CHAPLAIN'S CHAT

Chaplain James R. Lewis, Brigade Chaplain
serving in Iraq for a second tour and representing the East Ohio and Florida Conferences.

Police Story

We have an MP (Military Police) unit here that I work with a bit, whose job it is to train IP (Iraqi Police) in “police work.”  I asked one of the sergeants there who is involved in that work how it’s going, and he said it is hard and discouraging.  I explored further what he meant by that, and he said “They have no concept of crime scene work, investigations and the like…”  He went on to tell me that some were great and on the ball, while his assessment of others was “Once they decide they want to do something, they’ll do fine.”  We talked a bit further, leaving me intrigued, eager to know more, yet needing to find a more appropriate avenue for my kind of questions.

For instance I wonder—if these IP guys have no concept of what passes for investigating SOP and “justice” on our side of the pond, is it because such concepts are so foreign to a culture shaped by decades of the police being a tool of oppression by the State, rather then being their police being an “Officer Friendly,” or is police work just so foreign to the experience of the IP trainees they have?  I’m inclined to think the former—but you are of course getting it as a second-hand report from one unofficial source. 

It makes me wonder that there may actually be some value to police dramas on TV:  At least in our culture, inundated with a lifetime of police dramas, comic books and superheroes whose stated and demonstrated purpose is to fight for “truth, justice, and the American Way,”—even if we have little or no direct experience with the justice system, we have a passing familiarity with such basic concepts as the value of objective investigations and “justice.”  This might not be the case in a culture whose lifetime experience of police “is” (making a BIG assumption here…) that their job is to merely ferret out those who are perceived to be enemies of the State, rather than having a real interest in being an investigative and enforcement force, intended to keep the civil public safe from criminal elements.

On the one hand, I wonder how much of “our” idea of “justice” and “impartial” police work, is merely “western culture and values,” that if we were to train the IP guy in it, would be some kind of “cultural imperialism.”  On the other hand, since “human rights” as we understand them, including concepts of “justice” we are familiar with, is foundational the UN charter, so helping in this direction is following  the UN pattern…

Sometimes my brain hurts when trying to unravel all the intricacies of the situation here, and this is one of those times.  I’m afraid I have more questions than inspiration this time around.  But sometimes questions lead to inspiration, so we’re getting there indirectly, right?

Keep being a blessing-
CH Lewis

P.S.—A little note on the Christmas Stocking project I mentioned last time—when I asked for items “in bulk,” I merely mean to have you send items such as candy still in its commercial packaging, and not having you send stockings already “stuffed”—we need to stuff the stocking here for quality control and security purposes.

08.21.08

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ARCHIVES

08.14.08 - Christmas is Coming!

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Christmas is Coming!

Christmas is just around the corner!  Well, maybe not…UNLESS you are trying to put together Christmas Stockings for thousands of Soldiers—THEN it starts sneaking up real quick!  Some of you may recall from my first deployment when I was in Afghanistan, a project I helped a little with called “Operation Christmas Stocking,” in which the sr. Chaplain in Afghanistan whom I worked with for a short time, was trying to get stockings to all the Service Members in that theater of operations.  That was about 10,000 at the time.  Unfortunately I left before I could see how that turned out.

But I was inspired.  This time I decided I wanted to do the same for the Soldiers under my care.  Not quite that many, but still a lot—our home unit is relatively small, but we would like to provide stockings for all personnel coming under our care.  With those numbers and transitioning units included, we’re looking at needing about 5,000 stockings to care for our troops.  While that sounds like a lot, our people have a lot of groups and churches eager to help, so it should be an exciting, yet easily manageable project.

In order to keep it manageable, we’ve checked with our Soldiers to put together a list of what they would like Santa to bring them (though we unfortunately had to edit out SOME of their requests!).  PLEASE restrict your Christmas Cheer to just what is on the list so that Santa’s Elves in uniform can have a manageable job of sorting things and stuffing the stockings!  For those of you or your friends who are craftily oriented, we have three projects that you could dig your fingers into:  mini-prayer shawls, Ecumenical Rosaries, and ACU stockings (see attached).  Unfortunately I don’t have the links or patterns for the first two projects, but I’ll keep working on that and send it soon.

