Visible reminder of the Holy

A week after Hurricane Katrina hit the gulf coast last fall, I buckled into the back of a Blackhawk helicopter and tried to find room for my feet amid bags of ice, bottles of water and cases of meals ready to eat (MREs). Through the open doors I saw what could have been fields of grass bending in the wind – except they were whole forests with tree tops still windblown from the force of the storm. We landed in elementary school playgrounds and volunteer firehouses to distribute food and water and ensure people had diapers, prescriptions or whatever they needed.

Later that day I was assigned to a battalion of engineers who had rolled in to Hancock County, Mississippi as the last of the storm passed over them to open the roads for emergency and utility vehicles. For two weeks I was chaplain to these men and women of the Mississippi National Guard. These fathers and sisters from the north part of the state were called to duty before Katrina arrived and had not yet been to their own homes to survey damage. I counseled, led worship, helped clear roads and rubbish, shared MREs and slept in an abandoned paint warehouse with the rest of the battalion. In the words of the Air Force Chaplain Service, I was a ‘Visible reminder of the Holy’ to those men and women.

As a military chaplain, I am trained and therefore able to accompany our troops wherever they work. The men and women we send into harm’s way on our behalf need to know that God is with them – chaplains are visible reminders to service members of all faiths that a loving, forgiving God is indeed present in all circumstances. Military chaplaincy is a unique opportunity for a Christian: St Francis taught that we are to ‘preach the gospel at all times, if necessary using words.’ I have the opportunity to live as a faithful Christian in such a way that people of any faith see God at work through me.