Wednesday, March 31, 2010

What a Trip! (Part 2 of 3)

(if you missed part 1 of the trip, go here to the previous post to see how it all started)

I have been flying all night to get to Thule AFB and get to speak at the luncheon. (Every Air Force Base across the world does a Prayer Luncheon – Not the same as The National Day of Prayer here, but similar!) I spoke on how prayer can break down the toughest walls that men and women can face in their jobs – and families.

1:30PM – Get a Briefing with the Top Brass!

These are extremely busy, overworked and serious people. But they roll out the red carpet for me and I get a “briefing” – not unlike what they just did for a general who had been on base a few weeks before!

Here’s the base commander of the 821 Air Base Group, Col. Christopher Gentry, and Lt. Col Jim Hickman, his 2nd in command. While I can’t repeat all they do, in short these men and women are tasked with spotting, identifying, and assessing the threat level of anything coming over the North Pole and toward the United States and it’s Allies. In short, the 280 airmen are the very tip of the spear, looking every day, 24 hours-a-day, for anything that might need to be “knocked down” before it reaches our shores.

While their primary mission is our defense, they also do a tremendous amount with groups like NASA who do mapping and satellite tracking work from Thule. And if you’re an Arctic explorer – like many trips staged by National Geographic – you start your trek to the North Pole from Thule! Add in Danish planes flying in and joint Canadian/American air exercises – and you have just landed at the home of “multi-tasking!

Please pray for these men and women who help so many. They live in 24-hour dark for months, and then 24-hour sun for months (And “Chappy” Haltom told me that as many airmen have tremendous challenges with the sun never going down (and their brains never feeling like going to sleep) as those who only want to sleep when it’s dark 24/7!

3:00PM – I get to go to Dundas Village

The Danish Air Officer wants to take me to Dundas Village, an Eskimo (Inuit) village with huge sled dogs and a few homes. One of the last inhabited places between Thule and the North Pole.

We drive through the snow and wind. Even with four wheel drive, we only get close enough to take some long distance pictures of the village. (Visibility drops to zero several times).

I get to see an Arctic Hare! Incredible! Many people have been on base for months and haven’t seen one. They have long pencil-thin legs and fluffy white bodies – they look like a “Q-Tip” rabbit! We saw one on the way out and two on the way back! An awesome experience to get to traverse the Polar Ice Cap – even if we couldn’t see the road several times! (My pictures of the “hare” didn’t turn out. This photo courtesy of the Canadian Museum of Nature gives you an idea of what they look like.)

5:00PM Officer’s Dinner and Training

Because I’ve spoken on leadership and team-building over the years to many groups (including military groups), I was asked by the Col. Gentry, the Base commander (pictured below) to share with his top officers and enlisted men.

What an incredible honor. And before I spoke, I get to hear Col. Gentry go all the way around the table (probably 20 officers and the top enlisted men and women present) and hear him introduce his staff to me. Talk about giving the Blessing! I was blown away by the way he addressed each person on his staff. I know parents and bosses who have never verbally honored their spouse or children or co-workers as specifically, and powerfully as this outstanding leader did that night. Absolutely amazing – and I found out from “Chappy” Haltom later that it was totally unexpected (but incredibly appreciated by everyone)!

He had already heard me talk to him about “Blessing” others – and he did a great job of doing just that!

Then I shared what little wisdom I have to a very “thirsty” group. They ask questions and are hungry for anything you can share that can help them do their job even better, be a better team, and go home and be better with their families. An incredible time.

It's been a busy day, but I still have one more conference to go...more on that in my next post. Thank you for coming along on this journey. It was an honor to be there!

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

What a Trip! (Part 1 of 3)

Thank you for your prayers as I headed out for the “Top of the World! Thule Air Force Base, Greenland!

Here’s a quick, 24-hour tour of one of the great honors I’ve had, in flying and trying to be of encouragement to some of America’s finest airmen and civilian contractors!

8:00AM Phoenix, Arizona…

It started with that long flight from Phoenix, Arizona, to Baltimore, MD airport. I land at 6:00pm. I eat dinner and try to find a place to sleep because we don’t fly out to Thule until 2:00am!

2:00AM We begin our flight to Thule, Air For Base – from where we land, we will be a 25 minute flight to the North Pole!

There is one flight a week to Thule… and one flight out. I’m on the flight in (and the flight out the next morning!). I try to grab some sleep at the airport because my flight doesn’t take off until 2:00am! I was incredibly fortunate on the outbound flight to get one of the two officer's seats in the back of the passenger compartment of a converted cargo plane! We’re given blankets. We need them. It’s freezing when we get up to altitude! 'Little different than leather seats in Southwest Airlines!

