http://www.fpchsnj.org/pastor

It’s so good to be back!! And thank you to everyone for graciously welcoming me back into our church! Here are three items that I’m involved in that you may be interested in.

I was released by the National Guard on June 12 and Kathy and I are now enjoying some time together. I'll begin my ministry at the First Presbyterian Church of Hamilton Square in August 2009 and in the interim Kathy and I are visiting our parents in Ohio, attending a conference for Presbyterian Chaplains in North Carolina and readjusting to life as a civilian. I am just about to celebrate my 59^th birthday, which means that I have successfully completed my last deployment with the National Guard and will retire from the National Guard by my 60^th birthday in August 2010. Our son Benjamin is 5months into his 15 month deployment to Afghanistan where he is serving as a First Lieutenant in an armored cavalry squadron.

Blessings,

Chaplain Jan Koczera

We're nearly ready to go home, and I thought that I'd share with all of you the last article that I've written for our Joint Area Support Group Newsletter. People ask me what its like to be deployed, and I thought that you might like to read this because it really sums up my thoughts on what has happened to us throughout this, my third deployment to a combat zone. I've directed it to our troops and I've received feedback from many and it echoes the mindset of many of us.

We are veterans, we see life in a different way.

I want to share one last message from this deployment, because something has happened to every one of us that you may not even be aware of. I’ve seen this happen twice now, and I know it will also happen this third time. We are all veterans now. We will all come off that plane in the United States and we will all (trust me, it’s true) think that our eyes have changed because we will never quite see things the same way that we have before.

You probably won’t believe me as you read this, but it’s true. You will not be the same. I’m not talking about combat or seeing blood or any traumatic thing like that, although some of us have had that experience. Also, some of us have done very well, some of us have had significant problems. It doesn’t matter. I’ll repeat that – for what I’m talking about, it doesn’t matter.

Here is what has happened to all of us. Everyone of us have been forced into a totally different lifestyle, forced to meet and work daily for months with people from completely different backgrounds, education, nationalities, races and religions. We have learned that we can accomplish the hardest tasks if we will only work together and take one step at a time. We have also learned that probably the greatest single evil in human society is to refuse to care, to refuse to try, to refuse to step outside of your comfort zone. We have seen Iraq, and we’ve seen both great hope and we’ve seen the worst that one human can do to another. We are not the same.

Veterans have a different way of looking at things and a different set of priorities than everyone else, and you will find it happening to yourself, to your great surprise. You will probably find yourself going one of two ways, and both are good and I want to encourage them equally.

One way is the way of involvement. People will share their comments, criticism, frustrations and anger and they’ll ask you your opinion. You’ll give it, and they will respond, “Nothing’s going to change, why even try?” And you will find yourself saying, “We’re going to try, because we can and because it’s the right thing to do.” And you will get involved and you will be a leader.

The other way is the way of understanding. When you look at a person, you will no longer be so quick to classify them by their education, their skin color, or their faith. Instead, you’ll know that every human being has within them the potential for great achievement and at the same time the potential for complete and utter failure, and you will find yourself doing everything you can to encourage them, to lift them up, and to set them on the path to success.

You may feel alone as you do this, but realize that there are thousands of us out there who feel the same as you do. We are veterans, we see life in a different way.

When you started reading this you thought that you had come to the end of this deployment and that you would return home and everything will be normal again. Welcome, you’ve just come to the beginning of an entirely new chapter in your life. With God’s help, your life will never be the same again.

I learned something about Middle Eastern culture from my Bible the other day. Noticing all the small rain showers that we have had recently, I thought how good it is to have rain in this dry place and I came across this odd proverb in my Bible. “When a king's face brightens, it means life; his favor is like a rain cloud in spring. Proverbs 16:15”

How odd, I thought, because we Westerners typically associate rain with frowning faces, or sad faces. We don’t know how much of a blessing rain is in a hot, dry climate.

That odd switch reminds me of something that I have learned about anger: Anger is universal, and just because a person is angry, it’s not the end of the world. I was brought up to think that if people speak angrily to each other, their relationship is destroyed, and things will only go from bad to worse. The childhood message to me was don’t express anger, keep it hidden. That doesn’t work. Especially now, as we wait to go home and see our loved ones, we shouldn’t be surprised at the anger we may feel, even anger at the ones we love the most (and they may be angry at us too!) Don’t read too much into the anger; it’s simply driven by the stressfulness of waiting.

