The Aroma of Christ

I am an Ordained Minister through the Assemblies of God. See: www.ag.org. Come 1 August the denomination is holding it's bi-annual General Council. It is the A/G's 53rd.

It's a time to conduct business, reflect on the past, fellowship, etc. I remember my first one as a pastor when it was held in Washington D.C. During the Missions Convention I cried my eyes out as I watched from the upper deck of that arena. Missionaries from around the world paraded into the arena decked out in clothing of the nation which they were Called. Something began to happen to me. I didn't understand it. Even after it was over I stayed, lingering up there, still in awe of what God was doing in my heart, though I didn't have a clear understanding of what was going on.

Through a series of events the Lord began to lead me toward becoming a Chaplain in the U.S. Army. As that process was unfolding the event that took place in the upper deck of the arena, during the Missions Convention, at General Council would come back to mind.

There were times that I would just break down at the thought of the great need for ministry during this time of war. For inexplicable reasons it would occur, even when I wasn't expecting it. The call is still fresh. During deployment I've found myself at the end of a Service during communion gathered with Christian Soldiers still on the edge, and in awe.

God loves Soliders because he loves people. The Call is very specific. Soldiers are warriors for their country. Most of our country has no idea what it means to be a warrior, nor does much of the Church. These guys that I work with are simply amazing people. Of course not everyone is a Christian in the Army. I often tell myself that I am a "pastor to some, but a chaplain to all."

As a circuit-riding Chaplain to a congregation that is scattered around Baghdad, I often tell them, "This is the most difficult place to be a Christian." It is a spiritually challengnig context. But, though evil abound, grace can abound even more (Rom. 5.15). We are all at different stages in our spiritual journey, but regardless, the message of the Apostle Paul here in II Corinthians 2 speaks volumes, "14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing."

Significance of a Care Package

Below is a patriotic Word of the Day passed along to me by my Brigade Chaplain, CH J. When I read this I think about "Deliverance from Evil." There is great thankfulness coming from these care packages. Do you know what it means to be delivered from evil? I know it personally through Christ, and I've seen it through the actions of Paratroopers in a nation once oppressed by a despot, and torn apart from sectarian strife. However, this once broken nation is now on a much secure foundation and is coming together, even as they work through political challenges. Here is CH J's Word:

65 years ago last month (June 1944), Paratroopers from the 82D Airborne Division jumped into Normandy as part of the D-Day invasion. After 33 days of combat and over 5,000 casualties, the All-Americans were pulled back to England. In the Division's post-battle report, General Ridgway wrote, "33 days of action without relief, without replacements. Every mission accomplished. No ground gained was ever relinquished." May the same be said of us.

I have received 3 care packages for Paratroopers from a woman in Ohio. How she got my name, I don't know. After the first care package, I sent her a thank you letter. After the second care package, I sent her a certificate of appreciation. After the third care package, I sent her a St. Michael's Medalion--the Patron Saint of Paratroopers. If she sends me another care package, I don't what what I will send her.

But I did figure out why she keeps sending us care packages. She's Dutch, and following WWII, she immigrated to the United States from the Netherlands. She remembers how 82D Airborne Paratroopers jumped into her country to help liberate it from the Nazi during Operation Market Garden.

I trust in the future, we will see people from Iraq show similar gratitude for the work you are doing now to help bring freedom to their country.

Looking Forward to This

You may excuse the advertisement at the end. You can imagine what it feels like to be a Soldier returning from deployment in this video. I am definitely looking forward to this! But, just imagine what Heaven will be like when we are welcomed home by the Lord and His Saints!

Victory Insight

Victory in sight, or victory insight. Both. Here is an an op-ed piece by Thomas Friedman, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, and prolific author.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/opinion/26friedman.html?_r=1&em

Speaking from personal experience like Friedman is doing above, I have spoken with the Iraqi people who have had friends and family members brutally raped and murdered, and even one family burned alive by Islamic Extremists. And, I have also seen God at work among them. Speaking first hand with a new believer in Christ, there is victory insight. Having seen Muslim Iraqi Generals visiting Christian Churches on Easter with U.S. Forces was awesome. Complete freedom will take time, Iraqi style.

Extremism can not win in this world, but not without a cost. In order for there to be freedom, there will be a need for a defense of the powerless. Deposing the Despot, Saddam Husein, was the right thing to do. Sectarianism was a latent cancer that was ripe to spread after the invasion in 2003. But, truth is prevailing. Iraq is becoming a great country. Just today Prime Minister Maliki is announcing that 10,000 Iraqis will be studying at colleges abroad. Thanks to noble Americans and the sacrifices they have made, not just for their country, but for humanity-sake.

I'm proud to be an American. There is nothing wrong with that. This kind of pride is not the sinful type as some label.

May God Bless America, again.

The Wall

Adopt-A-Chaplain is an organization dedicated to serving Chaplains who are deployed. Ben, is the point person for them. We've had several email exchanges over the course of mine, OIF 08-09. In our last he wrote about Chaplains "hitting the wall."

Here is an excerpt. "Along with that is something else I've observed is that at about the 3/4 mark is when some seem to hit a physical, emotional, and spiritual wall. That was particularly apparent when deployments were 15 months."

Have I hit the wall? I've run four marathons and know what it's like to hit the wall where at mile 18 I had to nug it out to the finish line. Awful pain. Not all of the marathons have I hit the wall though. Some I had better training and preparation before the start of the race.

