Been on a mission trip lately?

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Nah, me neither.

But I am preparing for one this Winter. And on Friday I shipped off the assorted stuff that two of us put together to support a school in Belize that we’d visited this past winter on our trip.

I think that we sometimes go on a mission and then put it in the drawer with the photos we took. It was a great memory, but on to the next item. My friend Mark (Marcos the Cabana Boy as he’s known in Belize) and I had worked with The Cayo Christian Academy when we were in Belize. The trip was very special in that we worked with Senor Moralez in the computer room and did some work on his systems. We were hampered by the lack of tools that we had back in the states. Being good little techies we made a list of all the goodies we needed to make his students more productive.

As we strolled out of the door, and probably out of his life forever, we promised to round up the supplies and ship them back to Belize. Mark and I got together for lunch and purchased most of the list in the middle of the summer. It was the sort of items you need to network, expand memory on the computers, and do the maintenance that you usually ignore until it costs you a computer. It was all stuff he couldn’t get in Belize, or if it was available it was extremely expensive. I got the rest of it (after several email exchanges with Senor Moralez) and put it all on the shelves in my basement.

After missing the emails from the school’s principal on how to ship things to her I finally remembered that I was awaiting instructions (some days I drool more than others.) I emailed again, found out I’d blown the dates she’d sent and proceeded to pout. Until I read the next paragraph of the email. New dates!

Within 18 hours I’d packed the stuff and shipped it off. It should be in the hands of her stateside contact this week. And, God willing, in the hands of the computer students shortly after that delivery.

What’s the point I’m making? If you do a mission trip, consider making a long-term commitment to the people you work with locally. It’s great to go and speak to people, do a project of some kind, help take care of the sick, and countless other things they don’t always have hands to do in the organizations you deal with. But if you take the time to really find out how to help them grow, how to help them deal with things themselves, how to strengthen them, you will make a much bigger difference.

I’m reading a book right now called When Helping Hurts. I’m not done with it, but they have some excellent points. The biggest one is that we tend, in the West, to focus on material things. But poverty is more spiritual and emotional than material. The biggest part of it, from what I have read and experienced in my own life, is the feeling of powerlessness. It goes back to the whole idea of “If you give a man a fish he’s fed for one day. If you teach him to fish he has a way of life.” You give them the skills to make things go after you leave.

To use a word I hate, you “empower” them with your thoughtful actions. Money can fix most things except poverty. That’s why so many missions (and government welfare is just another misguided mission) fail so miserably. We throw things at the problem, not seek solutions. I think Mark and I have managed to avoid that in our actions. We could have just bought new computers, or sponsored a student for a year. Both would have been cool. But we worked with the man on the spot and found out what he needed to take charge of the environment and empower his students. He just wanted enough technology to do the work himself. That leaves a nice glow in my heart.

My shelves are empty of computer parts. It’s up to Mr. Moralez to do the work and grow his computer lab. He’s got a great start (smart guy with some pretty good basic computers) and just needed a little boost to take it to that next level.

Someday I’ll find out if what we did was the right thing. I want to go back to Belize and continue the work down there that we started last year. I have genuine affection for many of the people we met and want to be a part of their lives. They certainly are a wonderful part of mine.

Clive and Isaac, this means you!

The question for the day is: Where’s your mission trip? Is it in your neighborhood being an Ambassador of Christ to the elderly in the assisted living center? Are you planning on doing a trip to Mexico or Guatemala? And if you don’t have a mission on the books, why not? It’s part of the Christian package that I neglected for far too long. I want you to think about making yours a reality. So, jot down some ideas and pray over them today. Please?

They’re threatening to take away my blogging license.

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I just got a message from the blogging authorities that my license is in jeopardy unless I get more subscribers. I’m not above blegging (blog-begging) for help here. So, please be so kind as to subscribe. It’s the box on the right just below the pretty picture I use as my header on the blog. And then post a link to this blog on your facebook page. Following that, hit all the like buttons and retweet the stuff you’ve read here this week. When you’ve done that, head on to the right side below the subscribe box and “like” my author’s page on facebook (can’t miss the widget, it’s got my mug on it.)

