…to shoot video for AFN Valentine Greetings. Relax, I feel better and really had no reason to go there today other than to shoot video.

I was actually kind of scared to go into that hospital for obvious reasons — I’m in a war zone and they receive injuries ranging from the normal to the unimaginable. Coincidentally, it is the same hospital where they took Bob Woodruff and Doug Vogt, the ABC News anchor and photographer who were seriously hurt in an IED attack yesterday near Taji.

Case in point, today I walked past an Iraqi man who had something in his eye (and I’m not talking just a piece of dust, if you get my drift). He was walking toward the emergency room with another Iraqi by his side. It was unlike anything I had ever seen, and a while after I saw it I ran into the restroom and lost my lunch. After that, I gained a new respect for the doctors and nurses who witness such horrible injuries and do their best to save our troops’ lives. God bless them.

I’m sorry to be so graphic, but I caught my first glimpse of reality into what war actually can do to people. Sad to say, what I witnessed was not even close to the worst of it. We really need to uphold our fellow Americans fighting this war in prayer. The people who are getting killed by the coward terrorists’ bombs are no different than you and me. They are people who have families, lead normal daily lives, go to work, come home, interact with friends, go to church, and lead a completely different life than the one that forces them to wear this uniform. And it just so happens that someone who is called to protect people they would not know from Adam, all of a sudden has their life changed by the stupidity, hate and religious extremism of cowardly savages.

I respect and pray for each and every one of my fellow troops. It’s because of reasons such as the afore mentioned, that you all have a moral obligation to do the same as well.

[tags]Iraq, hospital, IED[/tags]

For those of you who are not aware, I have been a die hard Seattle Seahawks fan since about 1997, in the closing years of them having such a terrible logo as you see to the left. The team sucked then and pretty much did until 2003…granted, they always finished with about 7 or 8 wins each season so they didn’t suck too bad…but they went to the playoffs in 1999 and even though Jon Kitna is a good guy he screwed up big time and let a 68 year old Dan Marino win his first playoff game (and the next week, his Dolphins suffered the worst playoff loss in modern NFL history, 62-7 to Jacksonville).

I was reading Wikipedia’s entry on the Seahawks and here are some good tidbits of trivial knowledge for lunch today. Mmm, mmm, good. Here, have some good tidbits from their history as long as I have been a fan. It’s a good read. Long live Mike Holmgren. (Click the link below to keep reading and download a Seahawks song.)

Continue reading ‘Day 92: Time For A Seahawks History Lesson, And A Song.’

The photo sums up what it’s like at work every day. The monotony of it all is wearing on me. Three months here, three to go. I can’t wait to board my flight out of here in late April, much less get back to Langley and share some funny stories of what went on here. Technically today is my halfway point, but I might leave earlier than the 179 days because SSgt Leake was telling me about some policy that says we have to be back to our home station on or earlier than the 179th day. So maybe today is actually just a little bit past the halfway point…which means the good things in my life are finally starting to take shape. I get out of here in late April, I am free from the military in November, and I move to Missouri right after I separate from the Air Force.

This morning twas pretty scary. Let’s just say someone decided to shoot a few mortars at us. I don’t think anyone was hurt, but when I walked out to the bus stop this morning the cops were having a heck of a time clearing the area. What made the incident so scary is that a couple of the mortar rounds were still laying around somewhere unexploded, which basically means anything could probably set them off. Or they could be duds. Who knows. With mortars, you never really know.

Mortar fire is the reality check for each of us…each round that falls says “Wake up everybody, you’re still in a war zone.” I (and a lot of folks) tend to forget that we’re in such a dangerous place with the compound being as protected as it is. I thank God for his protection, but at the same time I dare not forget that I am serving in the most dangerous city in the world. I must stay alert.

I ran into someone I knew from my time at Lajes Field on Tuesday. I’ll tell you more about that tomorrow. For now, I gotta run so God bless and be peaceful.

Here’s a short but somewhat heartwarming story of something that happened to me both yesterday and today.

Being in a war zone, we normally don’t see kids around. But on my way to and from chow over the past couple of days I have seen a mother walking with her child. Yesterday right outside our office there was a woman walking with her son, who had a severe deformity. His arms and legs were too short and it took him forever to walk ten feet…it was really a heartbreaking sight to see. But when I passed by, the boy lit up, stopped walking, waved and said “Hello sir!!!” I stopped for a second and said hello back. It actually made me sorry I didn’t know any Arabic.

Then today there was a woman walking beside her young daughter in nearly the exact same place as I saw the boy yesterday. I was carrying lunch back to the office today so my hands were full, but the girl lit up when I walked by and giggled, and she let out a excited “HI!” I stopped for a second, set my food down on the sidewalk and said hi back. She giggled as she reached her hand out and gave me a high-five. I pointed to myself and told her my name slowly: “Chris.” She told me hers (I can’t spell it and I don’t want to misspell it) in much the same way I did mine. Her mom looked down smiling and she said in broken English, “Thank you.” I got up, waved to them both, and walked away as tears came to my eyes.

The simple walk back from lunch and a chance encounter with two kids showed me though I have been doubting why I am here, just the smile of two children I briefly met showed me that there are many people around here who appreciate the coalition’s sacrifice and holds us in high regard, as we do them.

God bless you all today!!!

People go to church to enrich their spiritual lives, to bond with other brothers and sisters in Christ and to glorify the Lord. But every church on this planet is faced with certain unique problems — and the fact that one problem has been evident in every youth group I have attended makes me wonder if it is more far-reaching than just the youth groups I’ve been to.

It is true that the Word says that light and darkness have no fellowship. Basically, if we have asked Jesus Christ to forgive us of our sins and we are living for him, we are not to be influenced by non-believers…instead we are to help lead them to Christ. But why, oh why, have so many people taken that Scripture and extended it further by alienating non-believers in their own churches???

Like I said, I’ve encountered it at every single youth group I’ve been to, and the problem has been worse at some churches than at others…the general feeling that if you’re unsaved or not doing so well spiritually, you are either looked down upon or just simply aren’t included as part of the group. It’s as if there are two different social classes.

Continue reading ‘The Two Social Classes You’ll Encounter At Church’