Veggies Really Do Make You Poo

Tonight is steak and lobster night in the DFAC. Since I am not a lobster fan and got a pretty good lecture about protein intake from the blog fans, I had steak along with the veggies. Made no difference. The veggies still get things to happening. So…TMI…there you have it.

On an ummm lighter note, my Korean friend Martin won the award for best speaker today. I got to break away and go see him give his presentation and he did a great job of it. There were three speakers and two of the three spoke of God. On speaker was from El Salvador and spoke of how God changed his son’s life. And Martin spoke of God’s beauty in nature and what I wrote about yesterday. When we finished, Martin gave me a ride back with his other Korean officer and instead of going back to work, they headed to the DFAC to get lunch.

I excused myself and said I had to get back. Then walked back to the office. When Martin came back he had a “to go” box lunch for me with an apple, orange, and coffee cake, plus a Gatorade to drink. That was really thoughtful of him to understand that I missed lunch to hear him speak and then he made sure I got a meal. Good stuff.

When we go to the chow hall, all you do is go through security and show ID, then go help yourself inside. So we have a running joke that whenever someone does a good job on something we’ll say, “Good job. Tell you what, dinner’s on me tonight, anything you want.” Actually it’s on you guys…and there’s no telling how much the government gets charged per meal. I’ve heard each bottle of water is over $2 and I must drink at least three of those a day. Multiply that times 146,000 of us and there’s some tax dollars getting spent. I heard the figure of $69,000 a minute but who knows if that’s remotely accurate or not.

So thinks for buying the veggies and the water. Much appreciated! We all really appreciate the support back home and this blog is a little way for me to voice how we are grateful for your support and how we put that support to use. God bless you!

Countdown Memories

Wish I’d never thought of the other day as a milestone. In my head I want to countdown, but can’t b/c the end is nebulus, an uncertain fuzzy point in the future. Army dates are about as reliable as weather forecasts. So the other day was a “ballpark” milestone…a kinda sorta, almost, halfway milestone. So I am trying hard to resist the urge to do some kind of count down b/c that can be torture.

When I was in Korea a little snack stand gave away this countdown calendar that was shaped like the nation of S.Korea. Block 365 was up on the DMZ and they counted backwards to the airplane at the southern tip of the peninsula. That thing would make a grown man cry. You etch off a day like a prisoner doing time and see all the empty blocks. The best part though was going on maneuvers. Maneuvers were fun anyway, though physically draining, but you’d be gone at least 2-3 weeks in the field. So when you came back you got to knock out up to 21 blocks off your calendar, but out of 365 days that still didn’t even equate to 10%. So even that was depressing at times.

Man we had fun in Korea. I was a young Second Lieutenant then and all the junior officers lived in one building. We had a fire pit out back that we made and used every conceivable excuse to have a fire in it. When Johnny Cash was first hospitalized we had a “Ring of Fire” fire in his honor with his greatest hits playing in the background. When John Denver died in a plane crash, someone had the irreverent idea of making a plane out of balsa wood, soaking it in kerosene, then running a string from the second floor to the pit. You guessed it, the John Denver Memorial Fire began with a flaming Cessna coming down the string and crashing into the pit. Miraculously someone had his greatest hits too to put it all to music. That’s what happens when you can’t go anywhere and you have free time.

When we went on maneuvers, the Korean ALWAYS found out before we did. They even knew the grid location where’d we be training. So sure as the sunrise, shortly after pulling our tanks into the assembly area where’d we circle the wagons for the night, there would be a little rice-burner of a truck waiting on us, with a propane stove in the back. You could pay cash or trade MREs (Meals Ready to Eat or what we called Meals Rejected by Ethiopians), and get a soda and hot bowl of noodles in exchange. Man on a cold winter night, I loved loved loved to sit on top of my tank, eat and sleep, and look up at the billions of stars.

Now a Korean winter is cold. I awoke a few times covered in snow and ice and absolutely freezing. I remember wanting to brush my teeth one morning and my toothpaste was a solid block. It is soooooo hard to get out of your bag when it’s that cold and to make yourself change and shave. Those first 30 minutes before sunrise were the worst. Once you fired up the tank you could stand behind it and let the hundreds of degrees of heat warm you up, and then it wasn’t so bad. Every tank would have a little dance going on behind it. It was too cold to stay out of the engine blast but too hot to stand in one place for more than a few seconds, so we looked like popcorn behind there bouncing around to warm up.  

