because they happen to have one of the largest displays of LGB trains in the world. Now that I am a proud member of the LGB family I felt compelled to complete a pilgrimage before the end of the year. It was our first outing with the new camera and oh how I love my Canon! That thing is awesome! I took hundreds of photos of big trains and lots of videos too. Oh yeah there’s a couple of shots of a cheetah and a giraffe or two as well. I think there might even be a picture of Martina.

New Years – Very laid back, no party, just channel surfing until midnight then off to bed.

Jonathan – Jonathan got home from Iraq safe and sound on Jan 9th. He had 2 weeks off so my mom paid for a ticket so he could come home and visit. We picked him up at the airport on the 13th and dropped him off again on the 21st. It was great to see him again and I am very grateful to all of you for your prayers. When I hugged him at the airport it was like hugging a concrete post, the boy is buff! Nothing like having a lot of spare time and nothing to do but lift weights, sorta like prison except in prison the guards aren’t tossing mortar shells at you every other night or so.

He came to church with us Sunday and I think he was a little embarrassed by the number of people, many of whom he did not know, that greeted him with variations of “So this is who I’ve been praying for, awesome to meet you.”  Jon is back in FL at his permanent duty station now. Don’t know if he will have to go back again.

House Of Blues – We went to the House of Blues Gospel Brunch last Sunday to celebrate BrandiShine’s birthday. Can’t say that I am a true fan of Gospel music but we still had a great time and loved being there with everybody.

Church – Church continues to be busy as we got back into the swing of things after the holidays. Mindie, one of our small group members went off to Las Vegas with the JC’s Girls and she was sorely missed by all of us, especially Colin, her husband. If you’ve ever gotten a drink at the Coffee Cart first service chances are it was Colin that made it for you. Anyway, it was very kewl to have Mindie back with us and to hear about all the different ways God was working at the porn convention.

Okay, that’s it for now – hopefully it won’t be another month until the next post.

A Fine Day For Sailing

December 22, 2006 at 11:30 pm | In Fun Times, Memories | 11 Comments

Last Saturday after the Christmas Boat Parade we took the boat out for a little sailing and hopefully whale watching. Unfortunately I  guess we were a little early because we didn’t see any marine life this trip out. Oh well the sailing was a lot of fun though. Out of the 12 crew invited only Jake and Beca were brave enough to face the elements with us. Here is a little video I put together to give you a taste for what its like. Be gentle its my first time using iMovie and trying to post a video to the web.

Enjoy!

Christmas Boat Parade

December 21, 2006 at 11:13 am | In Fun Times, Memories | 9 Comments

Sailing SantaLast Friday Martina and I took 25 friends out on Cest La Vie, the biggest boat in our club, for a “3 hour tour.” It was our annual adventure on the bay for the Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade.

OMG, I think every boat in Newport was out Friday night. It was chaos. Think 405 freeway, rush hour, no lines marking lanes and people parking in the middle of the road, at night. Yikes! However this year was the most stress-free for me because this boat has an electric anchor winch so I just parked us in the anchorage and we watched the parade from there. No worries. Except for the 40 foot cabin cruiser that nearly (missed us by 2 feet) backed into us.

Anyway, I’ve waited so long to post because I’ve been waiting patiently for my friend Daniel over at Snap Photography to post his pictures from the evening. Cruise over there and take a look. His photo’s are great!

We had a total of 27 people out of 31 invited on a 44 foot boat. I originally wanted to invite 40 but when I called the club and talked to the owner he really didn’t think that was too wise. He mumbled something about being really topheavy. I then got a vision of 40 people all rushing to the same side of the boat at once….oops. I’m glad I listened to him because with anymore people on board I think we would have been overcrowded. Not unsafe, just too many elbows and knees for the available cubic feet.

 I hope our club gets a 60 footer before next year! Either that or I’m gonna have to book more than one night, there are SO many more friends that I want to invite!

