Let’s start off with a congratulations to my Nephew Mark and his beautiful bride Caitie.  You could have no better example for marriage than your parents Tim and Di and you’ve learned the ultimate budding artist lesson from your Dad.  Marry a brilliant talented woman with a good job!

I think I’ll do a series for the next several weeks on what I call “The most important thing”.

Although it’s not always possible, I usually try to break tasks and situations down to the single most important thing which leads to success.  I know there are always other factors involved, but there’s usually a single guiding principle that keeps the process on path.  For example.  If you asked me how to build a deck, or a room addition, or remodel a kitchen, I would tell you that the most important thing is to make it level and square.  It seems obvious, but I’ve worked too many projects that make me believe that the guy working on it before me didn’t own a tape measure or a level.  If you don’t do that most important thing, everything becomes infinitely more difficult.  Insulating, drywalling, hanging cabinets, finish carpentry, they all hinge on everything starting out “level and square”.  You can still make it work if they’re not, but you’ll find yourself tempted to use inappropriate phraseology and being more creative than you need to be.

I came to the Air Force as a four year ROTC scholarship cadet working towards a degree in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh.  At the time we had an ROTC instructor, whose name escapes me, who gave me the best advice of my college career.  I had gone through Pitt student orientation and then all of the ROTC detachment in processing.  I was briefed on how important cadet life was to my Air Force career and how I needed to get involved in Detachment activities.  They did a cross-country every semester with, ironically, the 911^th.  There were mixers, the Arnold Air society, and additional duties, all of which were designed to immerse me into the Air Force way.  I looked at my class schedule of 22 credits and wondered how this was all going to work.

At the end of my first ROTC class, the Major called me over and asked me to come to his office for a little talk.  I was expecting a gung-ho jump in and get involved talk but his advice wasn’t what I expected. He told me that if I wanted to get involved in all of the extracurricular activities, great, but most of the other students were carrying 12-15 liberal arts credits and that the only thing that would follow me into active duty was whether or not a got an “Expert Marksmanship” ribbon during ROTC summer camp.  That was it.  No record of cadet “rank”, cadet OPRs, Arnold Air Society membership, nothing.  And, wait for it, “the most important thing” was to graduate in four years and go to pilot training. It was like a weight had been lifted off my back.

I didn’t really get much involved in Detachment events.  I was a commuting student and I had a hot girlfriend who took all of my limited spare time.  But in 1978 I graduated with my engineering degree and inprocessed into UPT class 79-07 at Laughlin AFB, the only Pitt graduate to go to pilot training that year, proudly wearing my Expert Marksmanship ribbon.

Ya’ll have a little homework assignment this week, look up the biggest “most important thing”

Hint: start here – Luke 10:27