Where is God in Afghanistan?

Sun. 31 Jan
I used one of Rob Bell's NOOMA videos last night in my Bible study, and in this one (#3, Trees) he makes the statement, "We live in a world drenched with God." I agree with him. I can look out at these rugged mountains every morning and see God's fingerprints all over this land. The Apostle Paul writes about this in Romans 1:20 -- that we can see God through His creation, and therefore have no excuse. If you open your eyes to God, you will see Him all around you; in the land, the sunset, a rainbow, and even in the people. That's what I challenged my class with last night. Jesus told us in John 13 that the world will know you are His disciple if we love one another, and the examples of the Good Samaritan and James 2:14-17 (faith without works is dead) are proof of God's desire for us. Not only can we see God "drenched" in the world around us, but the world should also see God in and through us! So God is definitely here in Afghanistan, as He can be seen through the life and love of his disciples in the American military. The same is true for you, no matter where you live and work. Are we/you showing God's love to others? Are you loving the unlovable around you? Keep in mind, those who do not know Jesus are watching you. Like the truckload of men in front of me the other day. They see the cross on my uniform and they stare at me.

Who is watching you?

By the way, we located my duffel bag. It was found at one of the FOBs and taken to the Chaplain's office there. Some of our Soldiers went and picked it up and are holding onto it for me. So now I have a good excuse to go visit that team in the near future and pick up my bag at the same time!

Lost Luggage

Tues. 26 Jan

I forgot to tell you my lost luggage story from the past weekend. We traveled from the French FOB back to my base, and there were several stops along the way -- in the dark. At one point, a whole bunch of people got up and off this very large Chinook helicopter (like the one in the picture). They're pretty big, and they can hold a lot of people with a lot of gear. And apparently someone accidentally threw my duffel bag out the back door of the "bird" and out into the dark when it landed somewhere. They actually went back and looked for me, but never found it. My bag has my name on it, a lock, and a large white cross painted on it as well. It will be pretty obvious to soemone that it isn't his -- and that he should not steal from a Chaplain! I have been back to the terminal every morning since, but no one had called it in or returned it. I may have lost my sleeping bag and some clothing in there. Oh well. Nothing that can't be replaced. But at least in the civilian world the airlines will make every effort to find your lost luggage and return it to you, or pay you for the contents. Not here. I'm not sure anybody cares about my lost luggage but me, and there is no lost luggage claim form to fill out to get reimbursed. I may be out of luck. (The picture, by the way, was a real photo of a pin-point landing by a Chinook helicopter in Afghanistan a number of years ago. They were on a surprise mission to round up bad guys. Pretty cool, huh?)

Cultural Lessons #1 and #2

Mon 25 Jan

Cultural Lesson #1: FOOD. It was an interesting and exhausting weekend. My assistant and I traveled again to see some of our Soldiers, but this time at a French base or FOB. It was an interesting experience. They have a French dining facility (defac) and the American Soldiers there complained about the food loudly enough that recently they established an American defac as well (small, and only for the US Soldiers). Let me explain why... the lunch I tried at the French defac consisted of something called "blood sausage" as the main entree. They also served mashed potatoes (not like mom used to make!), and breads and cheeses. We decided to stay with the bread and cheeses, and then we went to the American defac from then on. So the next day we tried the local Afghan restaurant (within the compound) for lunch. That was actually quite nice. Not very sanitary, but oh well. We had fresh kabobs (see picture). I'm not sure what kind of meat it was, but they say there used to be a bunch of cats running around there.... (no, I'm just kidding). It was goat meat. Seriously. I have had lamb kabobs here and now I've tried goat. Not too bad, and the rice was delicious. So if you ever get over here, I highly recommend the local restaurants as a change of pace. Better than French food, that's for sure!

