After two days of being bombarded by briefings, we have the day off today. Of course, banished to the wastelands of North Fort Hood, there is not very much to do, aside from going to the MWR and either getting online or watching TV. As I often said when we came through here at the very beginning, "Thank God I have my Nook!"
3) Radical Running
When I first got to Camp Eggers, I researched the running culture at the post. When I learned who the "Run Master" for these events was, I got in contact with her and volunteered to help. The shadow half marathon program in particular was a dramatic success. Several dozen of my soldiers at the post, most of whom had never run a half marathon, got involved, set new milestones, and lost weight by the week. The day I formally took over the program, I was told that I would be moving to Camp Phoenix. I handed off my responsibilities to one of my soldiers who had thrived in the program.
I took the program with me, in miniature, to Camp Phoenix. I soon had an array of soldiers, mostly Canadian, running these races each week. I also found out who the local Run Master was and eventually took his responsibilities from him when he departed. Alongside the half marathons, I often coordinated and oversaw a weekly 5k. Eventually, in an effort to spice things up and get rid of old swag from prior races, I developed the "Camp Phoenix Rise From the Ashes Run," which offered awards for every 5 laps run, as well as requiring either push-ups, sit-ups, or pull-ups between each lap. If a runner maxed the event, they would have run 10 miles, done 160 push-ups, 120 sit-ups, and 32 pull-ups, plus come away with an array of prizes.
Of course, my highlight as Run Master came with our shadow Ragnar Relay, in which close to 60 runners formed five teams and ran a 200 mile relay along the same one mile track through mud and chill for the better part of 30 hours. I was joined by half a dozen others from my own unit, and we probably included about two dozen Canadians, several of whom graciously served as my team captains. This race garnered press in several publications throughout the US, and earned us a free team in the DC-area for the coming September. More important, my brother Canadian chaplain thanked me for reaching out to many of his soldiers and caring for them. He said it meant a lot to them all.
2) Fast Friendships
A number of my friendships prior to this deployment were strengthened. My roommate, CPT Zach Wang, and I became good friends. He had an incredibly blunt and brutal demeanor, which I often worked to soften. If he told someone he didn't like them, I would be right beside him, saying that he didn't mean that--he just didn't know them well enough. People were often amused by our friendship.
My best friend in the unit over the years was my politi-buddy, LT Keith Parchen. He was a political science major at UVA (a man after my own heart!) and was always ready to gently engage political and theological matters. Together with our activist friend and another soldier (both of whom I will not name because they are still over there), we enjoyed many an invigorating meal-time conversation. I also worked to connect Parch with the theology of his childhood Lutheranism, and believe that he grew in his Reformed convictions quite a bit during the deployment.
At just the right time, God provided me friendships I desperately needed at both Camp Eggers and Camp Phoenix. One was Megan (whose last name I won't include since she'll be returning), who turned out to be my lone Reformed buddy at Camp Eggers. She had been mentored by a prior PCA chaplain, and with a servant's heart, played the piano in each week's traditional service and helped lead the singing in each week's contemporary service. She combined her servant's heart with a keen sense of discernment with regard to what constituted faithful preaching of the Gospel and what did not. She would also email me Bible verses and tell me how she was praying for me each week, just before I preached on Sundays. May every local Church body have one of her!
Isolation began to set in when Megan left, and followed me as I moved over to a new environment at Camp Phoenix. About a week in, I noticed a Tabletalk magazine on the desk of one of our attached Air Force soldiers. Thus began my friendship with a young, hungry Reformed brother. By God's grace, I was able to meet with him weekly to go through Paul David Tripp's Dangerous Calling, and talk matters of ministry and theology. Over that time, LT Steve Stanton decided, in consulation with his wife, to pursue a Masters of Divnity at Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte. But we not only had a mentor-mentee relationship, but spoke and shared as brothers.
Like Megan, Zach, and Parch, he will be a friend for years to come. I didn't spend any time with another of my young officer friends, LT Michael Archie, during the deployment as he was down in the more hostile southern regions of the country. We have redeployed together and renewed our friendship, however, and eagerly talk about the possibility of doing Jump School together.
I also have an array of about two dozen others from the unit, some still deployed and some redeployed, who I count as friends (many with bonds that stretch over several years now). These friendships were used as vehicles for His ministry through me to my soldiers, and also will provide foundations for continued friendship for years to come.
1) God's Grace
In God's providence, I was enabled to become the lead "traditional" chaplain minister at both Camp Eggers and Camp Phoenix. At Camp Eggers, the Lutheran (Missouri Synod) chaplain I replaced was responsible for the traditional services and I took his place. I led the flock through a chapter of Philippians over the course of a month before I had to move to Camp Phoenix.
Once I moved to Camp Phoenix, I got together with the lead chaplain, who led the traditional service there. He was also responsible for other services in the Kabul area each Sunday. I volunteered to take over the traditional services and free him up for his other responsibilities. He graciously agreed and I took over right away! Over my four months at Camp Phoenix, I preached through a series on the "Gospel According to the Old Testament," as well as several Christmas-related sermons.
While the traditional services never reach the attendance numbers of the contemporary or Gospel services, they are a staple of every post and always in high demand by the more liturgical soldiers. Of greater relevance to the matter at hand, however, is that I had the opportunity to regularly preach the Gospel to dozens of soldiers each week. Some of these are unbelievers who come to connect with something historic or with the traditions of their upbringing. Others are part of Mainline churches and come to check the box. They all heard the Gospel clearly preached week after week.
In addition, I was given opportunity to preach at other services. I preached at my first contemporary service the night before I left Camp Eggers, and it had a bit of a ripple effect. The senior chaplain who usually led the service emailed me after I moved to tell me that he was feeling self-conscious (with a bit of humor) because of all the people who told him how much they appreciated the service.
This was actually a bit of a pattern--there was a much more vocal and notable response to my preaching of God's Word in the contemporary and Gospel services than in the traditional. I preached three contemporary and two Gospel services while at Camp Phoenix. There could be many explanations for this fact, and there is no doubt that I am a more natural fit in such services. But that also reaffirms my commitment to the OPC. I would rather be known for being more monotone, boring, and faithful (like Jonathan Edwards, though I'm not fit to tie his sandals) than being more dynamic, emotional and succeptible to accusations of manipulation (like George Whitfield, who Benjamin Franklin loved, though more for the show than for the subtance).
Of course, there was my small beloved Bible Studies as well. The "No BS BS" at both Camp Eggers and Camp Phoenix were both incubators of subtle but substantial growth in grace. Perhaps the greatest testament to God's grace in both of those studies is that they are being continued to this day in each post.
And that fact emphasizes a particular message I continually pressed while at both posts from Acts 7:54-8:3. Though Stephen was slain and the early Church savagely persecuted, the seeds of Gospel growth were being thrown to the winds and cast upon the nations, and likewise, the seeds of the Gospel were being planted in the heart of that day's antichrist, Saul of Tarsus, through the witness and final prayers of Stephen. In other words, the darkest days by any human measurement are often the brightest in the redemptive purposes of God. The gates of Hell shall never prevail. Praise be to God.
