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?

New Ministry Opportunities

Fri. 15 Jan 2010,
It has been a fast week. Lots of stuff going on here for me, as it seems the pace suddenly picked up. I added a few ministry opportunities this week, including a worship service for my specific unit on Saturday nights. It starts tomorrow. I will try to do this weekly, but obviously there will be times when I'm traveling and unable to do it here -- in which case I will probably offer a service or something similar to the Soldiers I'm visiting. Either way, it will keep me busy.

I also made a move to promote and possibly show the two movies from Sherwood Baptist Church: Facing the Giants (the football movie) and Fireproof (about marriage). I purchased the site license agreements for both movies before leaving home for this very reason: so I could show the movies to Soldiers over here. We may advertise and show them at the main Chapel for anyone and everyone to attend. I want to show the football movie near the SuperBowl and the marriage movie near Valentine's Day. However, my Brigade Chaplain (i.e., boss) is hinting that she'd like me to do some religious education along with the Fireproof movie. In other words, I may be giving a marriage seminar over here in a few weeks! I'm excited for the opportunity, but a little overwhelmed, too. I'll keep you posted.

I am attaching a picture of the sign posted outside my office door. Just for kicks.

This morning I saw something that saddened me. We allow many local national men to come on base and work here. They have to pass a screening and security clearance and then carry an ID card at all times. Most are good guys just trying to support their families. Some are not so good, however. Every now and then the MPs have to remove someone from the base who snuck on or sole something, etc... Anyway, we allow them to utilize the bathrooms and shower facilities when they are here. And this morning I saw a gentleman come into the shower stall and take a shower. I was finishing up, so I know he was in there and the water was running. However, he did not have a towel nor did he have any soap or shampoo. Nothing. He just got wet. Then he got out as I was brushing my teeth and he put his old clothes back on -- while he was still wet. His shirt and pants acted as his towel. I felt bad for him because it was in the low 20s outside and bitter cold. I wanted to offer him my towel and soap -- but that thought lasted only a fraction of a second! On second thought... maybe I'll bring extra shower items next time I'm in there in the mornings. We have so many bars of soap and toothpaste and extra toilitries in the Chaplain's office from care package donations that I can't give it away fast enough. Sometimes we even have towels. So I think I see a ministry opportunity here for these guys. I can't speak their language -- so I don't know how to tell him that he smelled just as bad when he came out of the shower as he did when he went in -- but maybe I can give away some soap and shampoo? We'll see how it goes. Keep this one in prayer, too. See ya later.

Monday brings a new week

11 Jan 2010 (Monday)

Yesterday was a very long day. I went to three worship services, two of them lasted almost 2 hours each! I finally made it back to my room around 10:30 pm, which is late for me. But speaking of my room, I was very pleased that I got some new carpet for my "personal space." They were selling small area rugs at the PX, and I got the last blue one. (See picture). I know it's not much, but at least it makes the floor warmer when you have to get up in the morning (or middle of the night, if you know what I mean).

Well, I did finish The Shack this past weekend as well. And I must say, overall I really enjoyed it. I tried to put myself into Mack's shoes as he was experiencing the Lord in the story. I can sort of relate as I feel like God is changing me somewhat through a tough experience, and so I found myself trying to absorb it more than if I were just skimming it. I probably was not ready for this story a year ago, and God knew that. So I'm glad I came back around to it a year later. Anyway, I won't take up anymore time here except to say it was well worth it for me, and I recommend it to you as well.

I'll be preaching again this upcoming weekend, and my text will be from John 5:1-16 (the healing at the pool). I found it interesting to realize that Jesus went up to the one man who could not help himself. And then he waited for the man to state his needs. It's not like He didn't already know the answer--He did--but he won't force Himself on us (see Rev. 3:20). Did you ever notice that before?

The second picture is of the view of my neighborhood from my font door! (See all the rows of B-Huts and the mountains beyond). The mountains were very clear that day when I took this picture (due to a brisk breeze blowing through here). Many days it's pretty hazy, since we're so close to an airport. Unfortunately this small picture does not capture the moment very well.

And finally, I will be starting a seminary class on-line this upcoming week as well. It will help keep me busy, which is a good thing! So please continue to keep me and all of the Troops over here in your prayers. Thank you.

9 Jan
Nothing much new to report, except that I am more than half-way done with my new book, The Shack. It is interesting. The main character has an experience with God as the Trinity that will make your mind spin a little bit to try to process it all. It reminds me of Theology class somewhat because it goes into pretty deep stuff like the nature of love between the three persons of the Trinity (God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit). It's been a pretty good read so far. I'm curious to see how it all comes together and wraps up. And yes, I would recommend it for anyone who wants to go deeper into their understanding of God -- because it will challenge your assumptions and understanding of God. Whether you agree with it or not is a different story! Also, if you've been through one of those experiences in life where you felt God abandoned you, or does not love you, then I recommend you read it as well.

I work with a bunch of Soldiers from Texas who were very disappointed with the college football National Championship game yesterday. (Univ. of Texas lost to Alabama). It was shown live here on Friday morning, so a bunch of us got up early and watched it, including our battalion commander. It was fun to not have any interest in the outcome (since my Michigan team was long since out of it), and to see just how biased fanatic fans can become when their team is losing. Every penalty against Texas drew various boos and hisses and comments that I cannot repeat here. Several people even apologized to the Chaplain for their outbursts! Oh well, it made for a good diversion and some early morning fun. Perhaps my Wolverines will be in the title game next year! (There's always hoping in next year!)