Now 12 years later I am serving alongside Koreans who are in a very warm place. I talk a little more with each of them every day. The one Christian who likes to go by Martin (since they all are either MAJ Kim or MAJ Lee, no kidding), is getting to be a good pal. Tomorrow is another of his English speeches and he let me pre-read it. I am going to see if he’ll let me post it tomorrow.

He talks about the importance of travel and how wherever he goes, he makes sure to travel as much as possible. He wants to see it all. Would you believe he’s been to 40 U.S. states? He knows more of our geography than I do. Anyway, this speech is about comparing man’s buildings with the buildings of the Creator. He did a beautiful job analyzing which is better and concluded with an awesome point.

He said we have around 150,000 soldiers and coalition members, plus that and more in Iraqi Army and police all trying to stop enemy attacks. We’ve used military might, guns, bombs, tanks, and technology, but every day lots of attacks happen. Then in January the Creator did something. Baghdad got it’s first snowfall in over 70 years. As he put it, a few white flakes changed everything. There was not a single attack that day.

So Lord, we marvel at the paths you take us on and how our travels are never without Divine direction. We know the skills of man will never match Your wisdom, keen wit, and beautiful simplicity. We praise You for being who You are and all You are, and how with a thought You can change everything.

Milestones

Would you believe that that yesterday was just a few hits shy of being the best day yet on this blog? So thanks for being there, and what perfect timing. Yesterday marked two months in theater and what could potentially be the half way mark, give or take a few. There’s a small chance (read - “won’t know till the last possible second”) that I’ll be extended for a couple of reasons but don’t know that for sure yet.

Nonetheless, it was two months ago last night that I was asleep in a tent in Kuwait waking up to hear what I swore were frogs croaking and waking up to shake the first of many layers of dust off of me. Seems like a long time ago. Fast forward two months and a lot has happened in your lives and mine too. It’s amazing what can transpire in just 8 weeks. In just a little while, Tina’s son will be finishing basic training. When this blog started he hadn’t even joined the Army yet. Our friend Jen gave birth while her husband here.  Grace has had a birthday. Katy had a birthday. Our friends got married and Stephen was the ring bearer. My Colonel lost his father and his rank, and life goes on for all of us.

Last night I introduced you to “Rick” who needed clothes because of his bags getting lost and stolen. And I told you how grateful he was to get the stuff. Would you believe this morning that I found the note that Kay had written inside the box and most of the clothes in the box on the altar? I was taken back by the fact that here’s a guy with literally a couple of changes of clothes and that’s it, giving half of what he’d just gotten away to other people who might need it. A great American indeed.

Speaking of last night, I nearly titled last night’s blog “Veggies Make Me Poo” but figured that wouldn’t be good for readership…good thing since last night was almost a record. And I posted before going to the gym. It was going to be based on my desire to lose weight and get in better shape.  For dinner last night I had only raddishes, broccoli, carrots, cherries, pineapples, and raisins. All raw and in a good sized helping. They didn’t set too well at all but I dismissed it. About 30 minutes after dinner I went to the gym as usual and decided I’d do a hard run to see what kind of progress I am making towards my goal of doing two miles in 13:18. I was on the treadmill and was about a mile and a quarter into it when the power went out. Boom. Black as night. Then all the battery operated dashboards on the treadmills kicked back on, giving the only light in the place. So what do a bunch of Soldiers do? Somebody yelled out “Hooah!”, and we all kept on running, lifting, wrestling, etc. It was awesome. I was so pumped running b/c of that adrenaline kick - there’s something about people who won’t quit that inspire me - so I really turned it on. But about 10 minutes later in this bunker built gym, it grew unbearably hot. About 10 more minutes after that I couldn’t lift another thing…I was completely spent, done, ka-put. On the way back to the room I was staggering and feeling faint.  

