Chaplain

          I finally moved from Chaplain Candidate to Chaplain. I am now a Battalion Chaplain and things started moving quickly. My first weekend at my new unit was spent doing training at Fort Campbell. Drown proofing! When I read that on the training schedule I thought man this may get interesting! Wasn't as bad as I imagined it being. I was expecting some person to attempt to hold me under water, luckily that was not how it was. Next was land navigation. I thought, well, not too bad. Nice stroll through the woods on a mild spring day... Nobody said anything about ticks! I was one of the lucky ones, I only had about 10 or so on me. The poor Specialist walking in front of me must have picked 50 off of him. But, by God's good grace, we survived and didn't get lost.
          Next day I was allowed time to lead chapel service. Seemed to have went well, we had a good crowd show up. I shared some copies of a book with several Soldiers. I will share more about the book in my next post. It deserves it's own post. After chapel I spent some time with my chaplain candidate, yes, my very first Battle Assembly as an actual chaplain and I have a chaplain candidate. I pray God will provide me direction as I try to guide this chaplain candidate. I am still learning as I go so I guess we can learn together. I got to spend some time Sunday afternoon talking to a few Soldiers and getting to know them. We have a great group at our unit. I feel blessed by being assigned there.
          The following weekend I did my first wedding ceremony for one of my Soldiers. That was a real blessing. After spending a few days with their families I feel like I am part of the family. Absolutely wonderful couple with amazing families. The service went well, no one passed out or ran from the chapel! I was grateful to be a part of their wedding and pray God will bless that family. I praise God for the work He is doing through me. I am grateful to serve Him and our country. Pro Deo Et Patria.

Chaplain

I have finally received my appointment paper. Once I am sworn in again I will move from chaplain candidate to chaplain. It has been about five years since I began this process of first starting Seminary, then entering as a chaplain candidate, and now being accepted by the Army as a chaplain. It is exciting. I am looking forward to getting reassigned to a new unit but I will miss the Soldiers I have worked with over the past year and a half at my current unit. I found out the former company commander at my unit has moved to another unit that I may be assigned to. That was good news to me. It is always good to see familiar faces when moving somewhere new. Plus he is a strong Christian that always attended chapel services.

Where things will go from here I do not know. Wherever God leads, I will follow. I have been preaching at my current church and was asked to fill in at another church this past weekend. Their pastor went to Haiti on a mission trip. Our church just had a team come back and they seemed so blessed by their experience down there. It is awesome when people step out on faith and follow the Lord.

My church had an ordination ceremony for me a while back. I have included a picture in this post from it. The Lord continues to bless me through my church. They have been a wonderful source of encouragement for my wife and I. They have prayed for us and loved us. We have many veterans at our church that continually support us and offer us words of encouragement. What a blessing they have been to my family.