Gone Fishin!

A smile says it all. Accomplishment! What a great feeling it is to finish. Completing something difficult is even more satisfying. I continue to stand amazed at the young soldiers that we get here. They just keep coming. In this picture is a group of soldiers that have just completed their 7 day field exercise known as “Victory Forge”. It’s the culmination of all of basic training. They march out to their training area, usually about 10 miles, spend seven days putting into practice all they have learned and then they march back in usually about 6 miles. They are tired and cold, but as you can see the enthusiasm is hard to keep a lid on. In the middle is the core of training, the drill sergeant. These volunteers work ridiculous hours and put up with more than you can imagine. The only job harder than being a basic training soldier, is being a drill sergeant. It’s a thankless life, so here is my thank you to all of you who get up early and stay up late. Here is my thank you for your expe

One of my greatest fears as a child was drowning. I hated rough housing in the swimming pool with my friends. Inevitably someone would always try to hold you under the water. The feeling of panic and helplessness is overwhelming when you are being held under the water by a 14 year old when you are just 10. As an adult and a Chaplain that feeling of being overwhelmed still happens. Instead of being held underwater, now the problems of ministry can rise up in life just like that swimming pool water. Lots of times I feel like I’m trapped in the bowels of the Titanic as the waters rise with nowhere to go. As a Chaplain one of my jobs is to listen. Most of the time I listen to people as they are experiencing life’s most difficult times. People die, get sick, and have relationship issues and addictions. People are not happy with their jobs and not happy with life and some days it seems like all these people rain in on me at once. Today just happened to be one of those days. In the Bible I re

I'm not sure but I think that the liability payments for this job would be more than I could afford.

I'm not sure but I believe that little boys ought to play with guns. That may stun you as you read this, but I'm quite sure that when I was little no one had to teach me about warfare. I remember defending the woods behind my house against all enemies foreign and domestic. We trained in those 150 acres of hardwoods for war. Why? Why is it that war is such a systemic part of our lives. I'm in the Army and that’s what we do. We train and we fight. But we can't be so myopic and think that we are the only ones ever to do this. And as a Christian how does war fit in to my belief system? Or does it fit at all? It’s clear to me as I look at the world that it is broken, in need of repair. I also believe that it is broken beyond mankind's ability to restore it completely. The Bible says that even creation groans for the revealing of the sons of God (read Romans). Our creation is broken as well and it is ultimately man's fault. Yep, I said it. We did it. We broke the worl