Christopher - United States Of America

Nickname: MPJDude

I am a photojournalist with the United States Navy. I started going to church with my mother and younger sister when I was five years old in Tacoma, Washington. By the age of seventeen I stopped attending church. I knew that God’s Word was true. However, I still wanted to go out with the guys and do the worldly things that seemed, at the time, so necessary in order to have fun.

After graduating from Henry Foss High School, I worked at the Old Spaghetti Factory in my hometown bussing tables. I put my work ethics to use and enjoyed many positive and enjoyable days there. But after two years of doing this, the monotony of existing solely for the purpose of cleaning tables became overwhelming. I was 20 years old...without a car, girlfriend, or meaningful purpose in life. I felt like my life was going no place and had this overwhelming urge to do something about it.

One evening I became very anxious and suddenly grabbed the phone book, knowing exactly what phone number I was going to look up.

I was raised in a church that believed God’s children didn’t need a physical military to fight their battles. So when I looked up the Navy recruiter’s phone number, it was the first time I had thought of serving in the military. Two weeks later, I was in Great Lakes, Illinois, at the Navy’s Recruit Training Command having fun doing sit-ups in temperatures that reached a negative 70 degrees.

Not thinking that the Navy would have anything exciting to photograph, I didn’t attend the Navy’s basic photography school that would have allowed me to become a Navy photographer. Instead, I went to Basic Seamen Apprenticeship Training in Great Lakes. My first assignment was to the deck department of a large amphibious attack ship out of Littlecreek, Virginia, as a deck seaman. For more than two years, I took care of ship maintenance, crane operations, mooring the ship up to the dock; all the
jobs of a deck seaman. It was rough work. My days on the ship were long, followed by long nights standing watch, allowing for very little sleep. I missed my family and friends on the other side of the country and started talking to God on a regular basis at this point in my Navy career. Unfortunately, those conversations revolved mostly around myself with questions like: why am I in this place, or help me out of here.

The only way I could get out of the deck department was to take the advancement exam for a different job designation. One day I saw two Navy photographers come aboard my ship and work. When I saw what their job was like I immediately started to study non-stop for six months to pass the exam and become a Navy photographer.

I passed that test with flying colors, and the Navy transferred me to an aircraft carrier stationed in Bremerton, Washington. I was back home, only 45 minutes from my family. I met Deborah, my wife, while on that carrier. Deborah and I married in 1996 and now have two beautiful little girls. Our relationship is loving and very strong, based in God’s Word. We give trials and problems that life hands us over to God as a couple.

Our marriage wasn’t always this smooth, however. For the first three years I thought I was in hell. Deborah and I are different in every way, and I mean in every way. When we married I barely talked, and I thought Deborah wouldn’t stop talking. I could spend all of our money on two items in 30 seconds out of the checkbook that I never balanced, and Deborah thought about every penny that was spent out of her checkbook that was always in balance. The list of our differences never ends: Her hot temper, which questioned everything, was offset by my mild-mannered attitude that rarely questioned anything.

But I had to remember that God always knows what He is doing.

There was so much in my life that I could have done if only I had been more vocal and willing to question things. Deborah missed out on opportunities because she was too vocal and critical. We now trust God to mediate our lives and help balance them. God has used Deborah and me to balance each other out.

It took nearly three years for Deborah and me to bring God into our marriage. Our time together before we accepted Jesus Christ into our lives was the final motivation I needed to get off the fence and fully give my life to God. Until I trusted God to fulfill my needs, I would ask Deborah to fulfill all the empty areas in my life. Deborah, being human just like the rest of us, would fail regularly. I wanted her to make life better, do all the things that I couldn’t. That was a request that no one should ever ask of another person.

There wasn’t a single defining moment when I realized that God was calling me. It took six years of painful growth for me to invite God into my heart and let Him rule over my life and family.

Looking back, it is easy for me to see where God has had His hand in my life. He has always provided me with the crucial motivation and skills I needed. He has helped me pass numerous tests and situations that seemed so overwhelming at the time. He has provided me with a beautiful wife and two gorgeous little girls that love me very much. When I look at my family, that is all the proof I need to know God loves me and is true to His Word.