21 June
This past weekend was Father's Day. My first without my dad, who died last Fall. My wife and kids and mom sent nice cards and two different care packages to help make it a special day. I appreciated that. It is nice to get stuff from home. I spent some private time in prayer yesterday thanking God for my dad and the man that he was. I have gone through many of the predictable stages on a young man's life and I'm to the point now where I want to be more like my 'ol man and hope that I would have made (or did make) him proud for the kind of dad I have become.
It has also been more than a week since I added to the blog. That's because I was traveling much of the past 6 days. I had an interesting experience that I want to share with you. We visited one of our teams stationed near the edge of the Tora Bora mountain range. I'll try to upload a few pictures soon, if the internet will allow it). You may remember that name as the mountains where the bad guys escaped from our forces back in 2001 or so. We pounded that range with bombs back then, but no luck. Now here I was, standing at the foot of those very same mountains and wondering how things have changed since then, and how the world might have been different had we succeeded?
But we also had the opportunity to have a traditional Afgan meal with some of the local men. Our team at this small FOB had been invited for dinner with some local men, and they allowed us to come along. It was a rare treat. As a Chaplain, I am actually considered to be something like their "mullah" (or religious leader), and so they typically see me and treat me with respect. It's kind of a cool position to be in. Anyway, we actually sat on the floor (on mats) and ate with our hands, using the local bread as our utinsils to scoop the meat or beans out of the bowls. It was quite delicious, I must admit. But messy. I had it all over my pant legs. Oh well. You will see from the pictures how our hosts served us (in bare feet), walking on the same floor that we ate off of! Bugs were flying in and out of this small hut, and a cat tried to walk in the front door! But I have to say, the people here can be very friendly and generous. They have so little, and yet they gladly gave to us out of their hospitality. It was neat to experience that. It made me think of Jesus reclining at the table with his disciples. They probably had something similar to eat, and the room might have felt somethink like what I experienced that night as well.
This past weekend was Father's Day. My first without my dad, who died last Fall. My wife and kids and mom sent nice cards and two different care packages to help make it a special day. I appreciated that. It is nice to get stuff from home. I spent some private time in prayer yesterday thanking God for my dad and the man that he was. I have gone through many of the predictable stages on a young man's life and I'm to the point now where I want to be more like my 'ol man and hope that I would have made (or did make) him proud for the kind of dad I have become.
It has also been more than a week since I added to the blog. That's because I was traveling much of the past 6 days. I had an interesting experience that I want to share with you. We visited one of our teams stationed near the edge of the Tora Bora mountain range. I'll try to upload a few pictures soon, if the internet will allow it). You may remember that name as the mountains where the bad guys escaped from our forces back in 2001 or so. We pounded that range with bombs back then, but no luck. Now here I was, standing at the foot of those very same mountains and wondering how things have changed since then, and how the world might have been different had we succeeded?
But we also had the opportunity to have a traditional Afgan meal with some of the local men. Our team at this small FOB had been invited for dinner with some local men, and they allowed us to come along. It was a rare treat. As a Chaplain, I am actually considered to be something like their "mullah" (or religious leader), and so they typically see me and treat me with respect. It's kind of a cool position to be in. Anyway, we actually sat on the floor (on mats) and ate with our hands, using the local bread as our utinsils to scoop the meat or beans out of the bowls. It was quite delicious, I must admit. But messy. I had it all over my pant legs. Oh well. You will see from the pictures how our hosts served us (in bare feet), walking on the same floor that we ate off of! Bugs were flying in and out of this small hut, and a cat tried to walk in the front door! But I have to say, the people here can be very friendly and generous. They have so little, and yet they gladly gave to us out of their hospitality. It was neat to experience that. It made me think of Jesus reclining at the table with his disciples. They probably had something similar to eat, and the room might have felt somethink like what I experienced that night as well.
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