But just as there’s a difference between a rain shower and a flood, so there’s a difference between a single angry outburst and an uncontrollable flood of anger. There’s an old saying in Alcoholics Anonymous, “First the man takes a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes a man.” If anger has taken you over, then get help. Anger can be managed with the right tools; it’s part of our nature and it doesn’t have to be overwhelming.

Time for a Relationship Checkup

We've just passed Valentine's Day and this is a good time for us to look at our significant relationships, especially since we only have around one hundred days left until our homecoming. There are things that we can do right now that will help when we see our loved ones again in June and, even more important, keep relationships healthy in the long term. I'm not only talking about our marriages, but also our relationships with our children, parents, and any other close friends.

Isn't it amazing that all of us (including myself) go to such pains to make sure that we have all that we want in terms of material goods and forget the incredible mystery that surrounds us every day; that each and every person we meet is a universe in themselves, full of mystery, worthy of our time and respect, and a product of the very hand of God? And if you believe in eternity, everything we own will break and wear out, except our relationships –they will last forever. Shouldn't we give them the time and effort that we give to everything else in life?

So first and always foremost, focus on friendship. Being a friend means to remember the positive qualities that attracted us to each other in the first place, the qualities that we affirm in each other. We can even be friends with our children and still be a parent (I know this seems unbelievable to some!) and when we affirm their strengths, that gives us common ground to work together on the problems. Always work from the strength of the relationship into the weaker areas; problems can always be surmounted when we confront them as a team.

Take the areas of frustration and make them to-do's by answering the question," what can I do today to make my relationship better?" Just having a plan can be enough. Be up front; what's the real issue? Usually it's not the other person at all but something outside of both of you. And if you find that you're too angry to deal with it, maybe the solution has to begin with facing your own issues. Escalating into hostility doesn't help and threats aren't the answer. Compassion and understanding do help by building bridges but they require us to take a step back and study the issues with maturity. That's why it's a good idea to look at relationships now, while we have a bit of time before we return.

I think this quote from "The Message" translation of the Bible of I Peter 3 8-9 speaks to what I'm saying, "Summing up: Be agreeable, be sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate, be humble. That goes for all of you, no exceptions. No retaliation. No sharp-tongued sarcasm. Instead, bless—that's your job, to bless. You'll be a blessing and also get a blessing."

Chaplain Jan Koczera

This is the holiday season, a time about care and compassion in the Jewish-Christian tradition. I found a fascinating article about our urge to care in Trust Me, a book on leadership by Ron Potter and Wayne Hastings. It seems that Margaret Mead, the famous anthropologist, was asked by a student what was the first sign of civilization in any culture. The student assumed that the answer would be a fishhook or a grinding stone or maybe a clay pot. She answered him, “a healed femur” and further explained that a broken thigh bone is a fatal injury where there is no organized society and the survival of the fittest reigns. A healed femur means that someone cared; someone had to hunt and gather for the injured one until the leg healed. This evidence of care and compassion is the first sign of civilization.

One thing I’ve seen in my twenty years in the army is that real leaders care. When I say “care”, I just don’t mean that they feel sorry for others or even have great empathy for their soldiers; I mean that a leader who cares gets involves with others and does what they can to improve their life, its direction and quality. And real leaders come at all ranks and levels of responsibility.

As we come to the half way point of our deployment in this season of care and gifts, I encourage all of you, because all of you are leaders, to be involved, to make life better for others and make this decision to care a part of your personal legacy that you hold onto in all the years ahead. May great blessings follow you in this holiday season and throughout the New Year.

I probably should have left well enough alone but (what a surprise!) the army has delayed our move a bit and now they are saying that I should continue using my old address until December 15.

