In just the last two months, I’ve already visited some very interesting and unforgettable
places. I can’t share very many pictures yet, due to the slow internet connection out here. 
What I can share is this:

…And this:

It’s been an interesting journey so far. Can’t wait to see what the next five months will bring.

First off, thanks again to everyone who has sent me items and goodies from home. I can’t
tell you how helpful it’s been to receive so much valuable stuff from people who care. Caffeine and breakfast foods are among my most treasured possessions out here, since 
the mornings are usually a bit of a rush. One other thing which has been very meaningful 
is the devotional book I received from some good friends at 4th Presbyterian. It's because
of that last gift that I want to write to you again.

My devotional this morning covered Matthew 10:16-31, and it reminded me of just how 
far people around the world are willing to go to maintain their witness for Jesus, even 
unto the point of death. Just a cursory glance through the news will tell you that the world 
at large is still a very unsafe place for people who believe in Jesus. Yet many believers 
in the third world still believe to the point that they’re willing to suffer physically for 
their faith. In the places of the world where Christianity is still spreading, the Enemy 
is forced to take drastic and violent actions to silence the children of God. (Check out 
www.persecution.org for more info.)

Sadly in the Western world, where the church enjoys the most safety, there is no need for 
such things. In the first world, the Devil has no need to oppress God’s people when he 
can simply bide his time while the church descends into irrelevance. I know many people 
back home are still living out their faith in a vibrant, biblically sound way, but for every 
one of those good people, there are a dozen more who live as if God were little more than 
a hood ornament on a car; a token belief amid a sea of hypocritical action. Their outward 
piety belies the true depths of their self-righteousness and deceit.

I refer not to backsliding Christians, of course, but rather more to those who make the 
Gospel their living. I cannot count the number of “professional Christians” I’ve met who 
use the Bible not to win souls, but rather to justify any and all actions they take, from 
bankrupting the Church to build more edifices to moonlighting as a political lobbyist 
and ultra-conservative commentator. As much as laymen are guilty of justifying their 
personal sins by the gospel of Grace, I think men and women of the cloth are far guiltier 
of justifying their own personal agendas by the gospel of false piety.

Such pretensions are utterly foreign to the third world church. In a place like East Africa, 
where villages are routinely raided by armed men with AK-47’s, following Christ is far 
less a matter of chasing after your own personal goals and far more a matter of fleeing for 
your life.

If you take the time to read Matthew 10:16-31, you will see that Jesus never intended for 
the Christian faith to be a cushy business. Unlike some Church leaders who preach the 
gospel out of a desire to elevate themselves among the community, early Apostles rather 
preached with the expectation that they would spend their lives fleeing from one city to 
another.

We live in a time when the Church is being pushed further and further to the margins 
of Western society. Rather than do something productive about it, most churches are 
content to do as they’ve always done. For those few who are seeking to stay engaged 
with the culture, I’d say the method needs to be far more personally rather than politically 
motivated. Lives can only be transformed by the gospel when people encounter it in a 
personal, one-to-one interaction. Top-down political reforms will never win souls for 
Christ, and serve only to further alienate us from the increasingly-liberalized culture. To 
be in the world, but not of the world, first requires that we know what it is the world is 
dealing with. Taking the time to get to know non-believers on a personal basis is far more 
difficult than simply legislating Christian ethics, which is probably why most people 
choose the latter. However for those of us who see the growing revulsion among society 
caused by such behavior, it is very troubling.

My devotion concluded with the following sentence, which I will also leave you with:

“If we are persecuted, we need to ensure it’s for the right things.”

Well here it is, my first post from overseas. For security reasons, there are several
subjects which I necessarily have to avoid, such as my specific location, the mission of 
the ship, and generally anything related to my actual job. Suffice it to say though, I am 
out at sea for the first time, and loving every minute of it.

Life at sea is far simpler and more organized than anything I’ve ever dealt with before. I 
wake up, eat, walk a short distance to work, walk a short distance back to eat lunch, then 
walk back to work, then go to bed and begin the cycle again. On rare days like today, 
there is more excitement. We took on supplies today, which involves literally the entire 
crew. Everyone worked feverishly pulling ropes, moving and breaking down pallets, and 
passing hundreds of boxes along human chains to freezers and storage lockers.

Other than that, there’s a lot of working out, playing cards, playing chess, and watching 
movies during the down times between work and sleep.

I’ve also been writing much more profusely than ever. I invested in a nice little tablet 
on which I can journal my daily thoughts and scribble down any random ideas. It’s 
extremely therapeutic to be able to devote so much time to writing.

I have tons of books on this thing too, my two favorites right now being The Sea 
Warriors, a nonfiction account of the period of British Naval history spanning from the 
post-revolutionary period to the Napoleonic wars. The second is Two Years Before the 
Mast, a journal written by a lawyer-turned-Sailor named Richard Henry Dana (for whom 
Dana Point in San Diego was named). He sailed from Boston to San Diego back in the 
late 1800s. You might wonder why I chose such nautical-themed books when I’m already 
surrounded by true-to-life Navy culture, but I think it’s precisely because I’m at sea that 
these books suddenly resonate so strongly with me.

Port visits are also a rare treat we all look forward to. So far I’ve been to a little island 
owned by Portugal, and a larger one owned by Greece. We’re soon scheduled to see 
another island, but of course for the sake of security I can’t be any more specific than 
that.

All in all, I’d say I couldn’t be happier to be deployed. As strange as it sounds, my life is 
so simple out here it makes me feel totally free, even if I’m technically confined within a 
500-foot long steel hull.

Thanks very much to those who have written and sent me care packages, it means the 
world to me that you’ve taken time out of your busy lives to think of me. I look forward 
to seeing you all when I get back. In the meantime, keep an eye out for new content, I’ll 
do my best to sneak in posts wherever possible.

Be blessed everyone!

-John-Rick