I'm at that 3/4 mark right now. While visitng a JSS the other day sitting in the DFAC (Dining Facility) I was watching some ESPN. I hadn't seen TV in about two weeks. There was a special about a couple and their son who almost died at birth. The baby barely survived but today has limited cardiovascular capacity.

The father was once a Major League Baseball player and has been teaching his now six year old boy the art and science of baseball. Somehow there was an arrangement made for the mascot of the New York Mets to visit the boy at home while he and his dad were playing baseball. When the mascot showed up at his house and the boy saw him, the expression on his face was priceless. I could only think of my children, and I was emotionally filleted.

Sitting there with my Assistant and another Paratrooper I had to excuse myself and "take a knee" as we say in the Army. I didn't loose it, but I could have. I'm ready to go home and see my family and it won't be long now. I might have hit the wall, and cracked a little, but I'm not suckin wind. I'm still movin and expect to cross the finish line having run well.

Every day as I begin my devotional time I read to myself. "The Chaplaincy is a marathon, not a sprint." The Christian life is about the long haul. The Apostle Paul writes, "Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of Christ Jesus (Phil 3.12-14)."

There is nothing better than knowing God through His Son, Jesus Christ. Being a deployed Chaplain gives me the opportunity of knowing Christ through the pain of separation from my family, and the hardships of a deployed Soldier, ministering in this context. "that I may know Him and the power of his resurrection, and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in his death" (Phil. 3.10).

I've learned again that I can not experience God's resurrection power of the Holy Spirit, unless I share in His sufferings. You can't have one without the other. There are areas of my spiritual life that because I'm deployed I have grown closer to the Lord. I remember a wise college president saying, "Don't waste the pain." Pain is o.k. It can be motivational. Again, as the Apostle Paul writes in Philippians, he is content and joyful despite his difficult circumstances. Like Paul, who says it in another place elsewhere, I have not finished filling up with the sufferings of Jesus for the sake of His Body, the Church (Col. 2.24).

2 Pantherville

Around the horn in 2 Pantherville. Lest you think I'm very spiritual, I'll tell you the fuzziness on the water baptism pictures was not the Holy Spirit descending on us as a dove. Although I really like that theme. It was a smudge on my camera phone.

Top 5 Books, and More

A Paratrooper asked me what might be the top 5 Christian books to recommend him. I've excluded reference works. He's not read any of these:

1. Simply Christianity, Why Christianity Makes Sense, by N.T. Wright
2. Mere Christianity, by C.S. Lewis
3. Basic Christianity, by John Stott
4. Knowing God, by J.I. Packer
5. Confessions, by St. Augustine
(6.) Dangerous Duty of Delight, by John Piper
(7.) Celebration of Discipline, by Richard Foster
(8.) The Wounded Healer, by Henri Nouwen
(9.) Wild at Heart, by John Eldredge

Courage

"Cowardice and laziness mask as discretion." ~ Thomas Merton

Godliness

Humility will get you everywhere. The meek shall inherit the earth. Humility will give you confidence because you see reality as it is. Pride puffs up and makes life look too idealistic in one's eyes.

Humility is the key to Godliness. Who is the most Godly person you know? Godliness is attractive and powerful, but it only comes through humility, suffering, conflict, and the peace of the Holy Spirit.

Strive for Godliness, not legalism. Not showboatism. Not grandiosity. Not escapism. Godliness in the fight is true Godliness. Godliness exclusively cloistered is impotent.

Godliness through humility will not exalt itself with others, like peers, or superiors. Godliness like this brings peace and provides grace. Godliness never envies power.

Godliness is prophetic because it cuts through the pathetic in the world. Godliness is courageous because it requires one to take risks not to fit in.

Godliness promotes trust with one's relationship to God. God can trust you because you are like God, reflecting Him. And others can trust you because they know (see, hear, experience) you as faithful and reliable.

Godliness brings trust with one's spouse. It is easier to draw closer to each other and risk more, go farther, and deeper with each other.

Godliness is never meant to be used for profit like the Pharisees did. The purpose of Godliness is about knowing God through Christ, something happening on the inside, not about appearance on the outside.

I Cor. 2.2, "For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified."

America the Beautiful -- 4 July 09 Hometown Tribute

Leo, my older brother received this American Flag (below) that I had sent to him, which I carried with me to the Joint Security Stations around Baghdad. He purposed to fly it atop of Moosic Mountain in Northeastern Pennsylvania. I wrote about it here: http://worthmysalt.blogspot.com/2009/05/my-memorial-day.html.

He and his friends made kind of a pilgrimage to post it. As you can see it was a beautiful day in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Over the years we've ejoyed many hikes to this precious place and he has placed a flag or two there. See post: http://worthmysalt.blogspot.com/2008/01/rescuing-flag-part-ii.html.

The pictures below were from this past Memorial Day time-frame. Although, the pole was missing on this last trip. With our last email exchange it sounds like there will be another sometime in the future.

The 4th of July is one of my favorite American Holidays. I've spent a 4th up on top of the mountain a time or two. It will be nice to get back home, most likely late this year, for a hike. Enjoy the view. Thanks, Bro.

~ Paul

Celebrating Mom's 80th and our Nation's Independence (Update)