Cultural Lesson #2: BATHROOMS. One thing that stands out to you over here is the difference between how sanitary Americans are compared to the local population. The difference is quite obvious in terms of showering (see my previous blogs on that subject) and also use of the bathroom (or latrine). OK here's your warning, if you have a squeemish stomach, don't read any more! I am attaching a picture of a toilet used by the local nationals on base. Notice that it does not have a seat, just a hole in the floor and a flush pedal. This is because the local men (and women) do not sit down to go to the bathroom, they squat. OK, so that's not too creepy, I can get over that part. But where it gets bad is they do not use toilet paper like we do. They use their hand and water instead! Left hand only. (That is why in the middle east culture you never shake with your left hand, nor do you use the left hand to eat. That's bad taboo if you do that. We had cultural lessons before we came over here about the proper use of the left hand). Anyway, we have had incidents of Afghan men breaking the public toilets because they were standing on them, not sitting. And they use the toilet paper to place on the toilet seat before they stand on it -- so they do not get their feet dirty! I'm not kidding here. So, when you're done cleaning yourself with your hand, you simply wash your hands with water (soap is optional). Either from bottled water, or in the sink. That's another reason they tell us to not brush our teeth in the sinks here! So as you can imagine, the public porta-johns are a mess, and my female assistant won't even go near them! Can you guess why? By the way, I wonder what hand the guy used to fix our goat meat??? (No, maybe I'm better off not knowing!) Gotta go, talk to you again soon...

Practicing Presence

20 Jan
There really has not been too much new going on here, but I felt the need to post something. The picture is of the construction crews moving a house, or "B-Hut" as they are called. I think this one is going to the other side of the base to make room for new troops coming in. They can fit between 4 to 20 Soldiers in one of these! (We have 6 in mine).

It has been 4 days since my last message, and I want to be consistent. In a nutshell, I preached twice last weekend from John 5. Both services went well, but I was feeling sick for a few days there (common cold), and I think that affected me. I did not walk away feeling like I hit a home run, but oh well. No preacher feels that way every weekend, or so I'm told. I have also been growing more frustrated with an Army administrative issue. It appears that my paperwork may have slipped through the cracks awhile back and could have affected some financial issues for me. I am trying to trust God for all that stuff, but it can still get pretty frustrating. I have a number of people here helping me, which is a blessing, so we'll see where that goes soon. The Army is a massive entity that does not seem to care much for the individual. I am learning that if you do not stay on your toes and also be a squeeky wheel, you may get lost and you certainly will not get the oil!

I started reading a new book called, Spiritual Direction, by the late Henri Nouwen. He was a famous priest who wrote extensively on spiritual issues. He is big on journaling, and some of his material is challenging. For example, he writes: (1) Identify and name a persistent question at this time in your life; And (2) In what areas of your life are you most prone to self-rejection, and why? Tough questions. How would you answer them? I have been keeping a written journal by my bed, so I am pondering those questions and spending time in quiet reflection to allow God to give me some insight.

One other issue that I am working on is the ability to stay "in the moment," in the here-and-now. I am not very good at that, and this experience almost begs you to look ahead and dream of it being over. I can't wait until I get home. What will I/we do then? What will our lives look like when I'm done? Ect.... But God seems to be speaking to me about not doing that. Stay in the present, or you will miss what I has in store for you/me today. The truth is, I will miss the blessings and ministry of being here if I am always focused on home and next year. It's not an easy shift to make, but I'm starting to recognize it and (hopefully) adjust. I challenge you to do the same in your life. Well, that's it for today. Gotta go for now. We'll talk again soon.

Shower Ministry Update

Sat 16 Jan

Well, let me tell you what happened yesterday with my new "shower ministry." I decided to act on it and went and bought two plastic tupperware containers at the PX. Cost me $4 each. I then filled each one with shampoos, soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, and even a few washcloths that we had in the office. I put a sign on each saying "FREE--take what you need". Then I put each container in a different shower location near my office. I was feeling real proud of myself and then went for a run with my PT buddy. Two hours later I went into the very same shower stall area and was excited to see if anyone had used the stuff. Unfortunately, the entire container was gone. I should have known, but within two hours someone stole the whole thing! I suppose they really needed it. The container in the other location was still there, and there was evidence that people had taken items out of the box. Anyway, I decided not to be mad or disappointed. I will try again. My running partner said he liked the whole idea and volunteered to buy another container. I may talk to the company that runs/cleans the shower areas to see if there is any way we can secure a container to the wall or something like that! Make it a permanent fixture. We'll see.

As for the pictures: I took a picture of the air traffic control tower here because a few people told me recently that this 6-story building is the tallest in all of Afghanistan! There are radio towers and antennas that may be taller, but this is the tallest building in the entire country! Wow. The second picture is of a real Russian junkyard filled with stuff the Russians left behind when they left this country in 1989. But you don't dare go in there -- notice the red sign. It says "MINES". There are many areas around this base where the Russians planted land mines to keep the locals out. Many of those fields are still here. So this stuff sits there and rusts. Pretty cool, huh?