It has been over a year since I started this blog when I went off to the Chaplain school last January. You might remember Doug, my "battle buddy" during that program. He's getting ready to come over here, too, for a lengthy deployment. He won't be stationed where I'm at, but I'll get to see him on his way through here and on on occassional trips. So please lift him up in prayers, as well as his family, because the leaving part is hard. I know what he's going through!

Ok, well, thanks for hanging in there with me and for all the encouragement and prayers from back home. I/we need it and appreciate it. Thanks again.

The Shack

6 Jan 10

Here's me in my blue and gold sleeping cap. Some women from the midwest knitted hundreds of those and sent them over here. Our Soldiers grabbed them up fast. It's warm and comfy, no matter how silly I look!

I returned from a quick trip to visit a Soldier this afternoon, and still feel airsick from the return flight. Many of the contract pilots here (such as the guys who work for Blackwater) are all former military, and they like to do what is called a "combat approach" or "combat landing" (depending on who you talk to). Forget about the slow, easy descent into the airport, all nicely lined up straight. Nope. They either drop out of the sky at a crazy speed right on top of the runway, or they circle it a few times and land from an angle while skimming the tree trops like a crop duster. Of course I'm exaggerating, but not much. Our pilot today did the latter, and it affected me. Have you ever been airsick, or motion sick? That cold and clammy feeling that comes over you, and sweat starts beeding up on your forehead. Yeah, I can relate. (I need to lay down!)

Ok, but now the really interesting thing I wanted to share today. As I have stated before, I am aware that God is speaking to me through books recently, and He's doing something in my life to prepare me for what lies ahead. I don't know how to explain that, but I can feel it. I have found myself on this reading kick, and I've gone through about 5 books already since being here (over 2 months now). In the past two weeks I have had three people tell me I need to read the book, The Shack. My response has been the same: No thanks. You see, I started it about a year ago when my mom gave it to me, but I could not finish it due to the sensitive nature of the storyline and having a 7-yr old daughter of my own (a 7-yr old daughter dies in the book). So I initially put it down and decided to move on. But recently it has been coming back to me, and the theme of walking with God and being on a spiritual journey has been prevalent with me.

So there I was yesterday, sitting in the airport terminal over here, waiting for my flight (and reading a different book), when this total stranger -- and I mean complete stranger -- sits down next to me and asks me if I have read The Shack? Out of the blue! He tells me he just finished it and loved it. (He was the third person of the three I mentioned above). I was a little bit creeped-out by this, and kept wondering what's going on? I believe God can orchestrate weird things in our lives, sometimes to get our attention, like a visit from a stranger (an angel perhaps? Could be). So then we land at the other FOB and I go to check in with the Chaplain's office there and low and behold, guess what book he had on his shelf? You got it... The Shack. And he gave it to me right then and there. He did not care for it, and wanted to get rid of it. (I've aready started reading it again).

Now, I'm not sure if you believe in God, or that God can speak to us through other people and events, or even books, but I do. And I'm listening. I don't really want to read through the pain of the first 70 pages of this book, but I'm going to push through it to see what God wants me to find in this story. So hang in there with me, I'll let you know.

Theological Ramblings

2 Jan 09
A friend of mine recently told me she is struggling with her faith, largely because it is hard to see the hand of God in the middle of all this pain and suffering and evil in the world. I can understand why she feels this way, although I tried to encourage her to reconnect with God and to hang in there. This is a tough issue for theologians to tackle, too. How do we reconcile a pure and loving God with the existence or presence of evil in this world? In other words, why does God allow it? And if He could truly stop it, then why doesn't He? And the answer is simple... I don't know. We may never know. But in His Sovereign Plan (or Providence), there does appear to be a place for suffering and Satan does seem to have a little wiggle room to do his evil work. What is do know is this: If God did not even spare his own son, Jesus, from pain and suffering, then it is naive and arrogant to believe that He will somehow spare me from it.

I believe in the truths of Scripture that tell me three things: (1) God is love, (2) There is a thief [Satan] who comes to steal, kill, and destroy, and (3) God can use all things for His glory and my/our benefit, even pain and suffering. These three things help me get through some of my own faith battles. But I also know that when I am discouraged, Satan initiated it and he's the one who hopes to benefit from it. In other words, Satan wants me out of the game because I'm playing ball on God's team, not his. Therefore, when I'm under spiritual attack (see Ephesians 6:10-18), then I must be doing something right. The Devil will leave you alone if you're of no threat to him. So maybe we need to look at discouragement as a blessing, because we know who the discouragement comes from and why.

Interestingly, my devotional today was on Elijah losing his faith and wanting to quit the ministry (1 Kings 19). But the interesting thing is that God questions Elijah (twice) about why he's running away from the battle (and one of the greatest displays of God's power in the entire Bible--see 1 Kings 18:16-40), and then God does not accept Elijah's resignation. In fact, the Lord gives him more work (three more assignments). I don't think I ever noticed that before today. We know God ultimately takes Elijah home in he flaming chariot, but not quite yet. Why? Perhaps it's because God did not want him to end on a down note? Or that He wanted his prophet to know that he was not alone in the ministry, as he believed? Or maybe because there was simply more work to be done? Perhaps it's all three. Do you suppose He does the same for you and me?

Finally, a very tragic incident took place last week over here (not too far from me, in fact) that hit the news back home. I can't discuss it here, and althought I was not there, I was still affected by it. We all were. My assistant is taking my physical security very seriously now, to the point that she even escorted me to the latrine the other night. OK, kind of weird... but necessary. That's her job as my "bodyguard." I appreciate her seriousness and desire to keep me safe. Please continue praying for our safety, and for the safety of all the service men and women over here. We need that prayer coverage!