When I finally made it to the room I nearly passed out on the bed and quickly mixed some water with electrolytes that I keep in here for such an occasion. I learned that one when the AC went out last time. After a couple of bottles, I started feeling better then got the chills and shivers like I had the flu or something. So I think though the heat weakened me it was really something on the raw veggies that did me in. So tonight, to play it on the safe side, I’m drinking water and chilling out in the room. Thursday night I will be back in there again to get after it.

The environment here can be pretty unforgiving. It’s usually 115 to 120 when I go to work. Then it’s probably 75-80 indoors. That’s a 40 degree difference that you get used to during the day. When you leave at night, it’s around 85-90, go to the gym and get all hot, it works a number on your body to say the least. Till last night it was all good. Now I have to be a little more cautious. But if that’s my biggest problem in life…then I’m blessed. Just ask “Rick”.

Packages

Monday morning I come into work and to my surprise there’s a package on my desk. I open it up and inside there are four movies and a note. The note said that he thought I’d enjoy these movies because each of them were about people struggling and how they dealt with it. Nice touch. Two of them I’ve never seen and the other two will be viewed in a whole new light over here. The package came from Frank. Before I deployed here, I knew Frank a whopping three weeks. I referred to him in a couple of postings, but the package was on the money, right on time. So thanks, Frank. I was drowsy all day at work from staying up too late watching “Catch Me If You Can”.

three Christ the Rockers emailed or commented too. First is our babysitter / nanny / adopted daughter. She sends the sweetest notes and adores the kids and Katy dearly. The other was from Ben, the leader of the young adult ministry at CTR. This guy has been going through some giant personal hurdles but keeps on serving and keeps on leading. Our favorite passion to discuss is leadership, especially casting vision, purpose and direction. Yesterday he emailed me a package of an article on church life cycles and it was like throwing meat in a lion’s cage…we devoured it and it was a great escape talking leadership over email and dissecting this paper together, drawing renewed strength from one another in the process. Then of course there is the constant Nancy. I can hardly recall a day that she hasn’t posted a comment or word of encouragement. This is from a lady who is a mom of three and a minister’s wife…busy is an understatement for her life, yet she showers us with support. And I’ve met her once briefly at Ben’s wedding.

I got a package from my mother in law too. Except this one wasn’t for me. It was for “Rick”. “Rick” is retired from active duty. He’s a stud. Been there and done that, and got the t-shirt twice. He was a special operator - which is Army talk for units that don’t officially exist doing stuff that we didn’t officially do till the media leaks it - like the recent hostage resuce in Columbia. “Rick” needed a package b/c on his way over here his bags were lost. All of them. He had his carry on with his personal stuff, but then someone stole that. So he had nothing. I gave Kay some rough guesses at sizes and she sent a big box of stuff that he needed. It meant a lot to him that a stranger would do that.

See the last time “Rick” was here his face was blown off. He was in a vehicle hit by an IED and the force of the explosion literally tore the skin right off his face and blew that huge flap of face around to the back of his head. He told me he remembered it happening, reaching up to feel, and just thought he had lost his ear, and went back to fighting. Later on he awoke from surgery. Docs did an amazing job with him. Had he not told me, I would have never been able to tell. They stitched him up in the hairline, so there are hardly any visible marks at all…

Except for what we call the “1000 yard stare”. He like a lot of folks here have it. And when it happens, you just let him have some seconds to go through whatever it is he’s seeing and feeling, and then he comes back home. So to “Rick” - thanks for your service and sacrifice - sorry that some dude stole your junk. But the package should tell you that real people care real deeply for you.

Though the soil here is useless, the spiritual ground is fertile, and the packages - the seeds - you send by snail mail or email are spreading and growing here in ways none of us can imagine.

Blessings!

Where’d They Go?

As confessed before I am a numbers freak. I watch the stock market, study more numbers than are in the phone book at work, and watch the blog numbers tick up and down. My boss will see me studying or doing some analysis and tell me to “Put away that Geek Porn”. So before I go any further, this is in no way meant to be a manipulative post, string pulling, or whatever it may appear to be. I am not the best writer, so in the absence of the benefits of a two way conversation, if there’s a good way to interpret this and bad way, I meant the good way

So in watching the blog lately, I’ve seen the numbers dip, then dive, then plane back out to around a hundred or so a day from the high of in the mid-200’s. Half have seemingly vanished. Now I am feeling a little at odds with myself wondering what happened. Did I run out of gas? Am I boring? Am I a one trick pony? Are people on summer vacation? “It’s just life, Joe, people are busy”. All that self doubt and talk bounces between my ears. That’s where my heart is, sad in a way, but needfully humbled too, this blog was getting to be too much of a priority for me, and He wasn’t…which lead me to tonight’s devotional. Mind if I share my thoughts on it?  

