Today was the first Sunday service with just the 10th Sustainment Brigade in charge. The Brigade Chaplain preached a sermon entitled “what do you fear.” The Scripture he used was 2Tim1:7
“For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (or fear in some translations), but a spirit of power, of love and self-discipline.”
Just before the service began, A Soldier walked in and loudly began to joke about how long it had been since he attended chapel. He was doing his laundry which is in the same building as our service and another Soldier talked him into coming. “Do you think that I might catch on fire during the service,” he jokingly asked ( I guess because of how sinful or evil he feels he is). Comments like these are tricky because you can never know how God is working with the individual. One thing that I like to do is to try and use that moment to help the Soldier feel accepted, without belittling how sharp the conviction of God can feel at times. I promised him that we would not be throwing holy water on anyone during the service and he laughed as he made way to his seat. After the service, the Soldier said “I didn’t even get singed.” We shook hands and he said that he would try and get back again next week. I love this calling!
After chapel we went to the office to facilitate the United Through Reading Program which allows Soldiers to read books to their children. We video tape them reading, and then mail off the recording to a facility that matches the dvd with a copy of the book and then mails it to the family. Its really great to hear the Soldiers talk about how meaningful it is to send a bedtime story to their children.
In regards to prayers: Please pray for our families back home. The reality of an entire year of being deployed is beginning to set in. This realization is a hard one, and can create some real problems. Without getting into any details, I ask that your prayer focus around God placing the right people around the families at home and the Soldiers here.
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