The Armor

The past couple days have been tough.  Isn’t it great to serve a God that knows exactly when you need some encouragement?  I was in my office and my Brigade Chaplain was working on a prayer for a ceremony that is coming up.  “Let me read this to you” he said.  The prayer reads as follows:

God, I am honored to be your warrior and I take my stand today…I take up each piece of the armor of God.

I take up the shield of faith and extend it over our soldiers…may it extinguish all attacks of the enemy.

I put on the helmet of salvation, which protects my battle-mind from the enemy's attacks. I proclaim that I have a clear and decisive mind.

I put on my battle armor of righteousness, which covers my body with total security…no harm may befall me.

I take up the belt of truth. This truth will uphold my integrity and I will act with benevolence.

I prepare my feet with vigilant training and because of this; I rest in peace each night, even amongst the chaos and turmoil.

I hold the Sword of God in my hand and apply it to any situation I may face…it will show me the truth.

I will continue to pray daily for my fellow warriors that they may be safely protected, have joy in their life, and peace in their souls.

Thank you, Lord, for the whole armor of God. Please surround us with your hedge of protection as we move forward on the battlefield both physically and spiritually.

We ask your blessing now and forevermore…Amen."

 "What do you think," he asked.  "Heck yeah!" is all I could respond with.  Your body armor is one of the most important aspects of your gear if not the most!  The armor of God is thick and complex.  It covers us, equips us, and enables us to do so much more than we could ever do without it.  I grew up hearing this verse all the time but after putting in many hours of wearing my the Army armor, I now have a fresher view of how vital my spiritual armor is. 

    I have decided that there is almost nothing better than getting a package from Lindsay, Ethan, and William.  This is a "party in a box" that I received yesterday.  My Soldier that works in the mail room smiled when he saw that the packing list had "pinata" written on it.  I guess there are not many pinatas in Afghanistan.

  

    Our counterparts (the people we are replacing) are starting to pack up their stuff and head home.  This is a great time for them because they are on their way back to their loved ones.  Its also a great time for us because we are all full of energy and eager to get on with our mission.  I was able to spend a good amount of time Yesterday and today trying to clean up and organize my office.  My assistant has spent much of his time with his counterpart learning the ropes on how to arrange travel for us when I have to travel from post to post. 

  

   It is such an honor to serve our Soldiers.  Early this morning I was able to go out and pray for our convoy before it left out on a mission.  I cannot stress enough how stressful it is to go on a convoy.  Roadside bombs and IED's are the number one killer of our Soldiers.  These young men and women know that they are driving dangerous roads and yet they still go.  These fathers, sons, husbands still go out.  These mothers, daughters, and wives still go out.  They know their duty, and the strength they have as a unit of Soldiers working together to complete the mission.  What an incredible devotion to each other, and to the country.  I cant think of a better example of bravery.  I would ask that you say a special prayer for these people as often as you can. 

Chapel services

Wow!  Its Wednesday and I am just now getting time to write about what happened on Sunday morning.  On Sunday I was able to sit in on the service that we will inherit once our counterparts redeploy.  I was impressed with the number of Soldiers that were there, and am really looking forward to the times that I will be able to share God's word there. 

The set-up we have is in a lounge area created for Soldiers to watch movies and for group presentations.   We are so fortunate to have this area to meet in!  My Brigade Chaplain has come up with a great outline sermons for the year as well.  His idea was to look up the 50 most searched for scriptures and use one a week through out the years deployment.  We will also be having bible studies, morning devotions in this same building. 

As the days go on, I am also starting to really enjoy the scenery here.  Bagram is really dusty and so it is sometimes hard to see the distant mountains, but when you get a glimpse of them, they are quite beautiful. 

In regards to prayers, myself and my assistant will soon be traveling again.  In the next few days we will begin doing our second battlefield rotation.  The first was a short route and this one will be a long route which will probably take more than a week to complete.  There is a safety aspect that is always a concern, but I also ask that you pray for my energy, enthusiasm, and ministry skills as we meet so many Soldiers who are going through so many different issues. 

Thank you all so much for your prayers! 