Christmas away from home can be hard, and I’m hoping that this project can help bring a little of the comfort of the Christmas Spirit to our Soldiers whom I doubt will get a “White Christmas” (that song was also a Solders’ Christmas project).  With your help, we can make it happen, and make it memorable.  Thank you for all you do!

Keep being a blessing-
CH Lewis

Operation Christmas Spirit Stocking Stuffer Ideas:

(Please remember in ALL your items that this is a CHAPLAIN sponsored RELIGIOUS SUPPORT program.  I don’t mean that we can’t have any fun with it, but be mindful of what kind of fun would be appropriate for this kind of program.  Also, as these Stockings will be given to ALL Soldiers under our the care of the 371st, we need to be respectful of the “religious pluralism” that is essential to maintain in order to ensure continued Chaplain ministry.  I will be putting together a carefully worded CHRISTMAS (not “holiday”) card to go with each to point to the Star of Christmas, and the real meaning of Christmas, but this must be carefully worded, so let me take care of that end.

• DVDs—preferably Christmas themed movies, cartoons
• CDs—preferably Christmas themed; the Christmas comedy types will be great, but be careful with them, as some can be inappropriate for a CHAPLAIN sponsored project
• SMALL travel/office/desk games, brain-bender puzzles
• Gift cards:  books, movies, music download, etc.
• Gift cards: Restaurants Present where we are:  Subway, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Green Bean Café (Other restaurant cards might be nice, but would be inaccessible until the Soldier gets home)
• SMALL bottles of flavored syrups for coffee
• Pocket packs of tissue
• Gum
• Christmas soaps
• Slim Jim
• Tooth brush holders
• Hard candy
• Baggage name tags
• Puzzle books- Suduku, word games
• White CREW length socks, no logos
• Do any of you have connections with movie stars and the like—letters from THEM would be really cool!
• Mini prayer shawls

PLEASE keep your gifts within these categories to simplify our process.  For security purposes, you must send stockings UNSTUFFED, and the stuffing items in BULK, preferably in commercial packaging.  Temperatures are still HOT here, and our storage facilities are not ready until October.  Please don’t ship until the middle of September.  Packages take about a week to get here.  Please try to have items here by the end of October so we will have time to sort and stuff.

Our address here is:

Operation Christmas Spirit
c/o  CH (MAJ) James Lewis
HHC, 371st SUS BDE
UNIT # 73408
APO AE  09333

Thank you SO much, and Keep being a blessing!
CH Lewis, Al Asad, Iraq

08.06.08 - Don't FRET, Make Music

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Don't FRET, Make Music

I was at a bible study last night in which we sang a song with a line saying don’t “FRET” as a person of faith, alluding to Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount.  Considering that we’re out in the middle of nowhere and haven’t had an attack in ages, we don’t really feel much of a FRET here! Yet people still tend to FRET over situations they left on the home front.

As a part of that service, we sang that song last night to the tune of two guitars whose beautiful music was only possible because of the skillful managing of the FRETS on their necks.  A light popped on in my head—perhaps faith is much like a guitar.

I’ve tried several times to learn how to play guitar.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve broken guitar strings, trying to tighten them just so to get the right sound.  Everything about a guitar is shaped by or for stress:  notice the wood of the sides of the sound box—trees don’t grow like that!  To shape those curves entails very skilled use of stressors.  It is the strings that precipitate the music of a guitar, but they can sing only when stressed to just shy of the breaking point. The neck must be built to handle the tension of the guitar’s six or twelve strings, stressed thusly.  The strings only sing when both stressed and further disturbed in their stressed state to cause vibrations.  What results is actually very quiet—until the sound box does its job—its whole purpose to magnify the volume, or make much greater and more evident, the explosion of tensions from this small scale orchestra of stress.  Yet it is all still merely noise until this microcosm of violence is harnessed by further selective pressure, forcing the stressed strings across the backs of the guitar’s frets. Notice too, that the more stressed the system becomes—either with harder strumming or with more strings, the more the music, the fuller the sound.

With inspired and spiritual use, a guitar can harness FRETS to turn these disturbed tensions into tunes that feed our spirits:  the noise that results from strings tightened almost to the breaking point, then further disturbed, is transformed into music as carefully applied additional pressure uses a FRET to harness the combined stressors.  Likewise, as with a guitar, when we entrust our FRETS into God’s skillful hands, He can then use them to transform the combined stressors in our lives into our own spiritual song.

