In a cramped student rental apartment at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Navy Lieutenant Gordon Klingenschmitt is trying to make do.

The chaplain got evicted from Navy housing at Dam Neck last week and scrambled to find somewhere to live.

The turn of events follows a court martial last September in which Klingenschmitt was convicted of disobeying a direct order not to preach in uniform at a press conference in front of the white house.

At midnight, his discharge was to become final.

"I was dangling by a thread and thanks be to God that thread has not been cut," he said.

With five hours to spare, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Court issued a stay, giving Navy Secretary Donald Winter until 4:00 p.m. Friday to respond.  An emergency motion for injunction could be heard on Monday.

Klingenschmitt could, of course, still lose and get kicked out of the navy. Still, he has no regrets.

“Even if I lose a million dollar pension, even if I'm never allowed to live in military housing again, even if a lose my career after 15-1/2 years of honorable service, it was all worth it. I would do it all again. I have kept my faith. I have not compromised my conscience. I have not watered down my prayers. I still have Jesus Christ and he's worth more to me than all that other stuff I've lost."

Klingenschmitt hopes to stay in the Navy.  But if he doesn’t, he plans to continue his doctoral studies at Regent and try his hand on the public speaker circuit.