I’m in Judges now after the death of Joshua. In chapter 10, the people of God once again turned their backs on Him and worshiped other gods and chased after the very things God saved them from. God got pretty “hot” Scripture says and He turned them over to their enemies. I wonder if God was saying, “Where’d they go?”. Of course He knew. But you wonder what His thoughts are sometimes. He allowed enemies to break the cycle of comfort for Israel which finally led them to cry out to God. Except this time God replied differently. He told them to “Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen. Let them deliver you in your time of distress.” Oh man, that would be hard to hear to know that your “always there” God said “Enough”.

Now it’s the people of God who are going, “Where’d He go?” and they got wildly busy ditching all their idols and repenting from their false worship. They cried out in confession, “We have sinned!” and they served the Lord. Scripture doesn’t tell us how long this condition lasted but at some point it does say amazingly that ”His soul could no longer endure the misery of Israel.”

It left me wondering a lot: What transpired in the people to lead God to respond that way and how do I replicate that in my own life? What misery was so great that God could not endure seeing His people experience? And the Word does say “endure” so they were surviving in the midst of God’s discipline, so how did they find the strength to survive a situation when God has said “enough”? Finally I am left wondering, if it hurts me when I don’t hear from friends just briefly, how does He feel when I put work, the gym, blogging, sleep, or anything else before Him? And when I do that so often, why has He never told me “Enough”?

Between Malachi and Matthew there was a period of FOUR HUNDRED years of silence from God. That’s unimaginable to me. Yet the true people of God looked faithfully for generation after generation after generation after generation for the Messiah to come. And finally they rejoiced at His arrival. They believed in a God of promise and trustworthiness. They knew that God wasn’t slack concerning His promises and that He’s different from man.

So Lord, I thank You that You are not like me. You aren’t insecure. You don’t find Your worth in anything other than who You are. You don’t need man’s approval. You are sovereign and completely holy and sinless, incapable of evil thought or deed. Help me in my search for answers and in my search for one inch closer to You and who You are. Though I fear to ask, bring my heart down to where it needs to be so that I’ll cast aside anything that stands between us, be it a uniform, a title, a barbell, or a laptop, and spend real time with You. Thank You for never saying that You’ve had “enough” of my mistakes and instead are always there to resume divine conversation.

Security Procedures

The world’s institutions control access to people, places, or things that need guarding very simply. To get to something that doesn’t belong to you requires three things: something you have, something you know, and something you do. You practice this everyday when you buy gas at the pump or withdraw money from the ATM.

Let’s use the example of the ATM. You have an ATM card that is unique to you. You know the PIN number, and you enter that PIN number after putting the ATM card into the machine. Something you have, something you know, and something you do. 

During one of my trips in and out of the various buildings around here getting my credentials checked for the thousandth time, it dawned on me that this procedure mirrors eternal security well. You must know that you are a sinner and that the price of sin is death. You have to know that their is but one sufficient payment for that sin and that is Jesus Christ who gave Himself in your place. You must then do something with that knowledge. Romans says that you must confess with your mouth and believe in your heart, and that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Finally you must have something. You must have a relationship with Lord. He has to know you. Just like when you show your ID at the grocer to use your credit card, your real face must match the face on the ID you hand them. The Bible says that in the day of judgment many will call out “Lord, Lord!” and describe all the great things that they did…but they won’t HAVE what they needed, which is a personal relationship with Christ.

So as the Tongan Marines dutifully guard the gates to palace, and I have, know and do what I must to get in, I  notice that none of the security protocals involve me being squat or gaining access to anywhere just because of who I am. It’s all about access granted to me from one who has the authority and grace to grant it.