Transforming stressors in the desert into music-
CH Lewis

08.04.08 - Holey Grounds Hospitality House—Coffee, Golf and Spiritual Sustenance

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Today is the grand (re)opening of the “Holey Grounds Hospitality House—Coffee, Golf and Spiritual Sustenance.”  Our predecessors had recently put in a coffee shop in a trailer out back— with the transition being now complete, that space was entrusted to our Ministry Team as space to be used for religious support.  We’ll be having chapel and bible studies out there, but also doing “Hospitality Ministries” with a coffee shop too.  We’re not exactly sure what that means yet—but it SOUNDS good, and it is greatly multiplying opportunities for the ministry team to have more than passing interactions with a broader range of our people than merely the “churchy types.”

The space happens to also have a small driving range out back—it’s currently defunct, but not for long!  I had heard rumors of golf on some posts, so brought some clubs along.  People laughed at me when I said they were for “religious support.”  But don’t ya know that people OFTEN call upon the name of the Lord when they are golfing already!  We’ll just be turning that long-standing tradition into a POSITIVE spiritual experience.  You may be familiar with the Catholic tradition of “Stations of the Cross”—a structured journey through extended, guided prayer and meditation.  Well, what if you set up a similar kind of guided prayer and meditation with each tee and ball?  Hence the name “HOLEY Grounds”—Coffee, Golf and so much MORE!

So send us your prayers and golf balls to help this ministry of hospitality and more, that it will bear much fruit (rather than just being “fruity”!)

Keep being a blessing--
CH Lewis

07.24.08 - Mundania

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Mundania

Have you ever noticed that when Hollywood puts out war movies or shows, they always focus on the combat world? I guess there are a few notable exceptions-- like that Navy detective show, but except for the occasional title or flash of brass, you wouldn’t know it had anything to do with the military, so that doesn’t really count. Yet in reality the great majority of military duties and situations are support roles, rather than combat roles.

That is the case for us here. We do have some people on this post going out on patrols or doing air operations, but even so, many more are involved in providing the support systems and supplies than are going out to do “combat.”

Support is a dirty job (I can’t describe how dirty it is with all the endless dust!), but somebody’s got to do it. Sometimes the biggest excitement is running across a scorpion when you’re going to the shower at night in your flip flops (I decided to go in my running shoes when I heard about that one!), unless, of course, you go to the chapel services, and then we’re talking some REAL excitement!

The ancient tradition of monks going out to the desert is a tradition of going to the desert to fight the demons, as that’s where the demons lived (in a SPIRITUAL sense, not in a mortal sense—I remind people over and over again that the vast majority of the people here are normal, ordinary folk trying to raise their families in peace—with a handful of very slippery and violent trouble-makers who blend in too easily). A lot of the counseling I do involves fighting those demons within—facing the loneliness in the emptiness sometimes brings out the worst in people, or forces us to face what we may have been spending a lifetime trying to run away from.

So my tales will not be so much of the battlefield—my wife and mom are VERY pleased to know I won’t be spending time there, though I will have a front row seat! But the human and spiritual battles waged in desert fighting are not limited to those fought with bombs and bullets. And while tales of valiant heroes in combat are admirable, those are not the lives that most of us live. Most of us are just hoping to keep our head above water a little bit longer, and make sense out of our mundane messes. And life on the base in the desert is mundania in the extreme. So if THOSE battles can be won—now THAT’s good news!

Supporting with the rest of them—
CH Lewis

07.18.08 - Arrived at Last!

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Arrived at last!

I can at long last see the full moon shining in the clear Iraq sky.  We have finally made it to Al Asad, Iraq.  A real bed in our “permanent” housing was a welcome change to two and a half months of transitional living.  We are all excited to not only get into our “permanent” housing, but to our “permanent” mission as well.  Yet the transiency continues in that much of our “permanent” mission is all about transitions.

You may not see it on the news, but attacks out west are now down to one tenth of what they had been just a few months ago, and the effectiveness of those attacks is down much more than that.  (Al Asad is the largest base in the Al Anbar province, covering all of the desert west of Iraq about the size of Texas).  While some might think it helpful politically to keep using the language of “war” to describe the current conflict in Iraq, the practical reality as I see it here appears to be better described with “peacekeeping”/ “peacemaking” terminology.

