I suppose a little bit of introduction is in order, because there is no telling how you got here or if we've even ever met...

I'm a man living in a point of singularity, the collision between left brain and right, both by training and vocation.  I am a theologian-engineer, a philosopher-scientist, a dreamer-pragmatic.

First and foremost, I am a child of God in Christ Jesus, born again in the waters of baptism nearly 35 years ago at First Presbyterian Church in rural, southern Indiana.  I have been happily married to my wonderful bride, Rachel, for almost 13 years, and the Lord has seen fit to bless us with two amazing children, Ali (12) and Clark (5).  The chronicles of our day-to-day family life, including our Ukrainian adoption trip, are on our family blog, Наша Пригода, which is Ukrainian for "Our Adventure"...how fitting.

For all of my adult life I have been in the Air Force--4 years as a cadet at the Air Force Academy, 7 years on active duty as an Aircraft Maintenance Officer, and 5 years in the Reserve/Guard as a chaplain.  Currently, I'm stationed at Ellington Field, Houston, TX, as chaplain to the 147th Reconnaissance Wing of the Texas Air National Guard (traditional) whose primary mission is to fly and support Predator UAV operations around the world.

When I'm not running around in uniform, I'm an aerospace engineer at NASA's Johnson Space Center working in the area of Extravehicular Activities or EVAs--that's 'spacewalks' in English.  I have a very small part to play in every EVA performed on the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station (both US and Russian EVAs).  From time to time, I also dabble in the area of Constellation Program lunar capabilities.

Regarding the pilgrimage of my faith, I was raised Presbyterian, ran in Southern Baptist circles for 10 years, and attended a Southern Baptist seminary (SBTS, Louisville, KY) all before finally finding a home in the Lutheran Church.  Reading Luther in seminary prompted a series of changes in my personal views that proved too much to allow me to continue serving in the SBC and retain a shred of my intellectual / pastoral / theological honesty.

(As a point of clarification:  For those interested, I am not attending LCMS colloquy or seeking to transfer my ministry credentials from the Conservative Congregationalist Christian Conference, where I am now ordained and endorsed for the Air Force chaplaincy. I bill myself as Lutheran to the troops and recommend the LCMS if they're looking for a local church [as there are no local CCCC congregations but am careful to give them that disclaimer as well so as not to misrepresent anyone.)