Eternal security is the same. God could have watched man fall and said, “Well I gave them a chance…tried to warn ‘em.” And washed His hands of us. Instead He personally got involved and gave us what we could not attain on our own, then released His Spirit to impart what we had to know and what to do with it. With that the gates to eternal life were opened.

We’ve heard some really whacked out intel on why Al Qaeda thinks we can do what we do. Some of it is down right hysterical. Sadly there are whacked out ideas out there on what it takes to have a relationship with our loving God. They span the spectrum from strict legalism to wild libertarianism and all places in between. Some insist their exact recipe is the only way to Heaven and that recipe must be earned with good works and a strick moral code, while others claim Scripture is dated and one of many good books on spirituality. I heard one man say one time, “Just because we’re all trying to get to the same place doesn’t mean there’s more than one path to get there.” Dangerous. The plan for eternal security is beautifully simple.

In chapel  we talked about storms. The chaplain spoke about Max Lucado when he was in college. He and four friends owned a house boat. Hurricane David was zooming towards them, so they went to the hardware store and bought all the rope they could. Lucado described their finished tie down as a spider web with something caught in the middle. An old, seasoned sailor walked by and simply stated, “Your only hope is to anchor deep.”

Our only hope is to anchor deep in the truth of God’s simple message. Places of storm and trial can’t distract us in knowing our security is firm and God grants us access to His presence.

The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

You never know what you’re going to find here, so as promised here is the latest of the good, the bad and the ugly…

The Good: The other night I was in the gym working out. There was this young lady in there working out, probably in her early twenties and pretty cute. I called Katy and told her how nearly everyone in the gym pretty much stopped working out and how many went over and offered her their advice on how to properly use whatever machine she was on, or the proper form. It was quite enteraining to see these big beefy dudes in a combat zone tripping over themselves to find a lame excuse to go talk to her. Reason #35071 that I’m glad I’m a dude.  

Not only did I tell Katy about it but another co-worker the next day. Tonight in the DFAC I saw my coworker having dinner with a few friends and this female Soldier from the gym comes over to talk to one of the people my coworker knew. After she left, I told the guy about what happened in the gym. He laughed and said, “Oh that’s because she’s Miss Rhode Island”. So Miss Rhode Island is a junior officer serving in Iraq. That’s pretty cool and makes me cut my brothers a little slack. What’s even better is even though she is a cute young lady, she doesn’t hold a candle next to Katy. The “good” is that Katy doesn’t get to hang out in the gym here. Nobody would get a work out in then.

The Bad: It’s officially out in the press that two Soldiers missing since May 06 have had their remains recovered and their families have been notified of their fates. PVT Fouty, 19, and SGT Jimenez, 25, were in a unit that was ambushed and several of their unit were killed and they were captured. To date, not one caputured Soldier has survived. All have been executed. After holding out for over a year, the familes finally can began healing a wound that will never close completely. Please remember them in your prayers. 

Nonetheless, in any other community life, would come slowing down with such news. Yet today, like all others, its full speed ahead. Soldiers know the risks and though we wish it on no one and are sickened by every instance, at the same time we expect it to happen and are at least moderately prepared when it does. What we all hate dwelling on though is what our families would go through if something happened to us. Most Soldiers trade “Just in Case” letters with their buddies to be given to spouses or parents if something happens. Katy and I took the approach that we’d just say everything upfront to one another and that would be that. Nothing I could put on paper could ever reflect how I feel towards her, the kids, or my family anyway.

The Ugly: Today I got off work early. I asked my boss for some time to take care of some personal business and I got released about two hours earlier than normal. With that, I scurried off to my CHU and proceeded to pick up laundry, turn in more laundry, and finally get some clean bed linens (of course that’s three separate trips). But I was on a mission. I wanted to rearrange my 96 square feet of living space, to clean it up, and maximize it. So I relocated my bed and as I scooted it away from the wall, what I saw sickened me. Now I was an EMT long ago and saw some good trauma. No prob. Seen some Soldiers too get pretty jacked up and have had blood on me more than a few times. Again not bad. But this was just plain gross. Apparently whoever occupied this place before me put their entire 15 month tour’s worth of fingernail and toenail clippings under the bed. It was enough DNA for a season’s worth of CSI and made me want to puke. And with that, began feverish campaign to sterilize the place. I swept, I threw away the “evidence”, rearranged, and then took our rugs out for a good ole beating. I must of gotten 10lbs of dust out them. Imagine dumping talcum powder into a rug, grinding it in, then trying to beat it all back out. That’s how permeating this stuff is. Resilient too. But alas, CHU sweet CHU is looking better.

