The Online Chaplain

Excerpt from Guidepost

"The LORD will give strength unto his people; the LORD will bless his
people with peace.  Psalms 29:11"


  A bible is stuffed with prayers and notes and clippings that  encourage me. One clipping quotes a letter from a Civil War officer to his  beloved wife. He desperately hoped that he would return to her and their sons unharmed. But, "If I do not, my dear Sarah, when my last breath escapes me it will whisper your name. I shall always be near you, in the gladdest days and in the darkest nights. And if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath. Do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for thee, for we shall meet again." The soldier, Major Sullivan Ballou, was killed in the Battle of Bull Run seven days after writing the letter....

Around the world, night and day, those in the armed forces stand watch for us. Oh, blessed Lord, be their strength, their courage, their protector and their shield. For those who have endured, who still serve in hospitals and on the battlefield of their own daily lives, be their peace, their comfort and their hope.

By Fay Angus

For You

Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you,
          Jesus Christ and the American Soldier.
                         One died for your soul;
                      the other for your freedom.

Just a reminder for us to all live a life worthy of the sacrifice.

Be Ready

I hate it when the mortars come in during the night.  I think we all do.  I have lived through four teething children, heard the kids knocking at the door and awaken to them hurling in the hallway,  and been a resident manager at a college so I am accustomed to being awaken in the middle of the night.  But, mortars and rockets coming in – there is no getting used to this.  But, there is a lesson in everything.

The other day I came back to my room after being gone all morning.  This was the picture I saw.  Each night I stretch the laces of my tennis shoes as far as I can get them, stretch the tongues forward and put them in the middle of my room.  Reason:  If I need to get into them fast I can.  The bible says, “Stand firm then, ….with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.”
      O.K God I hear your question!
      “Chaplain, are your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace?” 
      I reply, “Yes, Lord.  Well, I think so.  But, just for the record, what exactly am I suppose to be ready for?”
      Biblical Answer/God’s Answer: “be ready to do whatever is good…”
     
A fundamental characteristic of the Christian is our effort to stand at the ready.  We are to be prepared in season and out of season.  We are to be watchful at all times looking for the good we might do.  We are to understand our environment and apply the gospel of peace where ever it is needed.    Emotionally, physically, spiritually and intellectually we are to live with our laces pulled back, ready to do good.  Ready to move at a moments notice!    

If this is our mission… “Lord, help me to be ready.  Show me those in need.  Help me to see their pain, hear their struggles and give them the gospel of peace you have so freely given to me.  Lord, give me your eyes, your ears, your heart to do your work.  Lord, help me be ready.”
      
      
      

Clear Target

When soldiers go on missions, chaplains are expected to pray.  The prayer I pray with men and women going “over the wire” has struck a strange cord with me.  I pray, “…and Lord if we must engage the enemy… we pray for clear target, a quick response, deadly aim, and that your will be done.” Let’s just say they don’t teach this one in seminary.  It has been birthed by late nights with grieving soldiers, sleepless nights when I have been one of them, and the eternal hope that we have seen the last of the tragedy.

I have concluded this prayer is profoundly Christian and that I should have started with this prayer many years ago.  God has marched a myriad of people through my life in the past twenty years with one style of broken heart or another.  Some have come from self inflicted injury, others because the mortar rounds have fallen like rain.  All of them attacked.  Regardless of their reason for coming to visit the chaplain/pastor they hold a number of things in common.

A clear target, the world seldom offers.  It is so easy to be overwhelmed by the shear volume of problems.  Few people bow to trouble when it comes in a single file line.  However, troubles come in groups of three, as the old saying goes.  It’s been my experience they come in groups of fives, tens, fifteens and twenties.  Overcome by the shear volume it’s hard to isolate a target.  Too often we are overrun.

Quick Response?  Yeah, right!  More like the numbed response of a boiling lobster.  Deadly aim?  You gotta be kidding!  By the way, where did I put my gun?  Most of us march through life beaten down by the host of problems and we do not find the strength and courage to respond quickly or do battle.

So, long after this war is over I am going to continue to pray for “a clear target, quick responses, a deadly aim, and that the Lord’s will be done.”  It’s a Christian prayer.  When tragedy afflicts, depression numbs, people persecute and troubles rain down the psalmist prays, “Let your hand be ready to help me..”  That worked for him, “a clear shot, quick responses and a deadly aim works for me.”  Don’t forget, “cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.”