That doesn’t mean “our job is done here”—not at all!  But if you are looking for good news and progress from over here, ask the media why they are hiding it, because the progress is remarkable and obvious—on THIS end at least!

One’s personal and spiritual growth is often much like progress in this conflict.  It can be painfully slow and costly, and as soon as you start to see some progress, somebody tries to shoot you down.  But if you persist—you can finally see progress, IF you look in the right places.  But if you look only at the obstacles, the obstacles are all you will see.  Sometimes people don’t want you to see your own progress—so they keep pointing out shortcomings and ignoring progress—and if you listen to them enough, you might even start to believe them.

Be careful that you are intentional to look past obstacles and look for distinct signs of progress—he who has ears, let him hear, s/he who has eyes, let him/her see.

Keep being a blessing, and keep on praying!
CH Lewis

07.08.08 - Finding the Good: How to read the news

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Finding the Good: How to read the news

The “Stars and Stripes” newspaper is our lifeline over here, and sure, some would say “But it’s the ‘Stars and Stripes,’ after all...” as if it is somehow a less-than-reputable news source. While ALL news sources have their biases (CNN, once known for solid reporting, is often referred to as the “Communist News Network”), like most news sources, Stars and Stripes draws from a variety of news services, as you will see in my citations.

But in light of what is too often thought of derogatorily as an endless war with no visible progress, a careful reading of the news reveals a different picture, if you look for it. All these articles are from less than a week’s time. One day’s issue alone had at least six SEPARATE articles noting progress in Iraq, with at least three additional articles in the same issue demonstrating progress on other fronts in the War on Terror. Another day had at least three separate articles demonstrating progress. I’ve noticed similar articles from other news sources this week as well, but don’t have space for all of it. In addition to the following articles, and equally noteworthy, is that the daily tally of Coalition deaths has been remarkably empty. From this past week:

“About $325 million worth of projects are underway to address critical needs in Anbar province...It’s just these kinds of infrastructure programs that are needed to cement the security gains made in the province, both Iraqi and American officials say;” these projects include ten school projects awarded in the past two weeks alone. (Cindy Fisher, “Focus in Anbar is Infrastructure,” Stars and Stripes, July 2, 2008.)

Blast walls torn down in Hawijah earlier this year: “Despite worries about what would happen, the area’s security improvements continued. Both roadside bomb and rocket and mortar attacks are down about 90 percent from when the unit (First of the 87th Infantry) arrived...(the commander) is certain that removing the walls was critical.” (James Warden, “A Winning Strategy,” Stars and Stripes, 4 July 2008.)

“At Camp Victory outside Baghdad (on July 4), 1,215 US troops re-enlisted in a mass swearing-in ceremony led by top US war commander Gen. David Petraeus.” (AP, How Troops in Iraq mark the Fourth of July,” 5 July 2008)

“Baghdad—Iraq’s prime minister said Saturday that the government has defeated insurgents in the country, a sign of growing confidence after recent crackdowns against Sunni extremists and Shiite militias.” (Sebastian Abbot, AP, “Prime Minister: Government has Defeated Insurgents in Iraq,” 6 July 2008)

Headline: “Soccer game shows unity, progress in Iraq” (James Warden, Stars and Stripes, 6 July 2008), citing “the area (Hawijah) was once one of the region’s worst. Now American soldiers could play (local Iraqis) on Iraqi soccer fields in their shorts and T-shirts.”

Headline: “UAE cancels Iraq’s debt, appoints new ambassador” (Qassim Abdul-Zahra, AP, 7 July 2008), the moving being “part of a recent warming between Iraq’s Shiite-led government and its mostly Sunni Muslim neighbors,” and is mirrored by similar actions by Jordan, Kuwait, and Bahrain.

Other headlines, same paper: “Studying for a better future: Pilot program helps ‘Sons of Iraq’ learn literary skills to land jobs,” (James Warden, Stars and Stripes), “Iraqi boy’s first swim a sign of progress,” (Sebastian Abbot, AP, at one of several public pools and parks reopening in Baghdad), “Iraqis again partaking of alcohol,” (Laith Hammoudi, McClatchy Newspapers; alcohol consumption had been suppressed by extremist terrorists, now that they are under control, businesses are selling again), “Iraq’s government makes progress at its own pace,” (AP—that pace is frustrating, but it is still marked progress).