So anything shipped before December 15 to me should go to Chaplain Jan Koczera, JASG-C Command Directorate, APO AE 09316 and anything after December 15 should go to Chaplain Jan Koczera, JASG-C Command Directorate, APO AE 09348

One of the odd things I'm noticing out here is that much of my work is not with young soldiers. There is a large group of men out here aged 60s to early 70's!! The ones that I've talked to tell me that they aren't here for the money, but they are bored and there's no way they are moving to a retirement home! So maybe we should start recruiting at the church? I'm sure that there are some people you'd like to see come to Iraq!! (ha!)

Hope you're all doing well!

Happy day before Turkey Day!

Jan

A message from Pastor Jan

It's hard to believe that it is already November and that we're almost at Thanksgiving! The holiday season, with days such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukah and Kwanza, are difficult during a deployment since they all share the common trait of a gathered family. Thanksgiving is all about being grateful after the example of the Pilgrims who were thankful for their arrival and first harvest in America. But how can we feel grateful, when we're not with those we love? Perhaps we need to think about some words in the Bible from the Apostle Paul who said, "But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that," and, "I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances." Contentment is a difficult thing to achieve-- there always something missing, something more that would make things "just right". Everyone is very aware of what we are missing back home when we're deployed, and I'm sure our families back home miss us just as much as we miss them. But think for a moment about the times that you were content and the times that you were not. What was the difference? Was it the events or did it go a little bit deeper than that? I've noticed that when I was discontented and unhappy, I focused on the negatives in my life. Not

only that, but I continually thought about it, about how bad is was, and would complain, and would ask, "Why me?" I would let myself sink into inaction and eventually depression. I would be grumpy and cause those around me to be unhappy. That, in turn, only made the situation worse. When I was content, the situation might not have been different but my focus was entirely different because I concentrated on what was going right and what I going to accomplish, and when I told people about how I was content and doing well I found that I both felt stronger and that my encouragement encouraged them as well! We'll never be in a situation like this again; we're meeting people and seeing events that we would never have opportunity for back in Jersey. We do have food (probably too much!) and shelter, we have the esteem of an entire nation for the work we're engaged in, and we're seeing history

made before our eyes. Make a choice like the Apostle Paul this Thanksgiving and in our remaining months in Iraq to focus on how life is a great gift from our Creator.

Jan

Hello everyone,

Due to the upcoming move out of the US Embassy in Baghdad, the Army has seen fit to let us know that our addresses will change.

The only change is my zip code, from 09316 to 09348. This change begins with anything mailed after December 1, 2008. So my new address is:

Chaplain Jan Koczera,
JASG-C Command Directorate,
APO AE 09348.

I attached a couple of photos from a prayer breakfast I spoke and played at on Monday at 6am; the prayer breakfast was at the local CSH, combat surgical hospital, here in the IZ; it is where they filmed "Baghdad ER" a couple of years ago.

Blessings and thanks for all your support,

Chaplain Jan Koczera

Greetings from Baghdad in November!

I understand that it's chilly for all of you back home; it's gotten cooler here, with highs in the upper 80s. It rained for two days last week and an Iraqi told me that it hasn't rained in October in Baghdad for 13 years!

My life here has settled into a kind of routine, I'm in the office 7 days a week, providing counseling, answering emails and writing a weekly email devotional to our troops and a monthly article for our JASG newsletter. Plans are going forward for the move of our chapel in November; the plan now is to actually move the entire chapel building. I also lead a worship service on Sundays at 6:15 PM, which because of the time change, actually meets at the same time as the 11 am contemporary worship at Hamilton Square Presbyterian. It's a very lively service, with about ½ of the people there from outside of the US, mostly contractors and state department personnel. There is an African choir of 10, 3 guitar, drums and piano. Around 160 attend each week. We have 6 services each Sunday in the chapel (2 Protestant, one Mormon, one Anglican and English and a Spanish language Catholic mass). There's also a Saturday night mass and a Friday night Jewish Shabbat service. I also lead a Wednesday night Bible study on the Psalms – we have at least one Bible study meeting every night of the week.

I'm usually able to take a couple of hours off in the afternoons to go to the gym, do laundry and read.

I've also been able to play the harp at least ½ an hour most every day in various public places as people walk through the embassy and I'm beginning to get comments that it is helping people relax. A few evenings I've been able to play in the large rotunda in the center of the palace. It is huge, like the one in our own capital, and entirely lined with marble. The sound just from my harp alone is simply incredible. They are very restrictive on photos here so I don't have any photos this month but I do want to thank everyone who has written me for their messages and all of you for your thoughts and prayers!

