It's funny--Australian and Canadian soldiers call all chaplains "padre," even though I am neither a Roman Catholic nor do I in any sense physically approximate more than a kid brother.
We do have a Canadian chaplain here who goes by the title Padre Kevin. He has a wife, several kids, loosely Pentecostal theology, and loves Jesus Christ.
He normally preaches at the contemporary services on Sunday nights. On occasion, he is happy to let me preach in his stead. He is persistently encouraging, humble and deferential. His humor is self-deprecating and though he talks even more than I do, is very interested in how people are doing.
I am sure that I disagree with him on many things, but I happy to learn from the sanctified wisdom that God has given this gentle man after a couple decades in the pulpit and he is happy to share it.
There is also a lieutenant colonel here who grew up in the OPC and now goes to a PCA near his home station (when he's not deployed). He has a ranger tab (passed ranger school) and was prior infantry. And he couldn't be more kind. He has given me all of his contact info here on post and let me know that if I ever need any sort of support or someone to talk to, please come to him.
By God's grace, No BS BS has grown into a regular group of about eight or so gentlemen (most of whom I didn't know when I first got here). Today we talked about the the importance of Jesus' virgin birth and corrected misconceptions about it. These folks come from a variety of evangelical backgrounds and understand the important of submission to the lordship of Jesus Christ through His Word. There is a vibrant sense of unity in this regard.
As much as we talk nowadays about unity and love, none of them really matter without the overriding meaning that comes with truth. If out on a boat, I can love someone by serving them a drink and I can unite with my fellow passengers in recognizing that it is a beautiful day. But if the boat is sinking, and no one heeds the obvious truth that we need to be rescued, we are dead.
When I was younger, people labored extensively to share the truth with me, though I wouldn't have it. There is something about watching someone on that sinking ship that overrides there hostility and still makes you compassionate. You desperately want them to live secure upon the rock of Christ.
It is somewhat humorous that my newly-Reformed buddy has the early part of Philippians 2 memorized (Do not be filled with selfish ambitious or vain conceit, but consider others more significant than yourself...) while I have the latter part memorized (Christ...did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking on the form of a servant...). He focused more on Christ-like living; I focused more upon the life Christ did live.
Together, we will memorize the whole passage through, because both are sorely needed. I must daily depend upon the grace of God to make my life a labor of love, but must always ground such love in the fact that Christ traded His crown of glory for a crown of thorns. I will never live like Jesus lived. I can never do what He did. But when I consider his perfect life and atoning death out of love for His whole Church, I am gratefully compelled to love and seek unity, rooted in the cross.
