Culture Comparison

Sorry I haven't posted in the past month. I was at the beautiful Fort Polk for a month in Louisiana doing a training exercise (I hope you can catch the sarcasm). On the bright side, I was able to meet with my family at our tree farm, which ironically was only about an hour and 15 minutes from the base.

For the past two months, I have been doing a study on the Hebrew culture during the Biblical era. I think understanding the context in which the Hebrews wrote our Bible is vital to understanding and living out God's desires for our lives. Much of the material for the next few posts comes from Marvin Wilson's book, Our Father Abraham. The rest simply comes from observations I've made studying the Word.

The Hebrews lived a very active lifestyle. They walked everywhere they went. They worked hard at their profession 6 days a week (not just 5). They were up at sunrise and worked until sunset.  Because of this lifestyle pattern, they  were very observant and close to God's creation. They saw God's hand in creating everything and appreciated it. Check out the imagery that David uses to describe aspects of creation in Psalms 19 and 23. We on the other hand, sometimes go days without appreciating a single thing God has created. Part of the reason for this is simply because we live in urban centers that are far away from the nearest beach, or mountain slope. But another aspect of it is because we are not intentional about trying to observe what God has created. When I lived in Pensacola I would get up early every morning and run. I would try to time it so that I would catch the sunrise right when I was finishing up my run. Then, at night, I would drive to Pensacola beach and catch the sunset with a good book. It's hard to put into words how these experiences uplifted my heart and affections for God. Seeing the beauty He created draws us to worship Him! I think you will get a real sense for this when you read through the Psalms. 

Here's some things that I do to try and appreciate what God has made:

1. Run during sunrises and sunsets

2. Look up at the stars on clear nights

3. Visit the beach and mountains every opportunity I get

4. Swim in a cold glacier lake (at our lakehouse)

5. Appreciate God's work in the details. He made all the intricate colors and designs we see in nature.

6. Never pass up the opportunity to visit a National Park (Teddy would be proud)

7. Drive with the windows down on a crisp, fall day

8. Sit outside for at least 30 minutes each day (especially after a long run)

9. Travel to places I've never visited before

Why I still do class-sets

For those of you not privileged enough to be a Fightin' Texas Aggie, a class-set is the number, which corresponds with your class year, of push-ups (any physically exhausting exercise will work really) you have to do. For example, if you graduated from Texas A&M in 1963, a class set would be 63 push-ups. However, since I graduated in 2007, I have the bawlsey number of 107. You might be wondering, "When does someone have to do a class set?" And that's a good question...the answer is: whenever an upperclassman tells you. I love it (I even loved it as a fish)! Ironically, since I graduated I have continued to do class-sets when I work out. Here's why:

11. 107 of anything is challenging and makes for a great workout 

10. It makes me recall all the places on Texas A&M's campus where I was made to push, and any thought about Texas A&M brings back the fondest of memories...

9. I think about pushing through the songs at the 50 yard line on Kyle Field at the beginning of Midnight Yell and looking over and seeing my family and Aggie buddies watching and praying for me. By the way, an Aggie buddy is a lot better than a friend.

8. I think about all the ol' Ags who taught me to have pride in my class (My fathers, Marty and Mike Holmes, My grandparents the Abbotts who don't even have a class but were Parents of the Year, Cliff Dugosh, Col. Biondi, Col. Lowe, Jimmy Tyree, David Lawhorn, etc.)

7. Because it helps me think about all my Aggie upperclassmen  who talked (and sometimes yelled) at and to me for hundreds of hours as a pushed (I loved it...)(Kevin James, Will Whitehurst, Keaton Askew, Patrick Hebert probably made me push the most) - Gig'em ...My older brothers...

6. Because it brings to mind all my fish buddies, my brothers, from E-2, with whom I did thousands of class-sets (Garcia, Chapman, Geyer, Cummins, Prochaska, Howell, Irwin, Griffin, Lukefahr, Hoover, Storbeck, Richards, etc)

5. I also remember doing thousands of class-sets across from my Junior Yell Leader buddy Tyler Wellborn..."I hear that Junior Yell boys can do 12 more"

4. For my Aggie buddies who are serving our country (Ben Grimme, John Anderson, Stanton Gardenhire, Tyler Vaughn, Ryan Fuege, Paxton Miller, Joe Lukefahr, Keaton Askew, Conner Prochaska, Trey Simko, etc.)

3. In honor of all the Aggies that I know that gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country (Clay Kennedy, Kelly Castleberry, etc.) and those who have given much (Dan Moran, etc.)

2. In honor of my father, Preston Abbott, and in memory of my father, Kelly Castleberry, and my friend, David Gilbert, all of to whom I dedicated every Midnight Yell Practice and Football game.

1. It leads me back to worship God, because I have seen His hand so clearly in my life. What else can I do but thank Him and acknowledge His goodness? Every good thing is from Him (James 1:17).

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles...my journey to Japan

 If I would have known how long and arduous this trip was going to be, I think I would have tried to get more sleep the night before I left. Needless to say, it was a killer of a trip! I got to Midland International Airport at about 0730 on Saturday morning June 28. My flight left to go to Dallas at 0940 and arrived at DFW at about 1115. I then had to book it over to the next terminal to catch the 1230 flight to Tokyo. This flight was a good 13 hour flight...don't worry Mom, I got up and walked around every few hours to avoid the "blood clots." When I finally got to Narita airport in Tokyo, it was already Sunday afternoon because we had crossed the International Date Line. I think I got to Tokyo at about 1300 in the afternoon. Somehow, I figured out pretty quickly after getting through customs that my connecting flight was not in the same terminal, so I took the bus over to Terminal 2. When I went to get my boarding pass in the next terminal, I was told that the plane would not be able to carry my bags. They said that they would ship them to me about a week later, but I needed them a lot sooner than that...So I opted to take a flight out of  the neighboring Tokyo airport, Haneda. To get there I had to take a hour long bus ride through the city of Tokyo, which was pretty cool except for the fact that at this point, I could hardly keep from passing out (I couldn't sleep on my flight to Tokyo). I boarded the plane at about 1900 (7PM for you non-military folks) to go to Hiroshima. It was so cool...instead of people scanning their boarding passes, many of the passengers had the bar code that is on their "would-be boarding pass" uploaded on their cell phones...so they just held their cell phones up to the scanner and then got on the plane. Wow! 

The flight to Hiroshima was a good two hour flight. I slept the entire two hours. By the time I reached Hiroshima and had retrieved my bags, it was about 2130 Sunday night and I was completely exhausted...but my journey was far from over. I then boarded a bus and took another hour long bus ride to the Hiroshima train station. After hauling my two 50 pound suitcases up and down a myriad of long stairwells, I finally reached my train stop. After boarding the train, I managed to stay awake the 45 minutes it took to reach Iwakuni only because I was afraid of missing my stop. Upon reaching Iwakuni, I was able to take a taxi to the base. By the time I secured my room (they game me the wrong room - it turns out that the room they gave me was a shelter room used to house wives and children that have suffered domestic abuse) it was 0045 AM. I finally just crashed in my bed...

God was good. Many times I did not know where to go or who I needed to talk to, and every time that I prayed and asked Him what I needed to do, He provided guidance. It was really pretty amazing. There's no way I could have figured out all of this on my own... really cool!

PREPARING FOR MY TRAVELS

Hello Family and Friends. I hope this finds you well. I started this as an effort to keep track of my travels and experiences for your reading pleasure. In between stories, I'll throw in some thoughts and convictions about what I am learning about God and people.