Legacy

December 14, 2006 at 12:26 pm | In Church, Family | 7 Comments

Lately I’ve begun to wonder about what kind of legacy I will leave my children. I suppose it comes with advancing years, or maybe it all started when Nathan suggested the word patriarch to describe my changing roll in the lives of my family. All I know is that I’ve begun to consider how the way I live my life today will manifest itself in my kid’s and their kids’ lives years from now.

 Neither Martina nor I were raised in Christian homes, so we had no guidance other than that which we gleaned from the Bible and Christian books. I think that guidance served us fairly well; so far the evidence suggests that we didn’t screw up our kids too badly. However, I’ve recently gained a glimpse into the powerful and positive influence Godly forbearers can be.

I went to a wedding recently where the bride and groom took time in the ceremony to have his grandfather come and serve them communion in what was a very private moment that we the guests were privileged to witness. This simple act spoke volumes to me that day. How awesome is it, that on this very important day in their lives, this young couple wanted his grandfather to participate in so meaningful a way. I also sorrowed that there was no corresponding person in my own life. And finally, I determined that I wanted to be that kind of man for my children and grandchildren. I very much want to build into the lives of our kids and our grand kids. How awesome to be able to provide them with a foundation of Biblical truths and wisdom that they can build their lives on.

Catch A Wave

November 30, 2006 at 2:36 pm | In Church | 9 Comments

Like Leah I found something to take away from Neal’s sermon on communion. In the second half of his sermon when he was talking about being content in my relationship with Jesus, Neal differentiated between our dreams, careers and ambitions and whether we are living God’s design for our lives. For years Paul’s injunction “to be content in whatever state I find myself in…” has been used to browbeat Christians for daring to want a better life for their families, or to desire a promotion, or a better car or… you get the idea. Once again I find myself running head-on into the idea that God doesn’t really give a sh– about stuff! And, He doesn’t care all that much about how much stuff  I have either, except as it pertains to the one thing He does care about, my heart. If my heart is focused on Him, all the rest is up to me.

So how do I know if my heart is focused on Him? Neal explained that too, he said “Find out what God is doing around you and ride that wave.”  Right now for me, knowing I’m in god’s will comes down to this: God is moving in a significant way through Sandals Church, Sandals Church is all about community and connection, therefore I am going to do whatever I can to be a part of facilitating that vision. What ever it takes; setting up chairs, hosting a small group, inviting people over for dinner, taking them sailing. I’M IN.

Its nice to know that what I do for a living makes a difference.

November 25, 2006 at 3:44 pm | In Work | 5 Comments

I have been a flight test engineer for Lockheed Martin for 20 years, and sometimes in my work-a-day world where demonstrating new eye-watering aviation capabilities is normal and setting records becomes routine, its hard to remember why we build these weapons systems in the first place. Today I got a little reminder from an unexpected source.

Let me preface this by saying that 10 years ago I worked on a project to improve AC-130 Gunship survivability, and that today my son Jonathan is in Iraq working as a weapons mechanic on the same aircraft. This morning we had breakfast with Jessi (Paul was busy clearing a drain). During the conversation Jessi told us that Jonathan and I had received an unexpected compliment. Intrigued, I asked how. Turns out that one of the students in Paul’s fire science class is a former Marine and veteran of the Iraqi war. When Paul was telling him about Jonathan being in Iraq and that he works on AC-130 Gunships, this former Marine told Paul how he always loved to hear the Gunships orbiting overhead. He said that you could always catch some shuteye then because you knew that when Spooky was on the prowl you were okay. I nearly cried when I realized that a capability that I helped deliver and that my son maintains, means that when the skubalen hits the rotary air impeller and a grunt calls for air support the rounds are gonna be on target and somebody’s son/husband/daddy is gonna come home.

What are you Thankful for?

