Lost (and Found) at Sea
As a young man just out of high school, Doug joined the Navy’s Nuclear program as a machinist. Expecting to relish the freedom of being away from home, he quickly found himself among people with very different values and aspirations than his own. “Although I’d grown up going to church, I never quite connected with God. Being in this environment, I slowly began to lose touch with myself and everything I believed in.”
From spending 20 hours a day in a steamy engine room overseeing the nuclear propulsion system, to enduring 8-month tours at sea—life was stressful and lonely. During his fifth year in the Navy, Doug came to a low, dark place in his life while on a long deployment. His mom had just been diagnosed with MS, a girlfriend who he’d hoped to marry became tired of waiting and left him, and many of his friends had moved on without him.
“It was so hard, all of it at once, and I felt trapped and alone. I had aspired to a career in nuclear engineering, but when I saw the broken lives of those I looked up to and the condition of my own life, it all started to feel meaningless. I realized everything I was basing my life around—the pursuit of rank, power and money—was so empty.
“Suddenly I felt like if there was a God, I needed him now more than ever. There in my bunk one night, I pulled out a Bible and began to face who I was and discovered the love and forgiveness of Jesus.”
As he read Deuteronomy 6:5, Doug was confronted with his own sin and it hit him that God had to be first in his life. He also read Hebrews 12:5-6: My son, do not regard lightly My discipline or lose heart when I reprove you, for the Lord disciplines the one He loves. “That just soaked into me. I’d been through the discipline of the military and such dark times, but I realized God knew it was going to take all that to get me down on my knees for the first time. It wouldn’t be loving to let me continue seeking after money and power the way I was. As I read those words, a feeling came over me and I knew God was saying, ‘You’re My son and that’s why I’m doing this. I love you and that’s why you have to go through this.’
“With the Bible open, I went from tears to smiling. It was an experience I’ll never forget. I felt Him there with me in the worst place I could imagine and He was lighting up my world in a way nothing else could. I realized Jesus indeed loved me and forgave me and was my Savior. It was such a profound experience; it made the loneliness and fear I had just completely fall away.” Doug started waking up his friends in the other bunks because He was so shocked by the experience; he felt almost like Jesus had been standing right next to him.
After that experience, he started attending any kind of service on the ship he could, usually with only a couple of other people in attendance. He couldn’t get enough of the Bible—it was all so fresh.
When he got out of the Navy shortly after, he told everyone he knew how much God had changed his life. He couldn’t wait to be a part of a church. “It was actually more exciting to me than going to the mall again or seeing my old friends.”
He started coming to Scottsdale Bible and got involved with the 20s group. “SBC blew me away—meeting people my age who were so genuine and wholehearted, and not ashamed to talk about how much they loved God. I tell everyone what a joy it is for me to attend church; you would have to pay me to skip a service.”
Doug decided to transfer his two years of nuclear engineering credits toward a ministry degree, and is now in the Masters of Divinity program at Phoenix Seminary, hoping to become a pastor. He and his 21-year-old brother, Lucas, lead a Singles group at SBC, and he’s traveled to Mexico and Africa on mission trips.
Regarding his serving role, Doug stresses, “It’s not work, or a task or even energy consuming to be a part of the church and to love other people. It’s literally just handing out all the extra that God has given to me. That brings me so much joy.”
Going through hard times is different now, too. “I never feel alone or like I have to worry. God is always there with me. I love working with people, but at the same time, I feel very content when I have to do something alone. In the Navy, spending time away from people was so hard, but now having the Holy Spirit has completely changed me. I used to stress and feel lost about whether I’d find something worthwhile to do with my life. Now my aspiration is to do God’s will and not my own. That’s just a joy and contentment that will never go away.”
To learn more about Singles groups at SBC, visit scottsdalebible.com/singles.