Please pardon the lengthiness of my note this time, but I just had to share what all too often seems to go unnoticed. And if you are thinking that the article about re-enlistments is out of place, think again: I find it remarkable that so many would re-enlist at one time, knowing full well what they are getting into, but doing so nonetheless, because they are excited about what they are a part of here and the progress they are seeing. After all, how many people re-enlist on a sinking ship? It doesn’t happen.

To quote one of those Wise Ones of old: “He who has ears, let him hear.” Thank you for supporting your Peacemakers working among the Children of Abraham.

CH Lewis

07.03.08 - On the Road to Building Peace

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On the Road to Building Peace

We tumbled out of the airplane to a very gray dawn. Though the hour was early, the sun would have been shining brightly, except for the gray haze from the dust hanging in the air. The heat was only in the 90’s at that early hour, but it quickly rose to be much worse. Fresh from Wisconsin, we are all feeling thoroughly baked, but rumor has it that the weather has been rather mild lately, staying only in the 120 range. It would be nice if it were “only a dry heat”—here in Kuwait, though, we still have too much humidity in the air.

We are in Kuwait for a couple weeks to help get us acclimated to the environment and do some more train-up—nothing really new, but doing the same drills in the heat this time is a part of the acclimatization process. Last time here, I arrived in January—BIG difference in getting adjusted from arriving in JULY!

Tomorrow is our Independence Day, so here we are, defending our freedom on distant shores. I wish people could understand that regardless of one’s personal politics or preferences when in comes to fighting our nation’s battles, that it’s the civilians on the home front that make the decisions that send your sons, daughters, wives and husbands out to fight. On this side of the uniform, we tend to recognize that it is our job to serve wherever our Commander sends us.

To those of you and your friends who are uncomfortable with this “war” and are much more interested in making peace— good news! The “war” is over (and has been for some time!) I wish that our society and media would realize that, and realize that we are now involved in peace-keeping and peace-making operations. The debates of whether we should or should not be here, and of what mistakes were and were not made, are irrelevant at this point—we are in a situation in which we have some responsibility to clean up the mess, and we are doing that much more effectively than one is generally led to believe from the media.

Last deployment I was honored to be able to support our Soldiers as their Chaplain as they patrolled the Valley of the Shadow of Death. This time, I am thrilled to not only be supporting the Soldiers in harm’s way, I am also thrilled to be able to be a part of building peace in a society torn and scarred by too much bloodshed. It still takes time human capitol to work toward peace.

“Blessed are the Peacemakers”—even if we are melting in our own sweat!

06.27.08 - Training Videos

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Training Videos

The drive was far too long, but the Army, unwilling to miss out on a training opportunity, used the bus’s DVD player as a training aid. The first training aid was the movie “300.” Some of the soldiers on the packed bus may have been thinking more of the entertainment value of the movie, but I’m SURE the intent was as a training aid. Not that the movie could have been new to any of us- it has been by far the most popular movie that I’ve seen played more times than I can count in these past couple months’ train-up. I would dare say that most of these soldiers have seen the movie more than they’ve been to my worship services, so you might say some of them watch it religiously!

It’s a good movie to glimpse into the mind of the soldier, which is probably why it is so appreciated by this crowd. When it comes to duty, love of country, and the loyalty to and love of family that drives people, soldiers just think differently than others, and this film taps well into that “Battlemind” as the Army might call it. The other training videos (that actually WERE “training videos,”) were “Voices from Iraq,” and “Alive Day.” In 2004, 150 video cameras were handed out to Iraqis to tell their own story in their own words and images, and “Voices From Iraq” is the result. If it is, in fact, a good cross-section of the mind of Iraq’s populace as it claims, it gives a very different perspective than what is usually conveyed on popular media, and is well worth the look.

The last of these training videos, “Alive Day,” told the stories of ten Soldiers who had been seriously wounded in Iraq. Though each was permanently changed by their losses in Iraq, the tone of their stories was surprisingly upbeat, conveying less of a sense of loss, and more of a sense of satisfaction and pride in the Soldiers and Marines whose stories it told, doing their part. One wheel-chair bound Marine among the stories refused to hide the scars on his head as a sign of pride in his service, another voiced a theme common with others, saying “I can’t wait to go back, and finish what I started.”

