Well let me say a little to what has been going on here at Chaplain School over the past week or two. The days here have been very long, still, but I think that my butt is getting molded into the shape of my seat so the days don't feel as long. I only have a week and a half left in the Basic Chaplain Course and then it is on to AMEX and being out in the field for a week with GySgt Foster (I'm really excited about it, it will help to get dirty and do stuff that will make me feel like I am in the Navy, or I guess that part is the Marine part, so it will make me feel like I am serving with the Marines.)

As I mentioned in an earlier post, it has been hard to remain strong in my devotional life, but I have confidence in my great God and He will guide me through this time. To speak on that a little more it is surprising the things that God will use to awaken your spiritual fire again. I was reading a book that I picked up at the Gospel Coalition entitled Meet The Puritans. It is made up of brief overviews of the lives of more than 100 Puritan preachers. While reading I came across the story of Henry Scougal 1650-1678. I read his famous work The Work of God in the Soul of Man about 5 years ago and it had a profound impact upon my life (by the way if you haven't read this book you need to. It is a short book that you can read in a few days, so get it and read it). Reading this little bio on Scougal let the words and impact of The Life of God in the Soul of Man come flowing back to my mind and warmed my heart towards the things of Christ. About an hour latter I got an email that said a friend had left me a video message on facebook. It was Dakota Zook, a young college student who has been called to ministry who I had the priviladge of mentoring for about 3 months before he moved to Tennessee. In his message he just said that he was thinking about me and praying for me and my family. Just a simple message that I didn't expect was very helpful to raise my spirits. May God use them to make me desire Him more.

Finally to talk about this past weekend. I had the opportunity to go to Boston over the fourth. A friend from Chaplain school, Jason Burchell, and my long time best bud Joe Gahagan came with me. We had the best time, we went to a Redsox's game, we saw the fireworks over the Charles, and we went along the Freedom Trail. It was a great time, but it was a clear example of the impact that my slumping spiritual life has upon my daily life. The things of God are not as interesting to me, wrongly so, and my speech is not uplifting and it does not have any holy value. Instead of being an presence that would point my friends towards Christ, it just felt like I was along for the ride. If I can't be someone who points people towards Christ I don't think I can be a Chaplain.
Please be praying as I learn and lean upon Christ. Also please pray for my family as we are getting a little tired of not being settled and being apart from each other.

The picture attached is Joe and I as we try to decipher the Boston subway map.

God Bless
Joshua Earls