10:00AM – Thule, Greenland

Eight hours later, we are landing “on the ice” in Thule, Greenland. We are 800 miles north of the Arctic Circle! The runway itself is built on the permafrost – meaning the runway (and all the buildings there) literally lie (float) on the polar ice!

We’re told over the speaker by the pilot that the winds are significant and our landing will be very challenging. Unlike many airports, there is only one runway. Meaning, you can’t “turn around” and land from another direction when there are cross-winds.

To put our landing into perspective, I am a 3 Million Miler with American Airlines - all domestic flights. Meaning I’ve been on a lot of flights over the past 30 years (and that’s just on American!). Over the years, as you might imagine, there have been times when the flights I’ve been on experienced turbulence – sometimes severe turbulence.

Without question, however, this was the most turbulent decent and most white-knuckle landing that I’ve ever been through in my life. Nothing before was even a close second! The NASA engineer seated next to me has been flying up to Thule for a decade. He says it qualified as the worst landing he’d been through! (Which was comforting as it seemed like a semi-controlled crash to me!).

The first thing I was supposed to do, as soon as we landed, was to speak at a National Prayer Luncheon. Trust me – anyone on that plane with any religious convictions was already praying when we were coming down through the gusting winds and blowing snow!!! Mt. Dundas (above) is the first thing you see as you’re landing – only we could barely see it! Right after we landed the runway was closed, and the wind and snow created a white-out!

10:15am – From Danish Customs to The Top of the World Club!

I was handed a huge parka before the door opened, staggered against the wind as we walked from the plane to the terminal, and went through Danish customs! (Having a Greenland stamp in your passport after that landing was a must!). Lots of very large Air Force security MP’s to greet us. No nonsense until you get out of security. (This is a very secure base as you might imagine with the mission they’re tasked to do). I’m taken right to the Officers Club (The Top of the World Club) where the National Prayer Day Luncheon was ready to take place.

Here are some of America’s finest Airmen (women are called Airmen too) along with some of the base civilians working at the base who were able to come.

My host throughout the trip was Captain David Haltom. Here’s Captain Haltom, below introducing me as I get ready to speak for the luncheon. What an awesome, godly, servant and all around great guy! Dave spent a year dodging IED’s in Iraq as he ministered to the troops there, then was told that he had been selected to go to Greenland. His first child (a precious daughter) was born while he was in Iraq.

He has seen her all of two weeks between deployments before going Greenland. Greenland is considered a combat post, meaning no wives or children – except for one week during your year long deployment. During his wife’s one-week trip, they got pregnant with their second child! (A tremendous answer to prayer for them). They are having a boy, who is due to join the family two weeks after Dave gets home from Greenland! (Pray the baby doesn’t come early! He really wants to be there for this birth!). THINK ABOUT THE SACRIFICE THIS FAMILY HAS MADE. He’s been gone a year to Iraq, gets a few weeks home, then on to Greenland. That’s basically two years apart form your family.

Two great things about being asked to serve in Greenland. First, you’re considered one of the “best of the best” if you get to go to Thule. That’s because the mission is so important, and the base is so small, you have to be great at what you’re doing. Most positions at Thule are “one deep,” meaning, you have to be able to jump right in and do the same job that several people are tasked with doing at a normal base (no back-up person). Dave is a licensed professional counselor, and a pastor to the 280 airmen on the base! He works seven days a week, and loves, encourages and blesses the officers and Airmen. What a guy!

The second great thing about getting to serve at Thule is that – In most cases (not all but 95%) you get your pick of your next posting! So David and his wife are going to an air base in Hawaii after the birth of their second child!

Here’s a picture of what you get to see for a year when you live and serve on Thule! It went down to 8 below with 40 mph winds while I was there – but warmed up to 20 above one afternoon! (And remember, I’m there at a good time of year!).

That's it for today's post. Come back tomorrow to hear about the rest of the adventure...

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

I'm on my way to Greenland!

I'm excited to report that by the time you see this, I'll be on my way to Thule Air Force Base in Greenland where I'll have the privilege of speaking at their National Day of Prayer Luncheon and working with their officers on team building on Thursday.

It will be a quick, but arduous trip, but I'm always honored to work with our military personnel who have sacrificed so much on our behalf.

Please keep us in your prayers.

You can click here to see the weather forecast. It's going to be chilly, to say the least! I definitely won't be in Phoenix anymore.

Here's the poster that they're using to promote my visit.

What an honor to serve them!

Check back soon for more updates and photos from the trip.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Being a Father Deemed Men's Most Important Job!

Here's some encouraging news!

If you think that dads get a bad rap in movies and television - you're right! Fathers are pictured as lame at best by the media and Hollywood - but that's not true in real life!

In a recent Rassmussen Report, 72% of non-married adults and adults without children agreed with this statement:

"The most important role a man can fulfill today is being a father!"