God bless you all!

Chaplain Jan Koczera

Update from Jan October 5

News from Chaplain Jan Koczera

Click on Picture for full size Click here for more Pictures of the palace

Its hard for me to believe, but my year of deployment is almost 1/3 over now. I've been in Baghdad for over 2 weeks and its been a thoroughly fascinating experience.

First, I'm working in a palace at the American embassy. Everywhere inside there are marble walls and chandeliers. I've enclosed an overhead photo of the palace; my offices are in rooms at the bottom of the photo. We live in CHUs (Containerized Housing Units) - those are the little boxes all around the embassy) I have a roommate and we share a bathroom with a pair of translators at the embassy who live on the other side. If I'm not in my CHU, I'm either at the office or in the chapel, although I try to get out whenever I can to visit soldiers. Our chapel is a building on the south west side of the embassy, on the lower left of the photo.

It's very strange working in an embassy, different than anything else in my Army career. As I walk down the halls, I pass soldiers, sailors, air force and Marines, and soldiers from a dozen different countries. There are Peruvian soldiers guarding the doors, Americans and Iraqis in business suits, local nationals cleaning, security agents with loaded weapons, women dressed in Muslim garb with only the face and hands showing, other women dressed as if they're going to a cocktail party. It's kind of surreal.

As some of you have heard, however, we won't be here very long. The palace is going back to the Iraqi people and we will move a mile south to a new location across the street from the new American embassy. The area where we're moving has to be reconstructed and living quarters have to be erected, which we all heartily hope are finished by the time we move in mid-November. There's some anxiety about this among the troops; this will definitely be a step down in living facilities and while we hope for the best, one prepares for the worst. But I've been reminding everyone about an event that happened as the last group of us left Camp Buehring in Kuwait on September 4 to fly to Iraq. Two buses came that morning to our tents to carry us to the airport but the baggage truck had gotten lost, and we each had two duffle bags a rucksack, and weapons and our carryon. Faced with waiting for a truck and missing our departure time, the troops, officers and enlisted, came together as one , forming lines to load the buses with all of the luggage before loading ourselves, packing both our belongings and soldiers tightly into the buses. And then we did all in reverse as we unloaded the buses together at the terminal. We made it happen; we made the flight on time and arrived later that day in Baghdad. The experience taught me a great lesson; when we pitch in together, we can overcome any obstacle. I know that we'll overcome again and make the best of our situation.

The worship services over here have been excellent. I oversee a great variety of services in our chapel; daily Catholic masses, 3 weekend Catholic masses is English and in Spanish, 2 Protestant services, an Anglican service, a twice monthly Orthodox service, Latter Day Saints services, and Jewish services on Friday. In addition, there are Bible studies every evening as well as practices for the various bands that play for the services. Attendance is great; being in a combat zone motivates people to get to church! I preach at a 6:15pm protestant service that is about ½ American and 1/3 soldiers; the rest are contract workers and Department of State employees at the embassy from countries throughout the world. It's a wonderful experience.

Finally, my harp arrived safely and I've been able to spend time practicing and letting the strings settle into a steady pitch. There are opportunities to play here but I can see that my confidence has to build and I need to bring my skills back to where they were before this deployment began. But this too will continue to happen. As always, thanks for all your thoughts, prayers and emails!

Blessings,

Chaplain Jan Koczera

Update from Jan August 29

My wife Kathy and I had a wonderful time together when she flew out for a visit during a 4 day pass for our Brigade and now she has one home and we (the brigade) are awaiting our flights to Kuwait, which is the staging area for Iraq. Our troops are starting to leave now in various flights but I won't fly for another week. I've added a photo of Kathy and I; Kathy is wearing a new wedding ring that I bought for her (her original one had fallen apart after 31 years of marriage!)