November 25, 2006 at 3:32 pm | In Uncategorized | 3 Comments

So, I’ve been following the “Adventures In Adoption” saga over on the Blog Father and his High Priestess’s websites and all I can say is “What a ride!” I can hardly wait to meet Losiah. Judging by the number of comments their posts are generating I’ll probably have to get a number and stand in line. Well we know that this will be a Thanksgiving that will never be forgotten in the Whittaker household. I daresay that this holiday has been forever changed for Carlos and Heather. This sort of brings me to the subject for this post which is: What Are You Thankful For?
I have been thinking about this a lot lately, and without making this post too long here is what I am thankful for:

My relationship with God.
That the Creator of the universe died so that I might have an eternal relationship with Him is beyond my comprehension. That He did so while I was still a sinner and estranged from Him is only more mind-boggling. All I can do is accept that He loves me more than I will ever understand and try to walk uprightly with Him as He gives me understanding of what that means. All of the blessings in my life stem from this one fundamental fact of my life. He is the source of all that is good in my world.

My relationship with Martina.
After 28 years of marriage I am still amazed that God allowed me the honor and privilege of sharing Martina’s life. I am crazy blessed by being married to such a beautiful, talented, compassionate woman, (maybe it was her compassion that led her to marry me in first place). A long time ago someone asked me what Martina saw in me, I thought about it a bit then replied “I don’t know, and I’m sure not going to ask her now. She might stop and think about it, then where would I be?” That Martina loves me, I know down to my bones, yet I will never really understand why, so all I can do is accept it and revel in it. Our relationship is better than it has ever been and I love her more today than when I first met her.

My Children
I am so proud of all of my kids, the 3 that Martina and I raised, the two that have married into the clan, and the 4 that we have “adopted” through our small group. Each and every one of them is a decent and loving human being and they are all engaged in the pursuit of God’s purpose in their lives. What more can a Papa ask for? Of course there is also Adelaide, she represents the beginning of a whole new generation. WOW. That and I love her giggle.

My Church
I love my church and the people in it! Sandals Church is unequivocally one of the greatest blessings to come into my life in the last 30 years. I say 30 years only because I wish my entire Christian experience was comparable to the last 5 years. I am amazed at the extraordinary levels of wisdom, love, compassion, talent, and knowledge that God has packaged into the souls of the leadership team at Sandals Church. God has, and continues to assemble an incredible team of gifted people to lead our church. I can safely say that I have grown more spiritually in the last 5 years than in the previous 20.

My Sandal’s Story

November 16, 2006 at 4:19 pm | In Church, Memories, Uncategorized | 8 Comments

Actually it’s OUR story since Martina and I come as a package.

Anyway, Miss Janie (look! I learned a new trick, the logbook now comes with links) posted on her blog her stroy on how she wound up at Sandals church. Several others posted their own stories in her comments. So I thought I’d share our story here.

Before Sandals, Tina and I attended just 2 churches in 26 years as Christians. The first was the Pentecostal church in Germany where Martina was saved. The second was Harvest. We started attending Harvest right after we moved to Riverside in 1983.  We were both very involved and well plugged in at both churches. However over time the rat-race kinda crept in and by the time 2001 rolled around we had pretty much stagnated in our christian walk. By then we were only going to church sporadically and I was struggling with the idea that nobody seemed to care, or even notice.

By then Jessi and Paul were dating and looking for a church of their own. Martina had heard of Sandals from a girlfriend so she suggested it to Jessi. They went and loved it! One Sunday I suggested to Martina that we probably  ought to check the place out, you know to make sure the kids weren’t getting into some kind of cult. I mean really, what kind of name is Sandals anyway?

So we went. It was sometime in the summer of 01, they were still meeting at VCC. My first impression wasn’t really all that great; hated the worship (my issue, not Los’s), thought the message was good but too short, didn’t understand the slogan. “Real with ourselves, others, and God” what the heck is that supposed to mean? It sounded like a bunch of  burned out hippies trying to be profound. We vacillated between Harvest and Sandals for several months, and if during this time you had asked me why I was coming to Sandals the honest answer would have been “Because it’s convenient” I could do my duty and soothe my conscience in an hour!  Eventually we went back to Harvest.

