The World According To Chris Brewer

My, how time flies.

Two years ago today I was getting ready to board a jet and fly from Norfolk, VA to Baltimore, and prepare for a subsequent trip to a special destination. I was scared about what the next six months held for me, and I didn’t know what I would do in such a faraway place without family and friends anywhere near me.

I had just returned from a trip to Springfield, and it was the first time I had ever been here. I visited my family (they lived in Rogersville at the time) and met all the wonderful people at Crimson House such as the Paces, Thomasons, Cowens, Ruch’s, and others. I even blogged about how I felt so much at home at the church and I loved the area. More specifically, I remember Pastor John’s sermon about each of us having a story to tell in our lives, and the entire church praying for me and the journey I was about to embark on.

So after meeting Krista Lankford, Melissa Atchley, and John and Barbara Stevens at the airport to say goodbye to all of them, I boarded my plane from Norfolk and arrived in Baltimore just 25 minutes later. When I arrived in Baltimore, I met up with my Dad, who was working on a building project in Washington DC with Johnny Parker and other members of their construction company — the National Portrait Gallery.

Dad and I got to talk for awhile and it was that visit that helped relieve some of my fears. We prayed together, cried together and he told me to stay close to the Lord because my faith was really going to pull me through.

In fact my co-workers back at the video production house told me I would make it through the next six months just fine, if my faith in God was any indication. At that point my faith was strong as it had ever been, and I knew I could tackle anything.

On the 8-hour flight from Baltimore to Germany, my heart began to race, yet my mind was set at ease by the prayers of literally hundreds of people I knew who were praying for me. At that very moment God began to comfort me and I knew I was going to be just fine.

In fact, it was one of three times in my life I ever heard God speak audibly. I looked around me on the plane to see who had just spoken to me, but everyone was sleeping.

There was no mistaking the words that were said. “I’ve got you, and you’re going to be okay.”

The date was October 25, 2005, and my ultimate destination for six months was Baghdad, Iraq.

I remember it as if it were yesterday.