God Be With Us - Week 25

I finished working with a Soldier this week after counseling with him for several months. He was going through a lot: a pending divorce, losing his job before deployment, physical problems, and the challenges of this mission he is here to do. I love the last session when the people I am working with “graduate.” I like to review with them where they were when they started, how they have grown, what they did to get there, owning their progress and empowering their efforts, and encouraging them to continue applying what they have gained. This man has made some amazing progress in just a few short months. 

As a Chaplain, I am able to point out how God can shine light in their life throughout their challenges. As I help people recognize how they have seen God’s hand in their trials, it reaffirms to me how God works through many people, because He loves each and every one of us; even the ones who don’t know Him well or follow Him. Our greatest trials bring us closer to Him.
 
I went to a presentation this week that emphasized our military partnership with the local Nationals. It made me feel proud of the country I live in and to be a part of our nation’s military that partners with other countries to bring about freedom and basic human rights. I know this week has seen its share of the atrocities of war in other parts of the world. There are so many political and military agendas I won’t get into here. But this much I know: God has blessed our nation for a reason. We have a duty to help share freedom throughout the world and be a positive influence for good wherever we can. 

We know that there will be “wars and rumors of wars, and the whole earth shall be in commotion, and men’s hearts shall fail them” (Doctrine and Covenants 45:26). I pray for those people involved, especially the innocent lives, and I hope that our country can help in bringing about peace. But if not, I trust in the Prince of Peace, I trust “in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things” (2 Nephi 2:24), and “I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things” (1 Nephi 11:17). One day we will see the purpose of God in all this, and I know He is with us in many ways that we don’t often recognize. In the meantime, we hope and pray and do what we can.

In His Service,

Chaplain John Critchfield

Becoming Resilient - Week 24

During the last 3 weeks I have been facilitating the course “Becoming a Self-Reliant and Resilient Family” here on our installation. It is a manual the Church published back in 2016 for military members and families especially, but can also be useful for other families who go through similar challenges of family separation etc. We have about 7 people attending so far. It has certainly been a growing experience for me. I think a part of me wanted to provide this course for my own growth and benefit as well as those who are here as well.

So far we have discussed how to build personal resilience, spiritual self-reliance, and resilience in our marriage. I know I feel inspired each week to work on something specific to continue building my resilience. Family separation has been the hardest part of this deployment. Though I am able to stay in contact with my wife and children fairly regularly by video call, it’s not the same as being there physically to support each other in our challenges and difficulties. 

In a way, it forces us to build our connections in other ways such as empathic listening, encouragement, affirmation, prayer and fasting for each other. We each set goals at the beginning of this deployment and try to check in with each other on our progress. We share things we are learning in our experiences and gospel study. But there is always room for improvement, and I am grateful for this manual that gives us some ideas to ponder and allows the Spirit to guide our growth.

One of the goals I set was to complete a military education course online during this deployment. I am required to complete it to eventually be eligible for promotion to the next rank. It is a challenging course that usually takes an average of a year to complete, and I have spent many hours and months in it already. I finished a major milestone this week having completed the 2nd of 3 phases in the course, which is well-known as the hardest part of the course. 

I am grateful for the grace of Jesus Christ which strengthens me to accomplish more than I ever could on my own. This week has been another testament to that fact again for me. I am reminded of when I was in graduate school when I was working four 10-hour days at one job, two 8–10-hour days at internships for 17 months, one weekend a month in the Army Reserve, Church responsibilities every Sunday, and we had 3 children by the time I finished. I felt the Lord’s empowering grace upon me during that time in my life too and continue to see how much He can accomplish through me when I seek Him. 

Studying about Abraham this week reminds me that nothing is impossible with the Lord and when I am willing to sacrifice anything for Him, He will bless me and my family far beyond what we sacrifice. I trust in Him that the sacrifices we are making now during this deployment will bless us and many others, as long as we continue to consecrate our efforts to Him.