I’m working on adding content every day. That is not a chore to me, but a pleasant task. Time consuming but fun. My request is that you continue to visit (or, better yet subscribe) and pass it along to your friends and family. In the past week I’ve covered enough different topics to engage all sorts of interest groups.

Yet there is one group I’ve neglected to reach out to this past week – knitters. So, here’s a video of speed knitting in the hope that there’s one great group out there that can push me over the top to 10,000 views a month.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjEh7acrr5o

And if you don’t get a groove on for speed knitting, how about this –

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfkb4zeuTkc

See, I told you I’m shameless.

I solemnly promise…

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Not carried by actual members of the armed forces.

I solemnly promise not to be a horrible hack writer. I may not be great, but I do promise not to do any of the following:

Have everyone on a Navy S.E.A.L. team armed with .32 Walther Pistols (or, BB guns cause they’re so quiet.)
Pretend to know anything that I haven’t researched or tried on my own.

Have characters recover from a “flesh wound” and bounce right back into the fight. Flesh wounds are bullets going something other than bone. People die from some of them. Getting shot in the gut is a flesh wound. I’ll try to be specific about the wound if people are going to bounce right back.(Goes double for concussions.)

Do teeth-grindingly-stupid things that only the suicidal would do – and make it out of that jam every time.

Have my characters insult the intelligence of the reader.

Defy the laws of physics unless Divine intervention is part of the plot.

Why do I promise these things? Because as a part of my journey as a writer I picked up some “best-selling” Christian fiction that I’d seen advertised. I won’t name the authors involved but the books were really badly done. And that’s a shame because most of the Christian fiction I’ve read is wonderful (see my review of Karl Bacon’s latest book as an example.)

Well, you might say, what have you gotten published? Nothing yet. But if I wrote dreck like the stuff I’ve been reading I’d never expect to get published. Bad fiction is bad fiction. I’d truly prefer to never be published than to have the readers say, “Man… has this guy ever even seen a tank/rpg/squad car/aircraft carrier/fighter jet/candy store, etc.”

And thus I promise to do my homework. Doesn’t mean I’ll never stretch the limits of credibility. Doesn’t mean that I won’t just plain screw up some details on purpose so that readers cannot build weapons that actually work, or disclose police procedural stuff that could get cops killed. I won’t do that. That’s part of the fun of writing fiction. But you have to try to make it work. Change details of places/people/things but stay close enough to the truth that readers can suspend disbelief and enjoy the work. I know, great and sage words from an unpublished wannabe.

But in the great scheme of things, wouldn’t you rather that I get it right or not do it at all? That’s how I feel.

Semi-annual post for people I love. Suicide prevention for military and vets.

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I posted on this topic about a year ago but I had a much smaller audience at that time. I’m updating the post and adding some new material. But the message is the same – suicide can be prevented!

This post occured to me the other day while I was watching Sons of Guns on television. The show is interesting if you’re a shooter or vet. This episode featured the greatest sniper in U.S. history, Chris Kyle, and a rifle he was having customized for his foundation FITCO. He worked with the team at Red Jacket, in particular Glenn “Flem” Fleming, one of the gunsmiths. Flem (as he’s known on the show) is an Air Force vet who said he had to leave active duty due to P.T.S.D. and T.B.I. (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury.)

I watched the episode with great interest. Chris was my hero the minute I found out he’d punched Jesse Ventura in the mouth. Props attached right from that moment. Jesse was out-gassing about S.E.A.L. team members dying in the sandbox and how they “deserved it.” Chris took exception and calibrated Jesse. Don’t get me wrong – Jesse could whup me any day of the week. But wrong is wrong and I admired Chris’ style.

