One day I drove up to the recruiters office in town, stopped by the Air Force desk and asked some questions. The recruiter instantly became one of my best friends. He always wanted to take me out to lunch….He always paid and I was VERY cool with that. That slowly turned into me filling out some “paperwork” to see if the Air Force was a “good fit” for me. I filled out the stuff, went and took the ASVAB and about a week later he called and scheduled an appointment for me to come meet with him.
At that point, I wanted to get into nursing, so of course, he told me that a Medic would be my ideal job. He explained how I qualified for pretty much any job EXCEPT pilot…which was ok cuz I didn’t want any part of that. We set up another date to “get things started.”
On this day, I stood on the scale for the first time. I was 10 pounds heavy. That was ok though cuz I had a month to lose it. So long as when I got to Indy at the MEP center and had dropped the weight, all was good.
Dieting was no big deal to me back then. I had been the fat kid most of my life and a few years earlier lost a bunch of weight……10 pounds was nuthin!
So, I went about my business, checking in with the recruiter once a week to weigh in and make sure progress was being made. After 2 weeks I had lost the 10 pounds, but I went in on week 3 just to be sure. I had actually lost another pound and was set to go the following week.
Set to go: To Indy, where I would be drug tested, had the complete physical and then flown to Lakeland AFB in Texas for 9 weeks of basic training and another 3-4 months of technical training.
I spent the next week getting all of my ducks in a row….making sure I didn’t get in any trouble….seeing LOTS and LOTS of the girlfriend. She was going to college and I’m pretty sure was secretly excited to be getting rid of me. We said goodbye for a week, promised we’d write all the time and all was set.
TIME TO GO!
My Mom and Aunt drove me to the MEP Center in Indy at 5am. They dropped me off, we said our goodbyes and Mommy’s lil boy was going to be a soldier.
There was lots of “hurry up and wait” at the MEP Center. After a few hours, we got our physicals, they did all the weigh-ins, peed in a cup, grab your ankles…..you know…..THE WORKS!
Well, we’re all waiting to get on the bus to the airport and some dude comes up to me, taps me on the shoulder and says “you need to come with me.” WOW, I thought. I hadn’t smoked NUTHIN! No drugs, no alcohol, no NUTHIN! I wasn’t around anyone doing it either. I knew I was innocent, but was more nervous than I had EVER been in my life.
We walk back to his desk and he asks me to sit down. I remember it like it was yesterday. He has a sad look on his face. Then he says, “son, you are one pound over weight.” I may never forget those words. He proceeds to tell me that hope is not all lost yet. He says I have to have a “body fat analysis” done and if I pass that, they can forgive the pound. Now, in hindsight, I should have asked if he had some Exlax, cuz that would surely cure the one pound they were stressin over, but I froze and did what I was told.
So I go….they measure, weigh again, measure again and then 3 of em huddle around the desk and whisper while I stand there and wonder what they’re saying. He comes over again and has me sit down. More words I won’t ever forget:
son, he won’t let me do it. You’re one half of one percent over in body fat and we’re gonna have to send you home.
Yep, ONE HALF of ONE PERCENT…..and that was that. I called my Mom. She hadn’t left my aunt’s house in Indy yet. They came and got me, and we went home.
I never called the recruiter back again.
I was right about my girlfriend…..she wanted very little to do with me and seemed rather annoyed that I wasn’t gone.
What happens from there is a much longer story, but it turned to drugs and girls and crime and running…..running from any and all responsibility. I didn’t know Jesus…..didn’t care.
All of that to say……What if? What if I had lost 20 pounds? Life would be so much different. I never make my first pizza which turned into 15 years in that industry. I don’t meet my wife or have my kids. I don’t attend Maryland Community Church. Everything about my life now is erased cuz surely none of these things would have happened.
Do you ever wonder? Do you ever ask “what if”?
I find it amazing how God works…..How He knew I wasn’t ready. How He used the many years that would follow to build a deep desire to know Him…..and live for Him. I am constantly in awe of His plan. My life, with the Air Force, and thinking “why” and “what if”, is quite similar to our Christian walk. We can ask ourselves “how” “why” “when”, but at the end of the day, we rest in faith…..faith that His plan is much better than ours……faith that we don’t have to have all of the answers….cuz He does! Faith that my pain helps people today…..My pain may turn eyes toward Jesus…..Knowledge that my pain…..was NOTHING….compared to His……Knowledge that I suffer no more…..there is no more pain…..and should it come, He will pull me through…..I caused His pain and although I still grieve over the past, I KNOW He does not……My sins…..Your sins…..were paid for at the cross!
And look at me now…..some 18 years later…..in Germany…..living on an Air Force base
.
Makes me smile!
