by David B. Warner, OCF Executive Director Congratulations to the OCF Class of 2012! We who have gone before welcome you to the profession of arms and the start of your great race the Lord has set before you. Crossing the threshold, you now carry two commissions simultaneously: one conferred on you from our Commander in Chief and one from the King of kings. You are now a Christian officer. Notice that “Christian” is in the adjectival position; your Christianity is preeminent and modifies, shapes everything else you do. As you launch out on your race, you can […]
by David Warner, OCF ED In the early days of sailing, prior to generators, the question of how to illuminate the space below deck was an issue. While whale oil and kerosene lamps provided some light, sailors had to endure the smell and fumes. Some enterprising seafarers came up with a suitable answer–a deck prism. This six-sided crystal was flat on one end and came to a point at the other. After cutting out a hole in the deck, the deck prism was laid with the pointed side down, refracting the light from above into the dark spaces below. My […]
by Brig Gen David Warner, USAF (Ret.) The little boy stares at the clock for the millionth time wishing for the school day to come to an end. His mind wanders again to thoughts of his Dad who is somewhere in Pakistan, serving at an Air Base he couldn’t pronounce, let alone spell. Although his family recently celebrated Thanksgiving, his father’s absence left a void, robbing him of reliving favorite moments of the past with his Dad: tossing the football in the backyard; pulling on the wishbone; and snuggling together as they watched and slept through a Cowboy’s game. With […]
[…]Team. He has been married to his wife, Luanne, for twenty years, and they have raised two sons, Dave and […]
[…]the unified command of our spiritual CINC–Jesus Christ. The authors Neil Anderson and Timothy Warner wrote, “A good soldier learns to follow orders, for his own sake as well as the sake of his fellow soldiers.”2 As there is UOC in the military, spiritually there must also be UOC. The military instills pride into its subordinate units, yet these units are never allowed to be so proud that they neglect higher loyalty to their headquarters and leaders. We could think of the church as having subordinate units too. Some Christians may want to identify with Martin Luther, John Calvin, John […]
[…]only think about why he had gotten himself into this mess. Ready to quit then and there, Dave wasn’t sure about this new guy. “Jon warmly introduced himself saying something like ‘we can make it if we work together,'” Dave remembered. “My first impression was formed when he announced that he prayed every night, hoped we had no difficulty with that, and then proceeded to kneel in prayer by the bed.” Dave also found it fascinating that Jon never failed to read his Bible every day during his cadet experience. Learning to deal with the pressure was one of the […]
[…]from the originally published articlein COMMAND magazine, Vol. 39 No. 2, Summer 1990. At that time Dave was vice commandant at The U.S. Air Force Chaplain School at Maxwell AFB, Alabama. He was an Episcopal chaplain and a former Marine Corps line […]
