The Spirit of God

“Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid; for the Lord JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also has become my salvation.” 2 Nephi 22:2

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6 (New King James Version)

Looking at these two verses, it amazes me at how similar they are, and how similar the effect is on my heart. Proverbs 3:5-6 are my favorite verses in the Bible, and reading that verse from The Book of Mormon immediately reminded me of that scripture from the Bible. I’m a few chapters away from finishing 2 Nephi for this 40 day Book of Mormon challenge, where instead of giving up something for Lent, a group of us are reading straight through The Book of Mormon. I had a bit of a head start, but I haven’t been very consistent with my reading either so I’m sure I’ll end up following the schedule eventually J

The connections that I’m noticing are slowly building my testimony of the truthfulness of this book. I can feel it in my spirit, when it brings to mind things that I’ve never noticed or considered before. Connecting passages with American history, or church history. The teachings that are prominent in 2 Nephi. What Nephi and Jacob write about Christ, His teachings, and how all of us can receive eternal life ( I almost wrote achieve, but we can’t achieve eternal life; we can only receive it as it is a gift from God)… It’s amazing, that’s really all I can say about it J

My thoughts on becoming an NCO

Originally written July 30, 2014

I'm going to be sewing on Staff Sergeant soon...and I thought occurred  to me while I was at work:

What kind of NCO do I want to be?

How do I want to portray myself- my work ethic, beliefs, personality, to my airmen, coworkers, and supervisors? How do I want to lead, guide, and counsel my airmen? What kind of example do I want to set? What should I expect from them? What should they expect from me, as their supervisor?

Being a Staff Sergeant, or any NCO or SNCO rank is more than just getting a larger paycheck (although that's a nice bonus/incentive to make rank) and being able to tell people what to do, or expecting people to automatically respect you as a person because of your rank.

Being an NCO or SNCO is about leading by example. Caring for and about the people who work for you. Respecting those same people as actual people, and not just their rank. Earning their respect (without being a complete pushover just to get people to like you). It's about being tough on them when they need it, or pushing them to do better because you can see their potential. 

Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know. Everyone is different, and does things their own way, but I feel that leading by example and being a good role model for those we supervise should be an important -if not the most important- universal characteristic of an NCO and SNCO.

That's just my two cents.