In His Service,
Chaplain John Critchfield

Children Of The Covenant - Week 23

One of the neatest experiences this week happened through a Service Member Group Leader I helped to get established in Jordan. He had an investigator in his unit who was interested in the Gospel. I helped coordinate with him and Military Relations at Church Headquarters, as well as the local priesthood leaders to teach, interview, and eventually baptize this young man. And because they were in Jordan, they had the opportunity to perform that sacred ordinance in the Jordan River at the site known locally as the site where Jesus himself was baptized by John. What a sacred experience!

I spoke in Church today about “Love” since tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. I spoke about the many meanings of the word “love” in the Greek language, how important it is to foster different kinds of love for friends, loved ones, our country, ourselves, and our God. I reviewed the evidence of God’s love for us. I also spoke on the obstacles to this great commandment of love: pride, selfishness, anger/hate, pain/hurt, fear, and shame. When these feelings permeate within us, love can be difficult to attain. I shared how repentance and forgiveness, with the help of God through prayer and the power of the Atonement of Christ, can help us overcome these obstacles so that love can fill our hearts.

As I have been learning more this week about the Covenant God made with Abraham and continues to extend to those faithful in these latter days, I continue to be awed by the love God has for each of us. Abraham made some mistakes of his own. He was not perfect, and he went through many trials. But God remembered him and his posterity despite all of that, and because Abraham continued to submit himself to God. The fact is God chose Abraham, and Abraham continued to choose God despite all his challenges and setbacks. God’s love reaches through generations, and He remembers those who make sacrifices to choose Him.

I am grateful to be a child of the covenant, to make those covenants myself with God, to see the blessings that God has poured upon me and my family for our sacrifices to Him, to feel His ever-present love despite my weaknesses, and to share those blessings with others in any way I can throughout the world.
 
In His Service,
Chaplain John Critchfield

Honor The Fallen - Week 22

As part of our Army Chaplain doctrine, our three core competencies are: Nurture the Living, Care for the Wounded, and Honor the Fallen. Most of my time spent in the chaplaincy thus far has been to nurture the living through religious support. I guess you could say I care for the wounded through counseling as I tend to their emotional, mental, and spiritual wounds. I have had few opportunities to honor the fallen. This week presented one of those opportunities.

On Thursday we received news that one of our Soldiers in Syria had died. That night we found out he was being transferred through the airbase close to us on his way back to the U.S. So the three of us chaplains and our two religious affairs specialists (Chaplain Assistants), drove nearly two hours to the airbase and waited for the flight to come in. We were on standby for a few hours and met with mortuary affairs to discuss the details of what we were about to do. We sat in the nearby cafeteria until 2:30 a.m. when we got word the plane was about to arrive. 

We drove our small procession out onto the flight line, stood in formation on two sides behind the plane and watched the honor guard, slowly and with exactness, march up the ramp of the back of the plane. The Chaplain in charge at the airbase had a few moments with the fallen Soldier and his escort to say a few words before the honor guard slowly picked up the metal casket draped with the American Flag, and with sacred dignity marched slowly to the transfer truck as we saluted his remains. 

As I watched that casket pass by, I prayed in my heart for his soul to be received by a loving Heavenly Father who was aware of his sacrifices, for his family who will be mourning his loss to be comforted, and for the Service Members standing at attention beside me who are struggling with their own emotions about this event and many likely reminded of their own losses from their past. As they closed the doors to the truck and we all rendered our final salute, the truck made its way back to mortuary affairs where he would be kept until his next flight came in to take him home. 

This short ceremony is what we call a Ramp Ceremony. I was thinking later about the sacrifices we made that day and night to be there to honor this Soldier for a five-minute ceremony. There was only one Soldier there who even knew this fallen comrade, none of the rest of us knew him personally. His family was not here to see this. But it was all worth it to Honor the Fallen.

One of the secondary reasons we do this is to show each living Service Member how much they would be honored if they became one of the Fallen as well. It gives us a sense of belonging, courage, and security to know that our sacrifices mean something to our brothers and sisters in arms and to our country. We are therefore more willing to bear them.

I wish I was allowed to take pictures of this event. But hopefully some of these internet photos will give you an idea of what a Ramp Ceremony looks like. This memory will forever be ingrained in my heart and mind.

In His Service,

Chaplain John Critchfield