Fwd: February 18,2014. Mayport Naval Station, FL Community

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Begin forwarded message
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> The cloud has brought us to a new location, a place with palm trees, blue water and a cross in the sky above me. Occasionally a ship passes on the St. John's River, there is a gentle breeze and a temperature in the 50's. I've finished my quiet time and getting ready to go to the gym for some much-needed exercise. Yesterday we left the sub base, and drove less than an hour from Georgia to Florida and a new home base here at Mayport for the next two weeks. We immediately met our neighbor to the west, a soon to be 90 year old WWII vet, his traveling companion(interruption for the National Anthem), Sue celebrating her 70th birthday, and their three dogs. After setting up our unit, we welcomed new neighbors to the east and share the basics and meet their two dogs. Our neighborhood is starting to take shape and we are building
> a community once again as we have done in the past. Even when we have stayed in a WalMart or State Park for a night, we get to know our neighbors. It's sad to think that when we lived in Lakewood, or Tulsa, or Fort Collins we sometimes took a long time to get to know the people on the block. They say fences make good neighbors, but that's really not true and in the style of life we are now leading our neighbors are close and there aren't any fences. It's been refreshing to share experiences, meet people from different parts of the country and learn more about our various homes on wheels and their idiosyncrasies and foibles. Last evening, after dark, we went looking for the dumpster and spent nearly two hours with a couple from Pennsylvania in the club house. John and I served on the same base in Vietnam two years apart. Karen, Joyce, John and I talked all that time as if we had known each other for years, about every conceivable subject, and in a short time made a connection which we could not have imagined beforehand. We never found the dumpster. God has opened our eyes to the "community" He created and wants us to embrace and foster. John was lamenting the fact that we are becoming more fractured as a nation and we talked about the reasons for it. Without getting too deep or philosophical, can't we just get along, have lower fences, or none at all, pet each other's dog and live life with joy and peace, love and hope. We really have a lot more in common than we realize, if we just make the effort to communicate. Praise God for the ministry He has given us, the community He desires for us and the hope we have when we concentrate on the things which unite us rather than those which divide us. Can't we all just get along?
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