And now the place is a little more comfy, certainly less vile, and I’m a few more hours closer to coming back to the “good”. I miss you baby!

In the News

In the news today:

Hugh Heffner has a new girlfriend

Anna Kournikova is not pregnant, not married, and hasn’t had a boob job

The New iPhone is Now on Sale

Hulk Hogan likes to rub sun tan lotion on his daughter’s bottom

McCain’s Advisor thinks we’re a nation of whiners

I have to admit that’s pretty frustrating to read about. What message are we sending the world when anyone can dial up Fox news or yahoo and see that’s what Americans think is important? So to the faithful of you, the 8,777 plus that have visited this site numerous times, thanks for having other things on your mind.

Because in the “news” here, as I started the day, groups and cells of planners, thinkers, and teams all acted on the news of the day before and worked hard to solve tough problems. I went in at 8:30 and left the office at a little after 9:00 PM. There were plenty still slugging it out when I left. I went from work to my CHU to change in my PT gear and went to the gym at nearly 10 PM to work out for an hour. In the gym was a room full of Soldiers slugging it out - boxers, martial artists, weight lifters, those trying to grow, those trying to shrink, runners, bikers, and walkers. And this is Friday night in Iraq, often the only real down time Soldiers get. As I left the gym, I walked home stinky and sweaty. Other Soldiers were going in to cover the night shift, others just going back b/c duty called. And as I finally approached my little abode, I looked up to see a helicopter dispensing flares - meaning only one thing, that someone on the ground was trying to get a laser on it to fire a missile at it. And so ended my night in Iraq.

I’m proud of the team I work with, the strangers in the gym who could snap me like a twig, and the chopper pilot patrolling the area to keep us as safe as humanly possibly.

I’m also proud that I put out a pile of Christ the Rock sermon DVDs onto the altar and now all are gone. I found two with a co-worker who said she was anxious to hear them. I also know one of the Koreans has one too. So the people here aren’t the barbarians the media often portarys - we have a soul and a conscience. We struggle very hard to honor our faith and do more helping to the Iraqis than harm. When violence is applied it is a decison not made lightly and not brushed over - every action is carefully scrutinized. As one officer put it, “We’re gaining momentum, but we have to be humle enough to know that we’re one act away from unravelling it all.”

So we are in God’s hands, trusting Him to intervene and have His way with this long fought battle. We’re continually seeking reconcilliation as a prime goal - between us and them and between their factions and one another. We pray for peace and divine guidance for the decisions that lay ahead.

To all of you hanging in there and staying in tune day by day, this is the slugfest that happens day by day here. One inch at a time.

God bless you!

Proud Daddy Moment

Katy has made a deliberate effort to spend dedicated one on one time with Stephen and Grace. The other night she took him to see the film Wall-E. He and mommy enjoyed their date together and I’m glad Stephen’s keeping a look out on hot mommy. In the theater, a parent and a child sat in front of Stephen and he just piped up with an excited voice, “Are you here see Wall-E?” The kid said yeah, and Stephen said, “Hey me too!”. How funny!

Today Katy took the kids by mom’s estate sale. Stephen wore his mini-Army PT shirt and a man came up to him and asked, “Are you in the Army?…the Army of the Lord?” Stephen looked right at him and said, “I don’t know about you but I love the Lord a lot.”

I love it. Straight from his heart to a total stranger. So I’m very grateful my son loves the Lord a lot and isn’t bashful one bit about it. He’s much like his namesake Stephen in Acts, and certainly has the face of an angel as did the other Stephen.

Speaking of proud dads, my dad emailed me the other day. Email, ya’ll. I tell you this is a season of miracles. Not only is he up on the blog, but sending emails. I was really proud of what he wrote to me. I haven’t had the chance or the heart to tell them about the assignment cancellation yet, but he read about it in the blog. He wrote to me an incredible email full of encouragement and personal, Godly, fatherly advice. I’m thankful I have a Dad who loves the Lord too and trusts Him so much.

