My Angel

'The future is here. It's just not widely distributed yet.' William Gibson


After graduating from high school I enlisted in the United States Air Force. Now that I look back on it I’m not quite sure what made me do it. I’m sure it probably had something to do with a girl. Most things at that age do. Never the less I can remember the day I met the bus to travel to Indianapolis to begin my in processing. I remember my father shaking my hand and telling me, “It’s time to become a man”. So on a hot day in September day in 1986 I stepped on that bus in Marion, IN and became a man, or so I thought.

It has always amazed me how God can use the really dumb parts of your life for His glory. I didn’t have the faintest idea what God had planned for me, probably, because as that time I didn’t know God. But he knew me and He had a plan I just didn’t know it at the time. As I look back in my past I have found that that is the way God likes to work on me. He seems to have these plans, great plans, but He just doesn’t let me know all the details until I’m ready for them. God works that way you know? He takes people and He puts them in certain circumstances and situations so that the outcome brings Him glory. I can’t say I have always been a big fan of that plan but, He’s the boss.

Two years into my six year enlistment in the USAF God began a plan that would take me 20 years to come to terms with, that’s to say if I even have yet. Two years into my enlistment God placed me in the path of an angel. I don’t mean to say a real angel; however I will talk about that later in my journey. Who I am referring to is my Christine. I have read many books where the author states their undying love for their spouse and I believe them. Yet, when I say I met an angel I mean it. Throughout our marriage, especially in the last six years Christine has been beside me through everything. 
Christine and I were married on August 12, 1986 in a small Presbyterian church in La Junta, CO. That day is not only our anniversary but Christine’s birthday as well. That’s right, I married her on her birthday and not just any birthday, it was her 21st birthday. I often tease her in telling people that I wanted to make sure she was legal. She hates it when I say that! Yet, as of that date she had no idea where God was going to take us or leave us.

The military is a wonderful institution. I am reminded of the Irving Berlin classic “White Christmas” starring Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye. My wife and I watch it each Christmas. There is a song in which Bing and Danny sing with Rosemary Clooney and Vera Ellen. The name of the song was "Gee, I Wish I Was Back in the Army" and It described the military perfectly. My first assignment was to the North American Aerospace Defense complex or NORAD for short. For those who might not know what NORAD is or where it is let me explain. NORAD is a big giant place to work inside a mountain. Let me be clear, the building is inside the mountain. For 18 months I went to work in a cave. I probably wouldn’t have very fond memories of Colorado Springs, CO or NORAD if it weren’t for the fact that I worked with a guy who had a cousin that I just had to meet. I’m sure that you got to this point before I did but , yes, I met the love of my life while I was working in a cave.

Christine didn’t work in the cave with me. Oh no, she was a college girl. What she was doing getting mixed up with a military guy like me only God knows, and He did. Eight months after Christine and I were married the Air Force decided to re-assign me to a base in Alaska. After working in a cave for almost two years it might seem that any assignment might be better than the one I had, it wasn’t. Not only was I sent to Alaska, I was sent to a base named Galena. Galena was an intercept base meaning that as the Russians would send their bombers into the air space of the United States the Air Force would send it’s fighter planes up to intercept them. Those planes had to be relatively close to the Russian border and they were. Galena sits about 100 miles south of the Arctic circle. For those who aren’t up on their geography I’ll explain. Basically I was sent to a base on the top of the world. To make matters worse my wife couldn’t come with me. It’s what is called a remote assignment. So there I was, married for only ten months and I was being told I had to leave my wife in Colorado and move to Alaska for a year. Needless to say I was upset. I was mad at the Air Force for doing that to me. I was mad at myself for joining an institution that would do this to me and I was mad at a God that I didn’t even believe. In general I was mad at everything and everyone. Little did I know that, once again, that God had a plan and this one would change my life forever. God had someone to introduce me to and, for reasons only known to Him, it had to be in Galena, AK. So, I set off to spend a year away from my wife in a place that, in the summer, never got dark and, in the winter, never got bright. Yet, someone was waiting for me there and I never even knew it.