These are pictures from graduation.

One is of Annie and Bella and I. One is of me during a prayer in the ceremony. One is of Annie's parents and Annie, Bella, and I. Finally one is of my family with Annie, Bella, and I.

Its over!!! or Has it just begun?

Well it is Thursday Aug, 13th which means that I have graduated from the Chaplain School (and it means that it is Joe Gahagan's Bday, so happy birthday Joe). The ceremony was yesterday in the basement of the Chaplain School and overall it was very nice. My family and Annie's parents came to Newport on Sunday night and spent a few nights hanging out before the big day. It was good to have everyone there and for them to see what I had been doing for the past 12 weeks.
When we were driving away from Newport I kinda had that feeling everyone has when they are leaving highschool. The only thing you are thinking about at first is get me the crap out of here and you do everything you can to leave as fast as you can. But as you set out you realize that you really enjoyed your time there and that you will miss not being around the people you got to know. And finally it hits you that "Oh NO! this means that I now have to actually get out there and do what I have been training to do." This is where I presently find myself. I am scared to death to get to Norfolk, report aboard, get to my first courtesy call with an O-6 (Captain), and then finally do ministry aboard a ship, but at the same time it is all that my heart desires. It is a beautifully terrifying feeling.

My prayer will be Psalm 46

God Is Our Fortress

1God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
2Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
3though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling.
Selah
4There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
5God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
God will help her when morning dawns.
6The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
7The LORD of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Selah

8Come, behold the works of the LORD,
how he has brought desolations on the earth.
9He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the chariots with fire.
10"Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!"
11The LORD of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Selah

May we all be still and know that HE is GOD!

God Bless to you all
Joshua Earls

The End of the Universe

I don't know if you have heard of the comedian Lewis Black. If you have more than likely you have heard his bit on finding the end of the universe in Houston TX. There Black found a Starbucks across the street from another Starbucks. While the bit is very funny I must disagree with Black and state that this past week at chaplain school I truly found the End of the Universe.
This past week we had some heavy classroom training. One of the subjects was on Combat Operational Stress Control and you can imagine the weight that comes with discussing such a topic, but the thing that brought to my attention that I was nearing the end of the universe was the way in which the class was presented to us.
You might think that we would have an actual teacher, or chaplain, or some kind of subject expert to teach us, but NO. We instead watched a powerpoint presentation of a previous class being taught by the subject experts. The thing that put this whole experiences clearly in line with the end of the universe was that the powerpoint we were watching ended up being focused most of the time on the powerpoint that the subject expert was using to teach. After a few hours of this the I finally realized that I had come to the end of the universe. WE WERE WATCHING A POWERPOINT PRESENTATION OF A POWERPOINT PRESENTATION!!!!

God Bless
Joshua Earls