If you are sensing that I struggle with negativity and that change is not my friend you are correct, but Nathan has been working with me and I’m getting better.

Fast  forward to the spring of 2002. I don’t remember the specifics of the conversation but somehow Sandals came up and I opined that the services were just too short to be “real” church. Jessica informed me that now that Sandals was meeting in the CBU gym and able to have a morning as well as an evening service the services were longer and the sermons not so abbreviated. Intrigued, we decided to give Sandals another go.

The second time around Martina and I were struck by the vitality and energy of the church. We wondered if mayby there wasn’t a place for us at Sandals. Being “slightly” older, we wondered if God might use us the way a grizzled vetran helps to steady the eager but raw recruit. So we continued to attend, and fell in love. As we got to know people we began to understand the vision – Being Real – what a concept.

As for the worship, that was all my issue, it wasn’t too loud, after all I’m a boomer, loud music is great. I just didn’t know ANY of the songs and they were all too fast for me to get my lips around. Then it happened, I found the “Passion: One Day Live” CD at the Harvest bookstore. OMG these are the songs we sing at Sandals! They must be okay!  Once the worship songs at Sandals got the “Harvest Seal of Approval” I was okay with them. Yep, I can be that shallow.

3 things happened that year that cemented us to the Sandals community; we met Jim and Ronda Gilbert at the “Endless Summer” party, we attended the 1st marriage getaway and talked Matt and Tammy’s ears off while waiting for our breakfast to arrive, and we were put in Nathan and Danielle’s small group.

So far it has been an extraordinary journey and I can hardly wait to see where God will lead this great church next.

Blogger’s Block

November 13, 2006 at 4:01 pm | In Uncategorized | 8 Comments

Okay, so this blogging thing started out much better than I had hoped. The first 4 posts came quickly and many of you have been very kind in your comments and encouragement. I especially thank you for your words of support and promise of prayers for Jonathan.

 

But, 4 posts do not a blog make. What can I say; I am at a loss for words. Mostly this is because I don’t want this journal to devolve into another Op-Ed blog. Lord knows I have plenty of opinions, at least one for everything. But like the sage said “Opinions are like a—holes, everyone has one and they usually stink.” I have observed that when blogs veer into controversy they bring out our darker sides. You know what I mean, the part of us that is spring-loaded to jump to a conclusion, impute a motive, or assassinate a person’s character; all based on 20 secs of video or 15 words in an article. I hope to avoid this sort of divisiveness.

 

My vision for this blog, as amorphous as it is right now, is to facilitate connectivity among God’s people by being (get ready….wait for it…) “real with myself, others, and God.” (Admit it, you just knew there was gonna be a Sandals plug in here somewhere didn’t you?) For me, this means posting about the things that are going on in my life, the things I feel God is working on and the trials and victories that I am going through.

I realized while I was still a blurker that the blogs I enjoy the most are the ones that allow me to get to really know and stay connected too the people that I’ve met, mostly from church. It is an irony of the times we live in that we know way more people than we have the time to keep up to date with in a personal one-on-one way. Blogs help span the gap. Because of blogs, I have gotten to know many people who I consider to be real friends who before would have remained acquaintances. By posting about what is going on in my life and what I am thinking about I hope to let others get to know me, thus returning the favor that others have given me.

So what am I thinking about lately? Mostly I am thinking I wish I knew how to be concise! This post is already 4 paragraphs long and I’ve only gotten through the introduction! If every post is an essay I’ll never get anything on the blog. I have started and rejected at least 4 posts since Oct. 27th. Rejected because they were growing way too long and I could see that they would become even longer before they were done. This post has gone through 3 iterations already! Enough!