In many ways, I feel like I have a lot of dads looking after me. My bosses are calling on my behalf to square me away about this job situation. The demoted COL who is now LTC came by my desk today just to check on me to make sure my workload wasn’t overly taxing. He played dumb, downplaying his importance, and asked me real basic questions about what I was working on, then listened. When he was done with his questions, he asked, “How’s morale? And are you able to manage all this OK?” I have tremendous respect for him.

It’s funny. The first day I arrived here and reported for work, there was no desk or cubicle for me. The only empty space was a cubicle reserved for some NATO liaison officers from a tiny country to remain unnamed who had two officers that shared it. Everyone said, “Let’s pile their stuff up. They haven’t even been here in months. He can occupy that desk.” So I started making myself at home. The demoted COL came by, introduced himself and said, “Hold on. Let’s do this right. We need to try and find a different spot for you first b/f bumping them. We can’t treat our NATO allies like that and expect them to keep supporting us. Let’s think this through.” Several people were pretty ticked that progress was being held up and at the end of the day I moved in. Wouldn’t you know it, these two officers who hadn’t been there in months showed up to work the next morning! Thankfully, thanks to his foresight, they had a desk to share and a sign behind it now that says “NATO Liaison Desk - Do not relocate”. 

I also had an “idea” we’ll call it for OPSEC. And the idea wasn’t getting any traction among Army folks. But a senior Navy officer overheard me talking about it and said, I want to know more about this concept. So I filled him in and left it at that. A few weeks later, the idea is now getting kicked around in the halls of offices in the USA. He took a fatherly approach to leadership and breathed his rank into a dead idea.

In the Army we define “Leadership” as providing influence, purpose, motivation and direction towards the accomplishment of the mission. In its simplest form, leadership is influencing behavior of others, and all the “dads” here are doing a pretty good job of it. These are exciting times here in Iraq. We’re seeing progress the prognosticators never dreamed possible. In some ways I wonder if its the beginning of the fulfillment of prophecy where Babylon will rise again. Nonetheless, the people are getting better lives every day and are more fed up with violence than ever before. Please pray for our continued success so that God’s peace can bring rest to these people.

Purple Fingers

Lieutenant General Austin spoke to the press today about preparations for the upcoming Iraqi election later this fall. In the years they’ve had elections here, it is a life or death event for those voting, and their turn out rates puts America’s to shame. As LTG Ausitn, Commander of the 18th Airborne Corps, and second only to GEN Petraeus, put it, we are preparing for an upsurge in violence as elections approach.

Now to put it in perspective, in the fall campaign in the USA, besides a few hecklers, candidates speak their peace, play their games, and move about in relative ease. They don’t have to worry about someone paying off their security guard to put a car bomb inside to blow him up after a meeting. And when they run for election, they don’t have to relocate their families and loved ones to a safe house. Anyone here stepping up to lead this country has got serious guts.

And when we cast our votes for President in Nov, we won’t worry about a car bomber blowing up the polling station or being shot on the way home.

So we’re here to give Iraqis the chance to pick their leaders again, more safely than before, so they can cast their vote. Since Arabic names and registration for voting are incredibly complex, we use a simple method of dipping the index finger in purple ink to mark each voter. It’s become a proud symbol of ownership in their country and a badge of honor for those who show the courage to vote, and if the last election is any indicator, they will come out in force to show their pride.

There is so much hope for this country. I know “The Spirit is not willing that any should perish, but that all would come to repentence”. God wants to leave no people group behind, and this one is getting a chance, little by little to get back on its feet and for cracks to open up for the gospel to come in.

Please pray for the months and weeks ahead that the Iraqi election process will be the best yet and that Americans will learn from their courage and do their civic duty of voting. Even if you walk into the booth to write “none of the above” you’ve done your piece. God has entrusted us to be stewards of what He has given us. Since He’s given us a democratic government, than stewardship means voting. It’s not because we expect the leaders to do save our nation, it’s out of respect to God who gave us this nation and this freedom to begin with. So I pray that this election year for you is an act of worship that reflects thankfulness for the opportunity to have a choice, whether you get a purple finger out of it or not.

God bless you!