With these images floating through our heads as we return from one last visit home before our eminent departure, we are not so much “cheered on,” as setting our faces toward the east with a grim determination. It is a calm of resolve going willingly into the face of danger and sacrifice that sets the Soldier apart, that lets me go forth in total confidence, that makes me proud to be numbered among them: “Greater love has no one than this…” proclaimed the Most Wise One of old. Not to make light of the sacrifice, but I daresay those going with me (including myself!) are planning on PICKING UP our lives once again upon our return!

But to my son whom I left in tears this morning, to my even younger daughter, facing our separation bravely with barely hidden tears, to my wife, for whom words cannot express the depth of love with which she lets me go, I go with the reminder that God put us here for more than just ourselves, but for something which transcends the year of our separation. And if a movie can help convey a sense of that, perhaps it is worth the viewing in spite of its bloody graphics. I ask only that you send us forth with your prayers, and be reassured by the One who holds us in the palm of His hand, even through the valley of the shadow of death.

On our way- CH Lewis

6/11/08 - Catching Up

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Catching Up

We’re still at Ft McCoy, and will be for a few weeks yet. The Powers That Be are doing their best to ensure that we are well-trained and well-equipped to help get us all back in one piece (they’ve told us how much of a headache in paperwork it is if something were to happen to one of us!). So now’s a good time to do a little catch up.

I returned from my first deployment, technically in Jan. ‘06, though we were blessed to be able to have Christmas together (though not at home). I spent some time doing some extra Army work and schooling before finally settling on using my Army educational benefits to go back to school. Coming back from a year away, time was more important than money, so between Karol’s talent at helping us live on a shoestring and her graciousness and patience with me, I embarked on this new adventure.

My Master’s degree this time gave me the flexibility to study the big mystery of the relationship between religion, culture and terrorism in the Middle East--the role of religion in setting the stage for the mess, and in providing avenues for conflict resolution. I took this path in part as I was trying to understand what could warp an otherwise decent religion and people, and drive some of them (MOST by far just want to take care of their families and raise them right just like you and me) to blow themselves and their neighbors apart. I also took this path in part because I figured I would probably be going back, and wanted some more tools in my Chaplain’s tool kit to put to use. And since I have delusions of grandeur, I had to find a way to show that religion has a central role to play in this conflict’s resolution, that we Chaplains are not merely “extras” in this grand drama.

On the side of a rocky gorge as I drive to Kent State (assuming I were doing so, rather than “driving” to work in Iraq!), a character named Paul McCartney is quoted in neatly painted graffiti as saying “I fear that religion causes wars.” I’ve been contemplating those words day in and day out for years now, just because I’m weird that way, and have seen them almost every day for years; I also feel driven to contemplate them in that as a professional religionist, that those words might “possibly” be true is very irritating.

My tentative conclusion for some time in response to those words, and now that I am even more betterly edumucated, not only as a professional religionist, but a professional pluralist, is that there is a least a HINT of truth therein. From a broader perspective of being committed to a particular religion, yet dealing with a variety of religious perspectives, my working definition of “religion” includes “that which holds ultimate importance and gives meaning to a person’s life.” In that sense religion can “cause” war—but then how sad would it be to have nothing to live for, hence, nothing worthy of dying for?

I would say a more accurate understanding would be that religion provides the context in which wars are fought, and that any form of religion can be manipulated to “inspire” people to fight. Yet many religions also provide a rich set of tools for conflict resolution and making peace that can also be readily tapped into. My mission for the past two years, and now for this coming year, has been to understand those dynamics, and to tap into that rich set of tools provided by both Islam and Christianity, to work toward making peace in Iraq.

Keep being a blessing in your way too-
CH Jim Lewis

6/4/08 - Two hours before “oh-dark-thirty”

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Two hours before “oh-dark-thirty”

“Oh-dark-thirty” comes early enough here at Ft. McCoy as we are preparing to go to Iraq. But we started out on our big “road march” about two hours BEFORE “oh-dark-thirty” that morning. There was a little grumbling the day before—but not as much as I would have expected. When we got out there in the middle of the night, I felt sorry for the soldiers in the barracks nearby, with still a couple hours of sleep to go. Our crew was so loud, boisterous, highly motivated, I don’t know how anyone on the block could have slept through it—even though it was in the middle of the night!

We started off at a brisk pace with weapons and full body armor. We were still just shy of running (some were running!) when we got back. We formed up just in time to stand at attention, salute and render honors to morning reville, and still made it to breakfast before many of the soldiers on post. Even our short-legged, in questionable shape laggers made it in good time!

