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Sitting in my makeshift room. I hear the voices of young children. It is obvious that they are playing and happy. Their laughs fill the air. Their language I do not understand, with the exception of a few phrases. But, joy in the voices of children is unmistakable and translates well across all barriers. There is a school just on the other side of the wall that is outside my room here on Forward Operating Base (FOB) Finley Shields in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. Every evening, and some mornings, the children can be heard. It is a reminder to me that life can be the same no matter where you are. It is a reminder that life is precious, no mater who you are or from where you come. My job this time has been very different than it was the last time that I was here. In one particular way, I find myself more engaged with the local people. I have met two of the mullahs that are near where I live. I will be meeting more. Thanks to the Chaplain who preceded me, George Oanca, I was introduced to scores of workers that help us here on my FOB. At first, I was apprehensive, given the rise in Green on Blue attacks, or insider attacks. I wasn’t sure that it was the right way to go. But, I watched George care about these people as well as care about his Soldiers. Not every Chaplain and every Soldier engaged the local Afghans as George did. I pushed through my apprehension and found genuine compassion for people, not compassion for people exactly like me in the same uniform, but compassion for people. It was a valuable lesson. George handed the baton off to me and headed back to the states. I am now here for 9 months to serve my Soldiers, to serve the Afghans, and to serve a God who called me from darkness into light. God wasn’t apprehensive at all about that. I would have been. I find that we often size up people based upon a very narrow set of standards and norms, Christians may be the worst at this many times. Sometimes we do it without a conscious thought. It is a shame. As I sit and listen to the voices of young children laughing and playing in a world that is torn apart by radicalism and war, I find that joy can abound anywhere. I am glad that God used George to show me once again the value of people in the plans of God. There may be risks to some of the adventures we encounter. I am quite certain that the outcomes, good or bad, are worth the risk of loving others. It is clear to me that my love and my compassion have often been limited by my social acceptance and churchianity. It’s easy to love when there is personal gain. Love that is reflective of God risks everything so that others may gain. At the end of the day, I’m not sure anything else matters, than to love and be loved. “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends,” (John 15:13).

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Unknown said…
God loving reminds me often, that I am to love and serve those He puts in my path. Even if I don't want to, or even when it is hard to do so. He has been tearing down walls I have built under the pretense their beliefs or lives are differnet than mine. When social, religious, and all other titles we put on each other is taken away, we are all just human...we all experience hurt, joy, pain etc the same, which puts us on the same level in life. It is awesome how God reminds me of such things.
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