This weekend I:

  1. Went to breakfast with Martina and got to talk to Jonathan when he called from Iraq.

  2. Got all of the yards mowed. When you have an acre, and all your kids have left home, this is an accomplishment.

  3. Had a very pleasant dinner at Tom and Brandi Mays home. Brandi, I’m sorry we arrived 15 min early. I’m sure you were hoping for the usual Schrader 30 min delay. What can I say, you and Tom made Tina and I feel right at home. The food was great and the company even better.

  4. Got to have breakfast with two of my best friends and catch up with each other.

  5. Got to baby-sit my granddaughter for the first time. What a cutie. She is 4 months old and just about to start sitting up all by herself.

Adelaide Smiling

  1. Had dinner with my oldest son Jeremy and his wife Christina (proud parents of Adelaide).

  2. Got to go to church and show off Adelaide for the first time.

  3. Had Brunch with family at Jessi and Paul’s new apartment.

  4. Spent a few pleasant moments sharing pomegranates with Ricky, Amanda, Belle, and Ryan.

Must post now or this will wind up in the bit bucket like all the rest.

Out

Serving Proudly

October 27, 2006 at 12:49 pm | In Family | 9 Comments

JonPreditor This is Jonathan our youngest son. He is currently serving in the USAF at an undisclosed location in Iraq. He doesn’t work on the Predator (the aircraft behind him) he is a weapons mechanic on AC-130U gunships. http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/AWA1/201-300/walk208_AC-130H/part2/walk208b.htm

To say that we are proud of him would be a huge understatement. We are inordinately proud of all our kids, and you can be sure that this space will have many posts about each one. God has been very merciful to Martina and I in that our children have all turned out to be very nice human beings. I say this as a true and impartial judge of their character, motives and judgment. Not a trace of parental pride or bias here… uh uh… nope not me.

So as I said, Jon is our youngest. He was our surprise baby…thus his name, Jonathan = Gift from God. When our second child, Jessica (PhantomBlonde) was born, Martina and I figured we were done. After all, we had: a mortgage, 2 cars, 2 kids (1 Boy, 1 girl), and a color TV with remote. All we needed was a dog and we were the perfect American family! Well, we had decided that of the two operations available, mine was the less risky, so after Jessi was born I would go under the knife. God Bless the bureaucracy at Kaiser! My appointment notice for the urologist arrived the same day Martina found out she was pregnant with Jonathan! BTW, Jessica was all of 8 months old when Martina found out Jonathan was on his way. Let’s just say that the thought of being pregnant and/or nursing for 3 yrs straight did not sit well with my wife. When the second notice arrived, Martina made sure we made the appointment! But that’s a story for another post.

Jonathan has always been the charmer in the family, he is easy going and has a ready smile. Even as an infant he could charm the ladies! When he was six months old we returned to Germany for the first time. For New Year Martina dressed him in a Tux-n-Tails jumper that made him the absolute hit of the party.

JonInTux

Because he found out he could get by on charm, Jon was an indifferent student, doing just enough to get by. He is very smart, he just hadn’t found anything to exert himself over. As a parent doesn’t that just drive you nuts? When you see all the potential not being utilized don’t ya just want to scream?

Well, I think Jonathan has found his calling. Ever since joining the Air Force I have seen a side of Jonathan never displayed before. Make no mistake, the imp is still in there, showing in his smile and his eyes, but now I see something more, Pride and Dedication. He now strives for excellence in everything he does, good enough isn’t any more.

He has become a Warrior. Un-tested in combat true, but a Warrior none the less, for he is over there, in harms way, willing, if necessary to go the final mile, to give the ultimate sacrifice. I pray that it never becomes necessary. I confess, that when I think about it, it fills me with trepidation. Some would say I lack faith, I say they are full of shit! I know he is in the protective hands of a loving father, but so are all the rest who lay down their lives for the ones they love.

Please God, bring my son home safe and sound. If you think me selfish for praying only for my son when so many others are over there with him, then you don’t understand the limitless capacity of our God. There is love enough. There is strength enough. His arms are not too short to encompass all who call upon His name.

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