It is amazing what a little encouragement will do. Had people being doing the march on their own, we would have had VERY different results. But going in the GROUP, a group that was motivated, and cheering each other on, even brought in those we were worried would have a hard time or whom we thought might not even make it at all. Such encouragement is a powerful tool for the Army. It can also be a powerful tool in your personal life, your family life, your spiritual life. Who is encouraging you to help you through your life’s trials? Who is encouraging you to help you through your family’s trials or your marital struggles? Who is encouraging you as you wrestle with the angels of God?

On the road to Iraq-
CH Lewis

05/25/08 - On becoming Freedom’s Friends-

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On becoming Freedom’s Friends-

(All quotes but one from Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address;” bonus points for those who can identify the other quote and its source!)

Abraham Lincoln sculpted the identity of our nation as one which was “conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men were created equal.” Memorial day was born amidst the ashes and bones of the American Civil War, first to honor “those who…gave their lives that that nation might live,” and is now used to honor others who have also given their all in that same high calling.
We find ourselves yet again struggling to grasp the costs of war, and to understand ourselves as a nation “conceived in liberty” and exalting peace, yet mired in distant conflict.

Memorial Day has taken on a much deeper meaning for me since I have become a part of the family whose blood and sacrifice the day remembers. I am honored to be numbered among those who risk their lives for the good of our free land. But though “freedom” has been called our “worship word,” we are not so much evangelists of freedom as defenders of our own. But where that government “of the people, by the people, for the people” seems to be threatened, the calling of the Soldier is invoked.

As happened in Lincoln’s war, too many have again given their all. Yet the desired end state is the same—resolving the conflict so that what is seen as liberty’s threats can become freedom’s friends. Inspired by Lincoln’s high-sounding sentiments, we your soldiers go forth this Memorial Day as peacemakers to a land struggling with strife, once felt as threat, now nurtured as friend. Lacking adequate words of my own, forgive me if I bend that noble Midwesterner’s words to my ends:

“It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

My prayer is that from this current conflict in Iraq, though costly and controversial, may in the end emerge a beacon that glows with the same light of liberty that still shines from the hard-won victories in our own nation’s struggles.

Keep being a blessing-
CH Lewis

5/22/08 - Greetings from your long-lost Chaplain!

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Greetings from your long-lost Chaplain!

Welcome to those of you who are new to “Chaplain’s Chats,” and thank you for your interest. To those of you who have missed “Chaplain’s Chats” during my civilian sabbatical, greetings again. My civilian life since my last missive was shaped largely by my first deployment, as I ended up going back to school for a second Master’s Degree.

Central to the Chaplain’s ministry is of course, caring for the troops. A small slice of the Chaplain’s role is to advise the command as to the impact of religion on the area of operations. Until very recently, that role has been less significant, but in current conflicts in societies so dramatically shaped by Islam, that role is increasingly important.

My studies have been focused on gaining a better understanding of the relationship between religion and terrorism in the current conflicts, and the roles religion can play in conflict resolution in these contexts. I’ve been focusing on this study so much in the past two years, I guess you could say I’m just so full of it that I’m having a hard time sharing a just a taste of it with you without overwhelming you. But you will hear more of it as this, my second deployment progresses.

This time I am going as a Brigade Chaplain, taking care of “my” soldiers, as well as overseeing three other Chaplains and their ministries as well. Yet it all comes down to caring for the individual. This morning our soldiers were going out onto a “live fire” range, practicing group movements and such. The First Sergeant gave his wisdom to the troops: “Use all your ammo!”—it makes for better training that way.

That phrase inspired me—“use all your ammo,” or in other words, don’t even miss one opportunity to do your mission. You could also say “use all your ammo” in a spiritual sense—don’t miss a single opportunity to expend yourself to be a blessing to others. How often do we NOT take advantage of an opportunity to do good for someone else? When we miss those opportunities—to tell someone how much they mean to us, to do the simple good deed or random act of kindness, to pray for someone or lend a helping hand—we keep from expending all our SPIRITUAL ammo.

Follow the First Sergeant’s wisdom—expend ALL your ammo—your SPIRITUAL ammo, that is, as we go through our life’s missions.

Keep being a blessing—
CH Lewis, on the road to Iraq (again)