There was a poignant moment when Chris and Flem were talking about all the feelings that you experience when you leave the service. Watch the episode for the full impact. The thoughts they expressed were the same ones I’ve heard hundreds of vets talk about over the years. I’ve had them run through my mind as well. Both men talked about the depression and isolation that comes from leaving your friends in harm’s way. Even if you’re not in combat you leave behind friends who are truly your brothers and sisters. It’s lonely in “the world” no matter how good your support system is compared to everyone else. It’s a very dramatic change. Even if you’re in a unit like S.E.A.L. teams (or my little band of misfits – the former Naval Security Group) where there’s a lot of lattitude, it’s still the military. Civilian life is so alien that it’s as close as you can get to being sprung from prison after doing a five, ten, or thirty year stretch. (No, the military is not populated with criminals and it is not prison – but the institutionalization is similar. Besides, we used to joke that the difference between being on a ship/sub and being in prison was that prisoners got cable t.v. and fresh produce.)

I could have been standing there with them. And right now you might be standing next to someone with the same feelings. If you know anyone who’s been in the military in the last few years, or even longer in some cases, you probably recognize some of those thoughts and ideas from talking to them. And here’s a few more things they might be going through – substance abuse, suicidal thoughts, extreme anger or sadness, lonliness, and a sense of loss that’s so overwhelming that it physically hurts.

How do most vets deal with it? For many of us that are blessed we can get past it and move onward. We just shrug it off and try to keep the brooding from coming too close to the surface. Sometimes we dont’ do a very good job. We find ourselves all choked up and crying in the shower when we hear “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” on the radio. We know that feeling the song conveys. Sometimes we just smile over absent comrades. And sometimes, when the darkness closes in, we kill ourselves. And recently it’s been in larger numbers than ever before.

There’s a thing called “The Spartan Pledge” that I’m endorsing as of this moment. The video is below. Watch it and then continue reading for more information.

(link to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nslIi09gCLQ )

But, you might wonder, you just said you brush on past it. Most do. Some don’t. The thing is you can’t tell by looking at somebody if they’re feeling so low that suicide is an option for them. But you might suspect. You will probably hesitate to bring it up. Even if you’re the closest friend they have and you’ve know them for years. Or served in the same unit. Especially men. We hate that touchy-feely stuff.

So what do you do? First, if you are feeling suicidal quit reading my nonsense and pick up the phone to a suicide hot-line. 1-800-273-8255. You are precious and irreplaceable and … well, suicide truly has never made anything better for anyone.

For those of you who know someone who has been acting out of sorts lately, depressed, distant, dark and moody, etc., find out why. You might really annoy them by asking, but if they kill themselves you will never have the chance to ask or annoy them again. Is your dignity worth more than their life?

You are probably wondering why this is on my mind? Too many people I know have taken their own lives. Too many people I know are in the process of taking their lives and I’m not yet aware of their plight. I wish I was. I’d drop to my knees and start praying for each of them right now. I’d beg them to get help.

Suicide is preventable. It is only a fatal issue if nothing is done to prevent it.

So, pay attention to those around you and make sure that the troubled ones get some help. Sometimes just your asking how they are and probing a bit can bring the darkness to the surface and allow you to help the person. Knock on their door and drag them out to breakfast. Make them be a part of life before death claims them.

If you are in need of help, get it right now. My friends know they can call me for that help. You have a friend that will do that for you. The people at the hotlines are there because they love you and want to help. They don’t need to know you to love you. Call 1-800-273-8255 and talk to someone today.

And, for those whom we’ve lost to suicide, our memories are tinged and darkened. We all wish we’d known so that we could have helped. But since there are no time machines available, go and help those in need today.

Finally, and perhaps the second most important point of this post: Mental Illness is not contagious. Reach out today. You don’t have to be a veteran to help a veteran. You just have to have the love in your heart to extend that hand. Most vets do fine. But there’s no shame in saying that it’s rough “on the outside” and getting help.

Something lite for breakfast

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This post is to give a little levity to the day before the post around noon hits. Noon’s post is heavy and it should be passed along to anyone you know that might be described in it. But in the meantime here’s part of my favorite obsession – off the wall music. I present to you: Nicki Bluhm & The Gramblers!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qagfnqQNkeo&feature=relmfu