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Praying
in Iraq: A Chaplain Reaches Out
By Jane
Hampton Cook
"Great
men will speak of great deeds and mighty acts of heroism, but
me, I shall forever dwell upon what prayer and faith have
wrought in the hearts and lives of so many men and women and so
many fervent hearts." -Lt. Daniel M. Nichols, Chaplain
Corps, United States Navy Reserve. Operation Iraqi Freedom.
A young
marine made yet another trek into the southern Iraqi village to
purchase sodas and supplies. As usual, he offered a few pieces
of candy to the small crowd of children gathering around him
while he made his purchases. Then he turned to find an older
Iraqi man standing in front of him.
"I
am a Christian," the Iraqi said in a clear attempt to catch
the marine's attention. The marine noticed a broken metal cross
in the Iraqi's hand. He smiled, nodded and moved to the side to
be on his way, but the Iraqi insisted in broken English. "I
am a Christian, you are American, I thank you."
The
marine offered another smile and a nod. Trying to be helpful, he
said, "I could probably fix that cross for you if you
like."
The old
Iraqi returned the smile, although he clearly did not understand
the marine's suggestion. Then, with more intensity, the Iraqi
said, "Never could I carry such a thing before, not in
public, would kill me." He made a distinct slashing motion
with his hand, crossing it over his throat.
"You,
American marine, saved me, wife, children." Again the
marine nodded, a bit intimidated by the exchange. "You're
welcome," he managed after a pause.
Then the
marine turned, climbed back in his truck and looked one last
time at the old Iraqi. "I pray for you," shouted the
Iraqi over the din of the motor, "For marines." Then
he lifted up the cross and firmly declared, "Freedom!"
Lt.
Daniel Nichols, a Navy chaplain, shared this true story with
6,000 marines serving in Iraq last summer. He included it in an
e-devotional, a short message sent several times a week via
email. The words, "I pray for you," not only ended
this symbolic story, but they also became this military
minister's mantra. In a world where each uniformed man and woman
confronts the possibility of not returning home, Nichols soon
discovered his most effective outreach method was prayer. Both
public and private prayers became this unarmed combatant's
secret weapon.
"Prayer
made a direct difference. Recovery, hope, survivability -you
name it-prayer made a huge difference," Nichols said.
Nichols
was a reservist living with his pregnant wife and three children
in the Washington, D.C. area when he was called to active duty
in February 2003. Because Navy chaplains serve marines, he was
assigned to the Third Marine Aircraft Wing based in San Diego.
He was deployed to Iraq in June.
Before
leaving for Operation Iraqi Freedom, Nichols approached the
chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives about a duty that
had annoyed Nichols since joining the Chaplain Corps three years
earlier. Public prayer. It is a challenge civilian pastors often
face when asked to deliver prayers and invocations at graduation
ceremonies and other community events.
"You
are asked to give public prayer. They have to be pretty
generalized. You can't pray in the name of Jesus Christ. That
bugged me to have to be politically correct," Nichols said.
"Then you're asked to pray at everything. If there's a
ceremony, and there's a marine involved in that ceremony, you're
asked to pray at it."
Nichols
worried about his prayers becoming too rote, elaborate or
professional. He felt tempted to try to impress people with his
prayers. The House chaplain shared about the importance of
upholding the nation's tradition of prayer. He encouraged
Nichols to view public prayer differently. Public prayer was a
way to show people the concept of communicating with God.
"I
began to see my public prayers as an introduction for people in
how to relate to God. Public prayer is leading people in
relationship and conversation with God," Nichols said.
Nichols decided to end his flowery public prayers and leave
behind his evangelism frustrations. He began to make his public
prayers more personal and practical.
In Iraq,
he led in public prayer before missions. Nichols prayed for
specific individuals and families. He discovered it made a
tremendous difference. His public prayers gave him a presence
among his marines. Because they saw him praying publicly, they
knew they could approach him with other requests.
Chaplains
are vocational ministers. They wear their rank on their right
lapel, and a cross pin or patch on their left. During his
training, Nichols was concerned about balancing his role as an
officer with that of a chaplain. One day a crusty, cursing
colonel clarified his call.
He looked
Nichols directly in the eye and said, "Chaplain, there's
something you need to understand, I don't care how good an
officer you are. What's important to me is not the rank that's
on your shoulder. What I need from you is what that cross
symbolizes. To our troops, you are a person who has some kind of
connection with God. And that's really what they want. They want
to know there's somehow, some way to reach God. And so you are
to be the presence of God here for my people."
Nichols
has been armed with that colonel's charge ever since. He thought
of it often in Iraq, while he served as part human resources
manager, part pastor. He provided training on topics such as
equal opportunity. He contacted families when a soldier died and
informed marines of emergencies at home.
During
the four months he served in Iraq, Nichols counseled more than
1,200 marines, usually numerous times each. Several were on
suicide watch. It was a very heavy load to bear. Nichols decided
to end each session with this question: "Do you mind if I
pray for you?" No one refused his offer.Soon the prayer
burden became too much for Nichols to handle alone, and he
turned to his best prayer warrior, his mother, for help.
"My
earliest memories are times when I would awake in the very early
morning and steal out into the living room of our house where I
would always find my mother deep in prayer. This had a lasting
impact that continues to this day. It helped to have mom
praying," he said. Nichols sent countless requests to his
mother, who organized a prayer network. She forwarded these
needs to hundreds of churches, which resulted in thousands of
people praying for Nichols' comrades.
