Centurion Faith!
Prev Next Vol V - June 21, 2009 - FOB SHARANA, AFGHANISTAN
Nurturing the Centurion's Faith
Celebrating Mass at Zerok
When Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion approached him and appealed to him, saying,
"Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully." He said to him, "I
will come and cure him." The centurion said in reply, "Lord, I am not worthy to have
you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed. For I too am
a man subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, 'Go,' and he
goes; and to another, 'Come here,' and he comes; and to my slave, 'Do this,' and he
does it." When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, "Amen,
I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.
(Matthew 8:5-10)
For Sgt Neal and myself, "Centurion Faith" has become our signature, our battle cry, so to speak. But I've realized that I've never really explained why we choose this as our motto. The reason is more than the simple fact that a soldier is involved. It has much more to do with the quality of the Centurion's faith than the job he happens to hold. As you can read from the passage above, the Centurion comes to Jesus asking for healing for his servant. Jesus is more than willing to travel to the Centurion's home to cure the servant, but the Centurion knows that by doing so Jesus will become tamei, or ritually unclean. According to Jewish Tradition (not Torah), a faithful Jew was prohibited from entering the house of a gentile, or any gentile establishment. The Centurion would have known this, and so although Jesus is willing to visit his house, he lets him off the hook with his statement of great faith. Two things are displayed in the Centurions speech: first, the compassion and humility of the Centurion. He knew that if Jesus entered his house that he would be tamei, and unable to enter the temple.
Mass at FOB Sharana
Second, the Centurion's acknowledgement of the power and authority of God. He understands that Jesus doesn't need to be present, but only to will the healing and it will occur.
The trust and faith displayed by the Centurion causes Jesus to be amazed. In all of scripture, this is the only time and place where Jesus expresses surprise, and it is caused by a soldiers act of faith. What impresses God? Total faith. What surprises God? Complete trust. The faith of the Centurion, the belief of a disciple.
The fact that this faith is displayed by a soldier is not much of a surprise to me. In the words of the Centurion, "I am a man subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me." Soldiers often are expected to act, sometimes putting their lives in harms way, without seeing the full picture. A soldier understands and has reconciled his heart to the fact that he may never see the full effect that his presence or actions or sacrifice may bring about. Never-the-less, he places his trust in his commanders, he knows that they have weighed the risks of the mission with the possible good that it may bring about. In similar fashion, the faithful follower of Christ will never fully see or understand God's plan this side of eternity. Never-the-less a disciple's faith gives him the strength to leap without knowing for sure where he will land.
Sgt Neal practicing his Kempo moves on his unsuspecting armor and gear.
I hate sit-ups. Of all the pointless and excruciating exercises man has ever devised, the sit-up is by far the stupidest thing ever to flow from the human brain. I have no doubt that the sit-up finds it's origins from a double-dog-dare after one too many mugs of ale. It's a dumb exercise, and one that I've never had a good relationship with. They cause me pain, they're not fun, the Army style of sit-ups can actually cause damage, and there are so many other good ways to build up your core muscles (which is what the sit-up stresses). I'd rather do a few hundred flutter kicks, or throw downs, or mountain climbers, or leg raisers. Anything but the dreaded sit-up! Neverthe- less, the Army loves the sit-up, and inflicting them on her Soldiers.
Where am I going with this tirade? 2 points. Point A: After my recent PT test (of which I will never speak again, not a good day! But yes I did pass...) Sgt Neal has instituted "The 300 Club" for the two of us. Essentially it's a training program for guys who can't get to the gym or run the treadmill very often (like us when we're on the road). You do 300 push ups and sit ups each day throughout the day. The diabolical part of this is that when 300 gets too easy, you do 400... and on and on. Now I know that physical fitness is important, and the Army places a high value on this. But my neck and back will never be the same again. I know I'm in trouble when I'm popping Tylenol with as much frequency as Dr House.
Some fun PT - Ultimate Frisbee:
Privates/Captains vs Sergeants/Lieutenants
Point B for this tirade: PT is good for the body, it keeps it healthy and working efficiently. PT for the mind, and the soul, is equally important. With that in mind I've started a faith enrichment class for two of the major FOBs that I visit often. I'm also toying with the idea of offering it via email to the smaller FOBs that I only visit once a month. The class is based on the book "Letters to a Young Catholic" by George Weigel. It's a nice enough book, and a good place to start someone on deepening their faith. It's essential premise is that God is present, and active in this world. Basically that "stuff counts," the material world and the spiritual world are intertwined, and that God is most present in the grittiness of our history. This is something that we easily overlook and often need to be reminded of. Dualism, the separation of the material world and the spiritual world (one being viewed as evil, the other as good), is something that St. Paul fought against, something that plagued the early church, and something that is alive and kicking even today. Weigel battles dualism by taking the reader on a tour of some meaningful locations in Christian history; a graveyard in Rome, a farm house in Georgia, a church in Krakow, and a bar in London, and many others. He then uses the story of those locations, and what they contribute to the Christian tradition, to explain some key ideas and doctrines of the Catholic faith and how God continues to affect the heart of humanity. Anyway, it's a good book, one I recommend reading, and one that lends itself to some good discussion.
