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God
Works in Mysterious Ways
I am constantly amazed at the ways God works! This is what I mean. My responsibilities here at Camp Commando in Kuwait are to serve as the Senior Chaplain for the Camp, which is made up of between four and six thousand Marines, soldiers and sailors. There are approximately ten chaplains, although with the ebb and flow of troops, this is constantly changing. Today, Saturday, I walked around the camp, dropping in on a couple of services that were previously scheduled. Because we are short of Catholic priests, we borrow a priest from another base in the area, who comes on Saturday to perform Mass. Saturday is also the Sabbath for the Jews, so there was a Memorial Prayer for Servicemen that evening. Having oversight of all organized religious services for the camp, I like to stop in and make sure everything is taken care of for the chaplain who leads the service. So I stopped in at 11:15 to make sure the priest’s needs were met for the 11:30 Mass. Then I usually stand in the back to observe. This way when I sit in on the morning Staff Briefings with the general, I can personally report how the services have been conducted. About 6:30 this evening I strolled up to the “chapel,” which is a GP (general purpose) tent slightly smaller than a circus tent. I was going up to check on the rabbi for his 7:00 p.m. service. When I walked in, I saw the rabbi sitting with a soldier. Rabbi Horovitz got up and came over to speak with me. He mentioned he was counseling Aaron (the soldier, who is not of the Jewish faith), whose brother-in-law had been killed last week. It was his wife’s brother, a Marine, clearing unexploded munitions in Iraq, when an explosion occurred. Aaron will be accompanying his brother-in-law’s body home this week. The reason the rabbi was involved is because Aaron, in his sorrow, saw the lights on in the chapel, and went in to be comforted. The rabbi excused himself as he needed to spend time setting things up for his service. So I went and sat next to the young soldier. I put my arm around him and told him I was sorry to hear about his brother-in-law. We sat in silence for a time. He then said, “At least my brother-in-law was saved.” My ears pricked up, and I said, “Well then, you’ll see him again in heaven.” He remained quiet. So I said, “Do you know Jesus?” He said he didn’t, but that his wife is a Christian. I said, “What’s holding you back?” He said he didn’t know. About this point the rabbi invited the two of us to join in the service. This now made four of us! We placed yarmulkes on our heads and joined in worship. It was marvelous to experience this Jewish service, where there is the reading from the Torah, several prayers and what would be equivalent to our communion. We read a lot of scripture, all of it directly applicable to what this young man is going through. I was once again struck by the beauty and appropriateness of God’s word. And how good God was to use this Jewish service to minister, not just to this grieving soldier, but to my own heart as well. After we were done, I sat back down with Aaron and addressed his need to know Christ personally. He then asked the Lord into his heart, right there. It was glorious! Starting out that evening, my plan was simply to check on the Jewish service. God’s plan was to save a soul! After Aaron and I agreed to meet tomorrow for Sunday church, I said good night and took my leave. Just before stepping outside, the rabbi asked me to take the bottle of kosher wine used in the service back to the office to be refrigerated. I couldn’t help but think of how silly I must have looked strolling along with this bottle of sacramental wine sticking out of one of the cargo pockets on my camouflaged uniform. And then there was this smile of joy on my face because I had just been blessed in bringing someone to Jesus. Indeed, God works in mysterious ways. |
