God Watched Over the Ship During the Typhoon

When I was 8 years old I gave my life to the Lord and became a Christian. Then back in 1975 I joined the U.S. Navy and upon completion of boot camp I was sent to a school to learn the job that I was going to be doing while I was in the Navy. My job in the Navy was to keep track of all of the paperwork on all of the maintenance of a squadron of Navy airplanes. Upon completion of my school I received a set of orders to a sea going squadron that was already on deployment to the Western Pacific onboard the USS Oriskany. The Uss Oriskany was a left over aircraft carrier from the second world war. This was my first deployment in the Navy so I had to fly 18 hours from the United States to the Phillipine Islands to catch up to the ship. When I caught up to the ship it was tied up to the pier at the Naval Base Subic Bay shipyard. That was January 4, 1976 and the next day the ship set sail for Hong Kong along with a bunch of other ships. We had been at sea for a couple of weeks when we came across a typhoon. The USS Oriskany was the biggest ship out of all of the bunch of ships in our task force. As we came close to the typhoon we onboard the Oriskany could see all of the other ships in our task force get bounced around by all of the big waves. We onboard the aircraft carrier could barely feel the ship rock from the big waves. Apparently all of the other ships in our task force decided to turn around and go back to the Phillipine Islands. The Comanding Officer of the Oriskany decided to keep going on to Hong Kong. The Captain tried to go around the typhoon but, every time he tried to go around the typhoon it moved right in front of the ship. All of the squadrons onboard the Oriskany tied down every airplane in the Hanger Bay and on the Flight Deck with 25 tie down chains on each aircraft. Also on the Flight Deck all of the canopies were closed and the intakes on the jets were covered to prevent water from getting in and damaging the aircraft. Then all of the hatches going outside were closed and locked. Then announcements were made that nobody was allowed outside the ship because they could be blown over the side of the ship and into the sea. I worked just behind the ready room for the squadron. Then one day somebody came into the ready room and wanted to see what was going on outside. They turned on the closed circuit TV set and tuned it into the channel for viewing what was going on outside. In the super structure on the flight deck there was a camera that was mounted and locked pointing towards the bow of the ship. We could see on the TV set the bow of the ship point to the sky and then see the bow of the ship point down and have waves crash on to the flight deck. The distance from the flight deck to the water is 90 feet. We figured that the waves had to be over 100 feet tall because they were crashing onto the flight deck. We remained in the typhoon for 7 days and during those 7 days the ship did alot of heavy rocking. After we had completed those 7 days the Captain decided to go back to the Phillipine Islands. When we got back to the Phillipine Islands the ship remained there for 2 weeks to repair the ship and then went back to the United States. This was my introduction to being at sea and God watched over the ship during the typhoon.

I Want to Sow a Seed Into Your Life

I lost my car last October due to an accident. I had blessed my nephew with my truck because he needed transportation. Last Sunday I was surprised someone came by said “I heard you need a car I want to sow a seed into your life.” I can't stop thanking God for them. God bless him a hundred times!!!

She Was Excited to Hear of a Church That Would Welcome Her

Thursday: after worship practice, I took my daughter to HEB. In preparation for Passover, we were searching for Matzah- a lady noticed our search and offered to help. The Matzah was found quickly, but the lady lingered to talk for a long while. We were able to minister to her & invite her to church. She had experienced hurt in the Lutheran church and was excited to hear of a church that would welcome her. Friday: after RESTORE we were home, resting before bed and heard a commotion outside- honking and a screech. We went out to the front yard to investigate and found a pickup parked with flashers on in the middle of a busy intersection. Joey went over to see what was wrong and a guy jumped out and walked away - refusing the offer for prayer - and insisting he needed to go for a walk. A woman remained in the truck and joey asked her to move to a safer parking spot. She complied and joey called me over to talk with her. She welcomed our encouraging words, prayer & an offer invitation to church. Saturday morning: we were at a gas station and I went inside to pay - a guy came in and said a woman was ‘passed out’ in her car. I knew I needed to help her. I went to her car and woke her up. She was simply sleeping- exhausted from night school. I offered to buy her a coffee and she immediately became open to encouragement, prayer and an invitation to church.

My Student Loans Have Been Forgiven

I just received my notice that my student loans have been forgiven: $59,109.81. I had been told of a program that forgives student loans of certain types of employees engaged in public service. I applied before and they said I did not qualify but would have to consolidate my loans with them and start all over again to qualify. They wouldn't consider my past payments made. Well I started confessing that that God was changing this rule to my benefit. Fast forward 2 years. HE did it! The change I needed was signed on 10/06/2021. The very change I needed was made to this program so I could get credit for all the payments I had made previously. TODAY I got my letter that they are gone. $0

He Always Takes Care of His Children

I have been working on my bachelors degree for 5 years now. I have worked and attended school for the past years and my parents have helped out in multiple ways. Each year I have stressed about how I am going to pay for school or housing. I am always reminded by God and family that the Lord's got me. He always takes care of His children. This May, I am graduating debt free! I did not have to take one single loan. I also found out that I was accepted into the College of Veterinary Medicine at Oklahoma State. I was accepted on my very first time applying, Praise God! I am believing for an ever bigger miracle of vet school being completely paid off as well!