Sunset at MAL, with a gun-truck in the foreground.
One of the reasons I joined the Army was to have the opportunity to spend time with Soldiers in their environment, "getting filthy dirty with the Joes" so to speak... It's still something that I enjoy doing, and something I find rewarding mentally and spiritually. It's fun going out into the field, sleeping in the open, running through the woods, marching through the snow, etc... That being said, there's something wonderful about flush toilets and hot showers...
"Joe" games: aka playing with gun powder...
Last week Sgt Neal and I took a little three hour tour to COP Malakshay (Combat Operations Post). Like Gilligan, our three hour tour turned into a week of fun and frustration. MAL (Malakshay) is a small little post (about half a football field in diameter) sitting on the top of some mountains over-looking the Pakistan border. It's a spartan place; no running water, no showers, a tiny little gym with a few free-weights, and one phone and a few computers offer a connection to the real world. There's not much to do there, and the guys live on top of each other all the time. It's definitely a "getting filthy dirty with the Joes" kind of place.
Storms coming in, stuck another day!
MAL was the first stop on a 4 FOB mission over 4 days. But as soon as we landed the weather turned on us (as it will in the mountains), and stayed dark and evil all week. The fun part was spending time with the guys, sitting in the guard towers, BS-ing with the mortar guys, watching the entire series of South Park and King of the Hill... The frustration part, watching the choppers fly in the valley below as my status board turned amber and red, and knowing that I couldn't do anything about it! The worst part was when a chopper flew in on day 3 to drop off the mail. The mail bird can haul both people and cargo, so they could have taken us. But instead they swooped in as we were walking down to the HLZ (helicopter landing zone), opened the door and threw the mail bag out as they flew by. They didn't even land, they tossed the mail while still 10 feet in the air! It brought back flashbacks of our time at NTC (National Training Center) in California. While there we struggled with transportation too. I can't tell you how many days that month I sat waiting for a chopper on the HLZ that would never come. The final straw there was when the Colonel's bird landed and refused to take any people or cargo even though it was empty. It landed at our base, sat on the HLZ for 10 minutes, then took off again to pick the Colonel up. I was furious! I actually threw my rucksack and kicked my helmut (which is not a good idea, those things are very hard).
Hail. HAIL! And we go unpack our bags for another day... again...
Anyway, to bring a long story to an end, we spent about a week at MAL, trying each day to move to the next stop. We finally had success when the new general flew by on a tour of the outlying COPs. He didn't have time to stop, but he did agree to pick us up and drop us off at the next stop. The funny part here? The Protestant Chaplain for the area got off the bird as we got on! And drumroll please... He got stuck too! Those poor guys are going to all have halos by the end of the month. They have a Catholic priest preaching to them for a week, only to get tag-teamed by an Assemblies of God preacher for another week! If these guys don't all go to heaven then I don't know who will!
Defending the walls of Malakshay, not from Taliban but from a rabbit that got too close. We missed, no stew tonight...
The Orgun-E Valley, very fertile ground in a desert...
Once again, the final page of this newsletter is dedicated to all those that have sent stuff forward to us to be distributed to the troops. I know how bad the economy is back in the States, how some folks worry daily about how they will pay their mortgage or if they will lose their job. And yet almost every day a box arrives full of good things to distribute to the troops. Every week I am humbled by the generosity of so many friends, family, and church groups who have heard about us and responded to our need. It's Awesome! We combine and ship most of the packages to smaller FOBs with few resources, but we also help to supplement the "Table of Grace" at the chapel and in our office. It's a great morale booster for the Soldiers, and sometimes acts as an excuse to visit the chaplain and bring something up that's been bugging them. So thank you, thank you, thank you for all your support and generosity. It's not so much the great stuff we receive, but the fact that someone back home took the time to gather it, package it, and pay to send it off. Thanks, and please keep us in your prayers, for we need those more than anything else!
Here are a few items that we find are good for care packages:
CH Jason Hesseling
HHC 725 BSB
4/25th BCT, FOB SHARANA
APO AE 09311