He also
sent her prayer flags. Soldiers signed their names and requests
on American flags, and Nichols sent them as visible reminders to
pray. But there was one marine who didn't want to have anything
to do with Nichols or his public and private prayers.
"When
I first saw him, I didn't like him. Arrogant sort of fellow.
Someone who had no interest in being around a chaplain,"
Nichols said.
But Lance
Corporal Hernandez (name changed for privacy) began to see that
others in his unit were getting practical help with problems by
talking to Nichols. One day he came up to Nichols and said,
"Chaplain, I need to talk to you." Nichols offered to
sit down and talk with him, but Hernandez said, "No. No. I
can't make it look like I'm talking to you. I don't want people
to think I'm a sissy."
"Nobody
thinks you're a sissy. I'm a big dude. Six five," Nichols
said. "We can make it look like a normal
conversation."
Hernandez
had some rough things going on at home, and Nichols asked if he
had contacted the military's legal channels and taken other
practical steps toward resolution. Nichol then closed with his
mantra.
"Do
you mind if I have some people pray for you and your
circumstances?"
Hernandez
agreed with a reluctant, "OK."
Then
Nichols asked, "Do you mind if I pray for you? Right
now?"
Hernandez
reminded him that people were watching. Nichols quietly put his
hand on his shoulder and prayed for Hernandez's situation. Then
he asked Hernandez to think about something. He explained their
location in Iraq was close to Ur, where Abraham was born. The
stars in their night sky were the same stars Abraham saw when he
talked to God, and when God talked to him.
"God
wants to hear from you. And he will. And he will listen to you.
Just talk to him. Doesn't have to be flowery," Nichols
said, remembering what he had learned about public prayer.
Nichols left and sent Hernandez's request to the prayer network.
Two weeks
later, Nichols returned to Hernandez's unit. He was stunned when
Hernandez ran up to him in public, hugged him and shared his
miracle. While serving on night duty watch, Hernandez had
decided he couldn't handle it any longer. He looked up at the
stars and prayed, "God, I don't even know who you are, but
I need some help."
He told
Nichols that an indescribable peace had washed over him, and a
few days later he received a letter from home resolving his
problem. He asked Nichols if God was so capable, then why was
prayer necessary?
"Probably
because he just wanted to hear from you. That you need him.
Because he wants to have a relationship with you," Nichols
said. "You didn't want that from him. He wants to know you
and be known by you."
From
there, Nichols was able to share his faith in Jesus Christ. What
started as a very simple understanding of talking to God led to
a transformation of Hernandez's life.
"The
stories of God changing hearts and lives go on and on, some of
them absolutely amazing, others far more mundane but no less
touching," Nichols said.
After a
couple of months in Iraq, Nichols' reserve admiral came for a
visit. They discussed Hernandez and Nichols' other 1,200
counseling cases. The admiral was stunned at how many of these
cases had shifted from issues of suicide to those far more
common to life experience. The questions now were mostly matters
about faith and family. He asked what had happened. Nichols
decided it was prayer.
"I
thought my primary role was counseling, helping with family
situations, informing when bad things happen, be there with
people. But they want you to pray for them," Nichols said.
Nichols
returned home in fall 2003, and he led a public prayer at the
inauguration for his father-in-law, the new governor of
Kentucky. He made the prayer personal by praying specifically
for the families of those serving in the administration and
government. Afterward, a state employee came up to him and
thanked him. She told him she had been struggling with family,
time and stress issues. God had touched her in that moment of
prayer, and this led to a further conversation about faith.
"There's
a real role that pastors can play in the public forum, looking
for opportunities to offer public prayer. You never know what
it's really going to mean for people, just to open an
opportunity for people to understand God," Nichols said.
Nichols
often closed his e-devotionals with a prayer. Like his public
and private prayers, these messages reinforced the concept of
communicating with God. He ended the story of the old Iraqi's
cross of freedom with this sublime prayer, fitting for a pastor
serving on any battlefield: "Eternal God: We have falsely
believed that some people and places are beyond your power to
bless, with their hearts too broken to heal and their minds too
trapped to enlighten. Even as we are sent to such a place and
such a people, we harbor doubt in our soul. Help us to recognize
as others do, the renewal of THIS place and these people as an
act of blessing from you through the sweat and toil of our
hands."
Lt.
Nichols is currently a Special Assistant to the Assistant
Secretary of Veterans' Employment and Training at the U.S.
Department of Labor. About the writer: Jane Hampton Cook is the
former White House Deputy Director of Internet News Services to
President George W. Bush. She is a freelance writer and speaker
living in Alexandria, Virginia.
***
How
Can Churches Reach Out to the Military and Their Families?
1. Pray
for chaplains and other members of the military. Chaplains are
the spiritual encouragers of the military. Contact nearby
military bases to find out the names of chaplains and pray for
them and others specifically.
2.
Support the families back home. Build relationships with them
before, during and after soldiers return. Some of the most
difficult times for families are right before soldiers leave and
in the few months after they have returned. They often close off
their emotions to their family to prepare for their mission
ahead or then find it difficult to reconnect when they return.
3. Be a
resource for their families while they are gone. Soldiers
appreciate care packages, but beef jerky and candy are not going
to mean anything to them if they return home to a broken family.
4.
Support troops when they come home. Those returning home fear
for their jobs, livelihood and mental and physical health. They
need prayer and practical support for re-entering their lives
and managing changes in their families. Contact bases and search
the Internet for information that can help you help them. Here
are two sites: defendamerica.mil/support_troops.html
and DeploymentConnections.org.
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