Is that cool or what! In short, three-out-of-four American adults feel that being a dad is a man's greatest calling!

To further that point, A father's influence upon a child's academic success later in life is felt the most when he's involved from the very beginning, according to a new study in the Journal of Educational Psychology.

Brent McBride, a professor of human development at University of Illinois says that if fathers establish early on that they're going to actively engage in the parenting process they're much more likely to continue that engagement (often with positive results) as they grow older.

"We need to help fathers realize that what they do is really important. If we wait and only get fathers involved when kids are having problems in school, that's too late."

"We need to look at the bigger picture, because these analysis all point to the same conclusion: that men and women each contribute uniquely to child outcomes," he said.

That's why it's so important that we help men discover what fatherhood really means and give them a model toward healthy and positive relationships with their child."

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Pass on "The Blessing" this Easter

Here's a fun idea for passing on the "blessing" to your child or loved one this Easter.

Put a “Blessing Coin” in their Easter Basket!

It’s always great to fill your child’s Easter Basket with chocolate, or colored hard boiled eggs – but this year, how about adding something that can warm their hearts as well as satisfy their sweet tooth?

Children, of any age, long for their parents' “Blessing.” No matter your age, the approval of your parents affects how you view yourself and your ability to pass that approval along to your children, spouse and friends. If you’ve got a child – or other loved one in your home – The Blessing Coin (about the size of a half dollar) is a great way to give them your “Blessing,” along with something sweet!

On the back of the Blessing Coin are the five elements of the Blessing that each of us needs from those who care about us. Those five things are as old as the Old Testament, and as new as the most current research into what makes a strong family! And when you give your child a coin, make sure that you give them your “Blessing” at the same time. Your “Blessing” gives your child an empowering sense that you love, accept, and value them.

What are those “five” elements of the Blessing? They spell out, B.L.E.S.S. – on the back of your coin…(you can click on the photo to enlarge and see the details)
  • Be committed
  • Lovingly touch
  • Express high value
  • See potential
  • Say it
Here’s an example of how to “Bless” your child when you give them their coin, putting all five elements of the Blessing into practice at the same time!

First, give your child their Easter Basket and ask them to look for a favorite chocolate (or favorite candy if they’re one of the few kids on the planet that don’t like chocolate!). While they’re munching, ask them to look for something else that’s really valuable that you want to show them, that you’ve put in their basket… their Blessing Coin that you (or you and your spouse) want to give them.

When they find the coin, explain to them why this is such a valuable coin, and what it represents from you. Here’s the kind of thing you can say (modified to fit your child of course).

“Sweetheart (or “Son” or put in their name), as I hold your hand and as I put this coin in your hand, I want you to know how much I love you, and how committed I am to being there for you all my life. I want you to know, right now, that if I could pick any child on the whole planet to love and bless – I’d choose you. I believe you are a gift of God to me, and I know that in the future, God has built so many great things into your life and heart, that you’re going to do great things to help others, and to be a Blessing one day to your own family. So thank you for being an incredible kid, and I want you to keep this coin so that you can always remember that no matter what, you have my “Blessing.”

In that short paragraph, are all five elements of the Blessing! There’s...
  • Be Committed” - words shared that highlight your commitment to love him or her, and to be there for them all of their life
  • Loving Touch” as you hold their hand and give them their coin
  • Expressing Value, high value - as you let them know that out of all the kids in the world, you’re grateful God gave them to you
  • You've “Seen potential” in them for a great future, and that their strengths and gifts are things God can use in the future to help their own family and others
  • and you’ve “Said it!” verbally! It’s so important to verbally “say” a Blessing – not just to assume that your child “knows” you love them! (I’ve had people in the counseling office who are in their seventies and still long and wish that – even once – they would have “heard verbally” their parent’s Blessing on their life!)
Obviously, if your child is a three year old, they may not understand all you’re saying – but give them your “Blessing” anyway. And if they’re five years old or older, they’ll “get it.” And don’t be surprised if that simple coin becomes a special symbol of that time that Mom and/or Dad, “Gave me their Blessing.”

Lord bless you and your family as you pass on the Blessing!

Need more help in understanding how the “Blessing” can be a life-changing and transforming gift for your child or others? (Your child of any age, by the way!) Then visit our website (www.StrongFamilies.com). You’ll find a book called, The Blessing, as well as encouragement to live out “The Blessing” in marriages and families, through your church, and as a key to doing “faith@home”.

You can also visit the online store to find "Bedtime Blessings" Volume 1 and 2 - books that you can tuck into your child's Easter basket and read to them throughout the year. What an awesome way to leave a legacy of love to those that God has entrusted to your care!

And let us know what happens. We'd love to hear your stories about the impact that this small, but meaningful gesture has on your children and loved ones. Keep us "posted".

Have a joyous Easter!