Today’s guest blogger is Lori Hatcher.
We sit in chapel—my Navy son-in-law, my daughter and me. It’s early Sunday morning in Japan, still Saturday evening back home. After 18 hours of travel, I am bleary-eyed, but jet lag can’t keep me from worshiping with my kids on my first day here. When a mother sends her loved ones half-way around the world, she needs to know there’s a body of believers waiting for them.
I’ve never been to chapel on a military base before. Despite living within a mile of the Army’s largest basic training facility, military life is new to our family. Here’s what I discover in that chapel in Japan:
1) Navy chaplains care about their sailors.
They know them by name. They know their families. They make themselves available even when it’s inconvenient. Chaplains are here for the men and women who serve.
2) Chapel almost feels like home.
There are opportunities to serve—you can sing in the worship team, organize the potluck dinner or help in the nursery. There are opportunities for fellowship, too—Saturday night bowling, mid-week Bible studies and informal get-togethers.
3) Sailors’ hearts are never far from home.
Though our servicemen and women are separated by time and distance from their country and their communities, they often think about and pray for those on the home front.
One asked for prayer for the families devastated by the Oregon shooter, another for a loved one in the path of Hurricane Joaquin, still another mentioned a parent facing surgery.
4) God’s people are everywhere.
They may worship on a ship in the middle of the Pacific, in a sub in the depths of the sea or from a pew in a naval base chapel. Each place is holy ground, because God is there.
If your soldier is stationed far from home, rest assured. The military cares about your loved ones’ spiritual lives. Pray for them, encourage them to get to know their chaplains and remind them that wherever God’s people gather, He is there in their midst.
Some went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the great waters; they saw the great deeds of the Lord, his wondrous works in the deep. (Psalm 107:22-23)
Lori Hatcher is an author, blogger and women’s ministry speaker. She’s the editor of Reach Out, Columbia magazine and the author of Hungry for God…Starving for Time, Five-Minute Devotions for Busy Women and Joy in the Journey: Encouragement for Homeschooling Moms.
