[…]will inevitably be a part of it. But they don’t have to be destructive to your marriage, in fact, there is a sense in which they can be actually constructive. The same sun that melts the butter also hardens the clay. A separation that might break up one marriage (probably a shaky marriage to begin with) can strengthen another. Accept separations as a challenge! Don’t let them work against you; make them work for you! Marriages can grow even though husband and wife are separated by distance. If nothing else, separations force you to focus on the major good qualities […]
[…]the good news of God’s love and holiness. Like those the Apostle Paul encountered in synagogues (Acts 9:20, 13:5) and in places of prayer (Acts 16:16), these people may be open to the loving witness you offer concerning the grace and truth that can be found only in Jesus Christ. That may be why God drew them to your chapel! The chapel ministry offers you an open door to the personnel in your command. We sometimes overlook the potential for ministry of this rather obvious fact. Christian ministries authorized by the military allow a means for the gospel to be […]
[…]military service members face, but many families find that sharing in letters how faith is active in their lives helps ease that concern. Finding things to thank God for helps keep attitudes positive. Remember that God is with you anywhere you go, even in the most isolated place the military may send you. When you’re away from your family, it’s easy to feel like you aren’t accountable to them; separation may offer temptations that would threaten your relationship with your spouse and that are hard to resist. Statistics tell us that many marriages break down during times of separation because […]
[…]go where needed, no matter how dangerous that place may be. Knows the different religious practices and beliefs of the people in your unit Is an enthusiastic contributor to the mission and morale of your organization, but one who will let you know when there are problems with its mission or morale. Those are some of the basic expectations that should be met by your chaplains. If they are not meeting those expectations, something is definitely wrong. When I was a Marine officer in combat, the chaplains I encountered understood their value to our units. They made significant contributions to […]
[…]of my shirt and lighted it. We were ready to begin where we had left off, but I had one resolve to act on before I wrote another line. Crouched in that clothes locker, I was brought up short with the thought that I had not talked to those two new men about Jesus Christ and what He means to me. As I looked for an excuse, I could find only that I had been “just too busy,” I vowed then and there that the first thing I must do if I ever got out of that locker, was to […]
[…]shared with me some of the pitfalls they’d been through. Their advice was to prepare for the fact that our baby wouldn’t even know her daddy when he returned. She’s just too young to remember, they warned. Don’t expect too much, another said. It’ll take time, but they’ll start all over again. With that advice, I purposed in my heart to be different. I would do all I could to give my girls a sense of having a father, even if he wasn’t with them for months on end. Each day we talked about Daddy. We sent artwork and cookies […]
