Well before I knew it I had not posted for 5 months! But what a hectic and crazy 5 months it has been! I will fill you in on whats been happening and hopefully you will forgive me for my lack of posts.
Life has been crazily busy, at the end of June I had my weekend assessment conference at William Booth College in London. It was a very busy weekend and had lots of different styles of interviews and tests. I passed and was recommended to start training for officership.
I left the Royal Navy after 15 years. This was quite sad, as the job had been my life for so many years. However I knew that it was the right time for me to leave so it was not too painful.
I then moved to London where my Fiancee was posted to take over a Salvation Army Corps in South East London. This has been really interesting as London is the exact opposite to my native Cornwall! But I am sure there will be plenty of time to reflect on these differences through this blog at a later date.
Then on the 2nd August I married Clare. It was a truly amazing day, where everything was perfect. It really was a great celebration with family and friends.
I could not resist adding a photo. I officially left the Navy the day before the wedding, so I thought I could still wear my uniform. Plus I also thought the start of my new life would be a great time to wear my uniform for the very last time and mark the end of my life as a sailor.
My wife and I then disappeared off on honeymoon for a week to Disneyland Paris, which was a great fun filled week.
I then had a few weeks to sort out our house together before I started at William Booth College where I started on the 8th of September as a member of the Messengers of Light session.
The Territorial Commander and my fellow Messengers at our welcome meeting.
Already I have found College a challenge. In fact the past few weeks since I started have been some of the toughest in my life. To the point where last week I could have almost given up. It was all very strange and I can't really explain why I was so fed up and ready to leave College. I think it was all just a massive change and the massive change of routine (remember how much I love routine!) just got to me and started to get me down.
However this week has been totally different and I have really tried to embrace college and all I can learn. This is one of the reasons I have re started this blog. We are being taught so much at College and it is not all black and white. It may surprise some people, but we are not actually taught what we should believe. We are taught, encouraged and guided to come to our own thoughts and conclusions.
Now I am no theologian (well I guess I am now as was pointed out to my class the other day!). I often struggle to formulate in my head exactly what I think and believe. I am an aircraft engineer remember and work in facts, voltages and radio waves.
So I plan to write out some of my thoughts and ideas as I go through College in an attempt to reflect, process and work things out. Hopefully some of these thoughts might be interesting or useful to people reading this blog. Some people might totally disagree and I don't mind that. In fact I encourage that if I say or write something you don't agree with then comment and let me know. It will all be useful and helpful in aiding my growing theology and personal development.
That is why I have started blogging again. I did toy with the idea of changing the blog name, or starting a new one. However I came to the conclusion that I have been a Sailor for so many years, it is not just as simple as turning the Sailor off and turning the Salvation Army Officer on. If only there was such a switch!
Many of you read with interest as I put into words my thoughts as a Sailor and a Salvationist. Hopefully now you will be just as interested in the thoughts (no matter how random and sometimes unformed) Of a sailor in transformation.
Steve
