Buddhist Chaplain Conducts Protestant Service!

Well....sort of. Last week, when I spoke to Chaplain Soh (Korean Presbyterian), I THOUGHT he said that the Wing Chaplain had assigned a "Buddhist" chaplain to lead the liturgical service here. So, you can imagine my relief this afternoon when I attended the Liturgical Service and discovered that the Chaplain is not "Buddhist". He's "British" - as in Royal Air Force. What a relief, since I will be helping out with the Liturgical Service on occasion. How interesting that our pastoral prayer this morning included a prayer for "our Queen Elizabeth."

Also, I preached at the Traditional Service this afternoon. Kind of like at Keesler, quite a few high-falutin' types attend the service. No matter. I told 'em what wretched sinners they are. Hey, whether you've got birds, bars, stripes or stars on your uniform, you're hopeless without Jesus, right? But then I told them the good news. I had to. It's in my contract.

This evening I attended the Gospel Service. But after two hours I had to go potty. Mainly because of the Starbuck's iced doubleshot I had right before the service.

Did I mention that there's a brand new Starbuck's here? As far as I can tell, it's run by two Nepalese gentlemen. We got off to a rocky start when I ordered "a venti iced doubleshot". Venti's the biggest one, right? So, I'm expecting to get what I ordered. (I'm weird that way). Then I get handed this tiny, milky little frappucino-looking thing. Imagine my consternation. Here I am on my deployment and I can't even get a venti iced doubleshot. (Excuse me while I take a sip of my Heineken....ahhh....that's refreshing).

Anyway, where was I??? Oh yes. The venti iced doubleshot. Eventually, I pointed to the picture and got pretty close to what I wanted. Plus I got to keep the other miniature drink. It was like "happy hour" at Starbuck's.

Turns out, though, that both drinks had double shots of espresso in them. Which explains why I had to go to the bathroom after two hours.

After the Gospel Service, I drove two chaplains around on some errands. We have a couple of those tiny little pick-up trucks (called Shepherd 1 & 2). You may have seen these trucks. They're like Tonka trucks....only....smaller and less powerful. But they're handy when you've got to go 3 miles across base.

Eventually, I made it to one of our fitness centers, hoping to swim a bit. Alas, the pool (olympic- sized) closed at 10pm, so I spent an hour on the elliptical trainer, watching NFL football. (My fantasy football team - Dunder Mifflin - is losing by 50 points, by the way).

I know this all sounds pretty "glam" (that's Hollywood-speak for "glamorous", for those of you who live in Arkansas) - the Heineken, the Starbuck's, the state-of-the-art fitness center, satellite TV - but the reality is that I have to get up at 5am tomorrow (it's 12:30am now) and meet some "human remains" that are on their way back to the US.

It's a reminder that we are at war. Whether we want to admit it or not. Whether we like it or not. We have people who pass through here on their way to and from the frontlines. They're here for some R&R before going back to the battle, or maybe they're on their way back home. But some only make it back to their loved ones in a flag-draped casket.

I can't even imagine what that's like for their families. Can you?

Maybe at some point it will sink in that they gave their lives, voluntarily, in service to their country, so you and I can drink our Heineken and our Starbuck's, and work out at the gym, and watch football - or whatever simple pleasure you and I enjoyed today.

Peace,

Michael