[…]God. I was a modern-day Jonah trying to escape the grasp of God rather than make Him my priority and obey Him. A few weeks before the pirate attack on the Maersk Alabama, my wife asked me how I was coming along in my Bible studies. To my shame, all of the Bible studies I brought with me were stuffed into a cabinet. I was resigned to leafing through the Bible from the beginning, as if reading a novel. Nonetheless, God spoke to me in my sluggishness, catching my attention with the book of Joshua, “Be strong and very courageous. […]
[…]is moral, ethical, and spiritual strength. Most soldiers don’t pray. Most young leaders don’t pray. Not until they stand up to put that snap fastener on the anchor line cable do they start to try and get serious, because when they go out the door they know it’s them, that equipment, and the Lord. Or they don’t pray until they get a contingency mission. When they get to Green Ramp, suddenly the chaplain becomes the most important officer in the unit. They all want to see and talk to him… Most soldiers who fall into this category will enter into […]
[…]things up necessarily, announced, “The chaplain isn’t here yet, so Colonel, you come on up and pray.” I did. Colonels obey command sergeants major if they are smart. Although we had never discussed it, he knew I would be comfortable praying because of the testimony of my life. In each of my assignments, I followed the same script of identifying myself as a Christian as part of my introduction. I also made it a habit to let my actions demonstrate my faith rather than preach with words. It was no secret that I was involved with OCF and the chapel […]
[…]least by ourselves. But we can, and do, seek God’s loving embrace of Darren and his unit, and pray unceasingly that God will grant them safety, good health, strength, courage, and success in their mission. He is truly in God’s hands now. There were so many uncertainties as Darren began his first deployment. We were unsure of the environment and the type of operations he would be involved in. Our minds were full of questions: How would he do? Would he try to be a hero? Would he stay healthy? Would he have access to email or a phone? We […]
[…]give and take. Politics is the art of the possible and a Christian congressman may be honestly, prayerfully, and rightly voting as God leads him while accepting half a loaf rather than no loaf at all. Another danger is single issue voting. It is tempting to use a single-issue litmus test, and because we are inclined to do so, candidates for office tend to say one thing to one constituency and something nuanced quite differently to another. Christians must prayerfully weigh many VUCA issues, and have the humility to recognize that we might not be fully hearing God’s message–or that […]
