Part II - My Miraculous Deliverance
Chapter 18. The Dream Accomplished {178 words}
After receiving the Lord on the 14th of December in 1967, He carefully laid out my steps. Even if I had been a reasonably intelligent person, I could not have put together a more precise, more orderly plan. At the exact moment that I needed a boost, my old friend from high school returned back into my life. He did his work and was then gone forever. When I took the Navy test in early January, I had passed that exam by a single point, and that was a result which was very symbolic for someone in my position. When the college had either ignored or lost my records, the Lord had once again been paving a perfect way before me. Had the school been aware of my original grades from the beginning, I probably would have been suspended a second time, without ever really getting a second chance to start over.
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a. The Order Of Events In My Turn Around {1,133 words}
In Table 5 below is a chronological summary of the various pieces which made up the puzzle to my new life. As I have already indicated on a number of occasions, I could not have accomplished most or probably even any of these feats had the Lord not been laying out each part.
Table 5. A Chronology of Events:
a. June 1967: After a year of wild, carefree living, I was expelled from Old Dominion University with a Grade Point Average of 0.172 - an F-minus average!
b. Late August 1967: After a couple of months of work, I quit my first ever, full-time job, and like the irresponsible fool that I had become, I did so without even giving the customary two-weeks notice.
c. Late October 1967: I became involved with a short-term acquaintance at a local bowling alley, and at the time, I had thought that we were instant friends. With his help, I even started working for his company, and for a while, we went almost everywhere together. However, I did not last at that job, either! Like with the first, I quit after only a month and a half, and also like with the first, I did so without giving any notice. My actions caused my new acquaintance to become my instant enemy, and he issued me a very rude wake up call. As I now look back on those days, I would describe him as my next to last, final straw.
d. November 6, 1967: I returned to ODU and asked for a second chance, but because I had not yet served my full suspension and also because my first year's grades were so bad, the school flatly rejected my request. Going back home that day, I knew that my life had reached bottom, so I went back to my parents' house feeling very dejected and totally beaten!
e. December 14, 1967: That day started like all the others, but it ended with the biggest event of my life as I began that evening to trust the Lord. In my very dramatic prayer, I practically begged Him to forgive me, and He did!
f. The last two weeks of December 1967: After having me wait around for a few days, the Lord sent a former high school friend back into my life, and that friend gave me the idea of seeking a Naval Commission.
g. Early January 1968: After meeting with the Navy Reserves, the Recruiter arranged for me to take the Navy ROC test. I took the exam and passed by a single point, with a sixty-three. Because I did not have any money to finance my education, I got my third ever, full-time job, this time at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company (often called the Shipyard), and with that job, I did not just walk out!
h. February 1968: My progress was put in jeopardy when I received my Draft Notice. However, the Navy Reserves, even though I still had not yet enlisted, pulled some strings and kept me from the Army's clutches.
i. March 1968: I was officially accepted into the ROC-II program. Even though I was more than two and a half years from actually qualifying for the program and more than four and a half years from completing, I became an Officer Candidate.
j. April 3, 1968: As I had promised, I joined the Naval Reserves.
k. May 1968: I was accepted by ODU and scheduled to return in June. As part of my military obligation, I also went to a two-week Reserve Boot Camp in Great Lakes, llinois.
l. June 1968: As planned, I started ODU. My major was Mathematics in the School of Liberal Arts.
m. May 1969: A close friend, named Betty Harmon, introduced me to Linda Michniak, and as it turned out, that event would represent one more important thing in my life which had happened in a bowling alley.
n. January 1971: After dating for almost two years, Linda and I were finally married. She already had three children from a previous marriage, so we became an instant family of five. Almost nine months to the day later, our first child was born, making us a family of six. Twenty-five months after that, we became a family of seven! Those days were very difficult, very busy, and very costly. For the next eighteen months, I would be working full-time as a Math Clerk at the Newport News Shipyard and also going to school full-time, four nights a week from seven to ten o'clock. But in addition to those things, there was even more! Part of my challenge during those days was to get all of the required courses for my particular degree, and that often meant having to be inventive! At one point, for example, I had to take, in addition to everything else, a correspondence course in Linear Algebra from North Carolina State University. On another occasion and also in addition to everything else, I had to take two daytime courses in Philosophy, both of which I never even attended the first class! Because I had to work during the day, I could not just leave my job to go to school. Therefore, in both classes, I only took the class exams and submitted the required class projects. In each case, though, I had received the Department Chairman's and Professor's permission in advance before proceeding in such an unorthodox manner. Lastly, during the first half of that eighteen month time frame, I had to drill one weekend per month on a Naval Destroyer stationed in Norfolk. Thus, without question, the Lord was choosing to use a very hectic, non-stop schedule, along with family obligations and all the different financial pressures which went along with each, to once and for all break me of my evil, rebellious ways, and it worked!
o. June 1972: I graduated from Old Dominion University with my Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics. Everything had gone as planned, plus the school had mysteriously or miraculously kept my past records apart from my current.
p. October 1972: While I was in Newport, Rhode Island, completing my ROC training, my best friend made arrangements to have my official school transcripts sent to the Navy Reserve Center. It was then that we both learned the incredible truth about my wall of "F"s. The school had never corrected the mistaken name, James L. Lee, on my original records. To this day, I still do not know how they could have made such a significant blunder.
q. November 3, 1972: I completed Officer Candidate School, and my dream was complete! I was commissioned as Ensign and assigned to active duty as a Computer Specialist in Norfolk.
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Chapter 19. Reporting For Duty In Norfolk
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