Welcome!

I am a veteran Marine, serving for 10 years on active duty from 2003-2013, including time in Iraq, Afghanistan, and a few other countries. For virtually my entire time in the Corps, I was married to my bride, Kelli (Houser) O’Day, who has remained by my side for the rest of life’s journeys since leaving active service.

God saved me just a few months before I joined the Marines and got married. I found it immensely challenging to live for Christ and build a healthy marriage in the Corps. My goal in this blog is to provide biblical wisdom and practical resources for Christian Families serving in the Military. I also host a podcast, which shares the same goal as this blog, with my wife and our good friends: Military Wellness Collective.

These efforts are really an overflow of my primary roles serving as a pastor at Pillar Church of Jacksonville, NC (across the street from Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune), and as the Executive Director of The Praetorian Project– a family of multiplying churches in military communities worldwide.

Practical Articles for Your Military Journey

Read the Bible for Yourself

During my time in the military, it took me a while to realize the value of reading the Bible for myself. Having grown up in church with parents who read their Bibles, I knew the importance in my head, but it took far too long for it to become a regular practice. Once I found the discipline of regular Bible reading, the Lord sustained me and grew me in powerful ways. I pray that this short journey of articles will help you start this practice today!

PCS Well: Moving in a God-Honoring, You-Flourishing Way

During my ten years of active-duty service, I moved six times. Moving provides a host of challenges for the military family. However, if you will intentionally engage with the Lord and His purposes throughout your move, your upcoming PCS offers an amazing opportunity to accelerate your spiritual maturity. This series of articles aims to help you do that!

Deploying Well

During my time in the military, my wife and I experienced three military deployments and multiple other times of prolonged separation. Since leaving the military to pastor, we have walked with more than 50 married couples as they walk through their deployment seasons. This writing journey is my attempt to capture the lessons learned from these experiences to help you glean from all of these experiences. I am convinced that God intends for you thrive in this season- not merely survive.

Other Recent Articles

  • Books that have Shaped Me: 2024 Reading

    “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and will all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37) How do we cultivate our minds so that we can love the Lord our God more? A discipline of reading has to be part of the answer to that question. The books…

  • Let’s Talk About Sex: Embrace God’s Plan

    “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality.” (1 Thessalonians 4:3 [ESV]) As you prepare for military deployment, we need to talk about sex. Really, we need to talk about the reality that you’re not going to have sex for the next… how many months? I’m not here to…

  • Last Days of Deployment: Prepare for Reunification

    You are almost there! You can almost speak to one another these beautiful words that Solomon’s wife spoke to him all those years ago. “Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away, for behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing…

  • Read the Bible for Yourself

    “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Psalm 119:105 [ESV]) If I could convince you to do one thing, it would be this: Read the Bible for Yourself. Of course, I would then add that you should seek to understand it the best that you can, apply it…

  • Deploying Well

    “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:13 [ESV]) “Preparing your minds for action…” Whether you are the one deploying, or the spouse who is remaining behind, thoughts and emotions that surround an impending…

  • Prepare Well for a Successful Military Deployment

    “The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.” (Proverbs 21:5 [ESV]) Be diligent in your preparation for deployment. Do not be hasty. The upcoming deployment promises significant challenges and amazing opportunities for your relationship with God and for your closest human relationships. Diligent preparation will go…