Have Bible, will Travel

   My assistant and I are currently waiting for a ride back to our base of operations.  When we arrived in country, we immediately went into training about how to recognize dangers along the roadways, and how to increase our situational awareness.  Right after that training, all the Soldiers with weapons (everyone except the brigade chaplain and myself) went to the range to zero in their sights.  While they were doing that, the brigade chaplain and myself went back to meet with the chaplains we are replacing and learn what has worked and not worked for them.  It was then that it was confirmed that I had been scheduled to get on a flight that night to go to some of the surrounding bases to visit Soldiers.  Don't get me wrong, I love being with Soldiers, but I had to work very hard to muster up the motivation because I was so tired from lack of sleep.  I left a note with my assistant so that he knew what time to meet us after he got back from the ranges, and then went back to my room to repack the bad I had just unpacked.         The verse for my devotional that morning was 1 Cor. 9:24:

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run,

but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to

get the prize.

I was really hoping for something line Matthew 11:30 "my yoke is easy and my burden is light" or something else like that.  At this point my eyes were no longer focusing, and if I stood up I felt dizzy.  My prayer focused on this verse and prayed for God to help me with the strength and motivation to continue.  There is nothing worse than an unmotivated Chaplain!  We got on the plane, and I was able to sleep during the flight.  This gave me a boost, and when we landed, we ran into some of my Soldiers who were very happy to see me.  I believe it was 0330 when we arrived so after talking to the Soldiers we went and found a bed to get some sleep before our next flight at 0800 at morning.  A little more sleep gave me a little more energy, and the next day we jumped on a helicopter to go to another base.  At the next base the Soldiers there were happy to see me and we were able to catch up on all that has been going on since we last saw each other.  we ate lunch, and ran into another chaplain who frequents this base.  We went with him to a bible study he was having for the Soldiers, and had some desperately needed fellowship and study of the word.  After the bible study I found a bed and was able to get my first full nights sleep since being here.  Thank you Lord for sleep! 

There are a couple prayer requests that I would like to make known: 

      The first has just learned via facebook that his uncle (who was more like a father) has just unexpectedly passed away.  He talked to him on the phone the day before which is helpful, but it is just so hard for the Soldier to grasp the fact that the man who raised him is no longer alive.  The Soldier has good support here, but this is such a long way away from home.   

      Our leadership had to work very hard to get all the Soldiers squared away and to their destinations.  Getting Lindsay, Ethan, William, and myself from New York to North Carolina was a struggle for me.  I cannot imagine how difficult it must be to get an entire battalion halfway across the world!  I would ask that you keep them in your prayers for their rest, their clear mindedness, and their accomplishment of their missions. 

     And please pray for all Soldiers who have left families back home.  It is so hard that we don't even want to talk about it.  We focus on getting our tasks complete and making sure we are doing the best job we can. 

Thank you so much for your prayers! 

Why "Thus far..."

Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and

Jeshanah, and named it Ebenezer; for he said,

"Thus far the LORD has helped us."

                                                                  -1 Samuel 7:12

    Lindsay and I started dwelling on this verse heavily when we arrived to Ft. Drum in September of 2009.  This is one of those verses that, for us, provides comfort, hope, and refreshes our sense of purpose.  1 Sam 7:1-12 shows us how, when God's people return to Him, God-sized events are not far away.  For me, God-sized events are the times that life seems to be heading one direction, and God shows up and redirects, speeds up, or slows down our course.  I do not seek to define what these events look like for everyone because they are so different for us all.  However I do see that there is one commonality that is present in every case.  The credit goes to God, and God alone.  People's lives are changed and that spot of their lives is marked with God's grace and love.  Samuel wanted to make sure that everyone who passed by that stone knew that God, and God alone, had delivered the people that day. 
  Lindsay and I never thought that I would be an Army Chaplain.  When God started putting it on my mind it seemed like a funny joke.  As time passed and it kept coming up, it began to seem more like a bad joke because the sacrifice, hard work, and stress began to set in.  However, through all the paperwork, selection boards, and stress, God continued to move in ways that only He can do.  There were times that I would hang up with my recruiter having just been told that I was not a valid candidate and would not be able to join the Army.  Then, a couple days later I would get another call saying that my paperwork was due to go before the selection board.  I was told that I would have to go into the National Guard at 10:00 and then was called back at 12:00 and told that I could go active duty (I remember the times because Lindsay and I were driving from Asheville to Ashboro to go to the zoo).  The thought of me deploying and leaving for a year was a hard one, but neither Lindsay nor I were ever overwhelmed by it.  God placed the right people in our paths to help affirm that this was God's calling on our lives. 
  All of these events, and so many more, led us to the point of knowing without any doubt, God, and God alone, has helped us to this point in our lives.  God has called us to serve the men, women, and families of our military.  We are honored to be given such a great and awesome task.