Military Life - Part 2 : TDY (Blurb)

 

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As a way to help promote support to my goal for my birthday month, giving at least $3,000 to Child Evangelism Fellowship Military Ministries, I have decided to write my blurbs from when I lived on base.  Enjoy and consider donating to the cause! (Click to Read More About This)

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TDY : Temporary Duty 

I remember one of my teachers when I went to school on Maxwell AFB used to say it meant, Too Many Days, Yuck.  She obviously added the "M" , and maybe that is why I enjoyed math more in my later years... 

Dad had to leave ever so often, and we were understanding of it, but one time it did not feel temporary. My dad was given a choice: Move your family to Iceland for four years or travel there alone for one year. I remember this being a big thing for a long while in our home.  We could do one or the other.  

I always knew we were staying, from the moment it came up.  I knew it, because it scared me to death to think of being anywhere but where I felt like was home.  We were an unnatural military family.  Our only big moves were from Montana to Alabama.  We moved around Alabama a bit but never really left the city. 

We stayed ... dad left. 

It looked like forever - It felt long. 

In a way it was exciting ... in others it was scary. 

While dad was gone, I would be the man of the house.  Honestly, I do not exactly remember getting the heart to heart speech, but ... it may have happened.  

We stayed in contact through the mail system.  There was no ready and available Internet those days... so.. very ... long ... ago .. in ... a galaxy.. oh.. sorry.. slipped into Lucas there.. We had no Internet or cell phones, so contact was seldom and VERY special!

One of the best was tapes.  We would record ourselves telling him we loved him and missed him, and he would send others ... or maybe the same back of where he was and his love for us.  Each of these was a joy to receive.  

It was not even a year he was gone, complications actually brought him home early, but still it gave us/me an interesting take on possibly understanding what it may feel like to be without a father.

It is wholly and wonderfully good we have a Father in heaven who will NEVER leave us or forsake us.  It is an assurance within me which will always be an encouragement to continue on. 

Just as each correspondence with my father during TDY was a joy, each time I get a chance to learn about God ... To read His word ... discuss Him with others ... focus on Him ... is a joy - and something I never want to take for granted. 

At any time there is a possibility a family is without a father or mother actively with them.  The programs created by the Child Evangelism Fellow Military Ministry community can if a little fill in those gaps, but ultimately introduce them to Father God who will never forsake or leave. 

Please consider helping me reach my birthday goal in giving this ministry $3000!

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