I know that many of you were surprised to hear that my son Ben would be in Iraq too. Many of you must have been praying about that, but perhaps you weren't too clear about the alternative! (ha,ha!) Ben has had a big surprise; he has been sent to Fort Richardson in Alaska, near Anchorage, away from his original base, and has been reassigned to an airborne armor unit that gets to jump out of perfectly good airplanes – (he took the airborne parachutist course when he was in ROTC, when I was in Iraq in 2005). His new unit will be going to Afghanistan in December! So he just arrived there and is finding housing and will find out exactly what's going on next week. But God is good and I know that He will continue to be with Ben and I and Kathy during this eventful time.

As always, thanks so much for all your thoughts and prayers!

Ending my training at Ft. Bliss

Hello everyone,
We're coming to the end of our training time at Ft. Bliss, concluding with a staff exercise and a four day pass. We have been told that we will not receive any mail here after August 18, so I'd encourage you not to send anything else until I arrive in Iraq in mid September.
My son Ben is about to graduate on August 13th from his basic officer course as a second lieutenant. He is being sent to the 5-1 Cavalry at Ft. Wainwright Alaska and will be deploying with his unit to Iraq in October. He will be relatively close to where I am stationed; I hope that we can see each other. Please lift up my wife Kathy in your prayers as well since both of her men will be in Iraq soon.
Thanks again so much for all your thoughts and prayers!

Chaplain Jan Koczera

Hello everyone,

I arrived at Ft Bliss on Friday June 20 at 1 am (after a 14 hour wait at the airport; a food delivery truck ran into the plane we were to take and it had to be repaired!) and I have spent the last few days getting uniforms and equipment and making sure the paperwork is all straight for my deployment.

We are actually at a training area 20 miles from Ft Bliss out in the desert. We are living in barracks and I am fortunate to have my own room in a barracks with the senior leadership of the brigade; most people are 4 to a room. We will be in this area for our entire time here, until the end of August. Its hot, with temps daily of 100-110. I'm drinking several quarts of water every day.

My assistant, Daryl Caulfield, has been a treasure and makes sure I know whatever has to happen next.

Hopefully the Marie harp will arrive with all our footlockers later this week.

I am receiving training along with all the soldiers of the brigade, leading church services in the tiny chapel here and speaking with soldiers daily I've enclosed a couple of photos. Thanks so much for all your thoughts and prayers!

Blessings!

Jan Koczera

One Third done at Fort Bliss!

Its been a busy week. We've been spun around in a Humvee shell simulating a vehicle rollover while we're wearing our full body armor and helmets, getting out of it while it (and we) are upside down (amazing how hard that is!)), we've had 3 to 5 days (depending on our jobs)of convoy operations training, learning how to react to IEDs, suicide bombers, snipers, mortar fire, how to do medical evacuations, and towing a disabled vehicle, all while riding in armored humvees with the armored windows rolled up, wearing our body armor and helmets, with no airconditioning and the temp in the 90s. Your gear becomes your own personal portable sauna – I'm still losing weight.

Chaplain Rice (the other New Jersey chaplain going with us) and I have had plenty of soldiers to counsel and listen to, advising them, praying with them, and getting them the help they need. We have been leading worship services on Wednesday and Sunday evenings after the training with many participants I've been able to play my harp at the Sunday services the last 2 weeks and also played it a bit during a 4^th of July picnic that we had behind our barracks – its beautiful sound travels well even outside.

SGT Daryl Caulfield,my assistant continues to be invaluable, keeping me informed of when and where I have to be for training. Yesterday he had to drive a humvee with a flat tire for 6 miles in the mud to get it out of an exercise area – he's doing a fantastic job.

Speaking of mud, that's our current challenge – its been raining here on and off for 3 days and while that would be nothing in New Jersey, here its a major challenge because there is absolutely no drainage for the streets throughout the entire area; the water just accumulates in the streets and in low lying areas. I never thought that I'd need a boat in the desert!

But in all these things God has been taking care of all of us. I've healthier now than when I arrived, dealing with the heat, and ministering to our soldiers. As always, thanks so much for your prayers and your thoughts!

Blessings!

Chaplain (Major) Jan Koczera

One Month Done

Hello,

We've finished our first month here at Ft. Bliss. I'm doing well and have lost 11 pounds. This week we shipped our footlockers and my harp to Iraq. This past week 's training for SGT Caulfield (my assistant) and I was a refresher on chaplain's work. We will work with chaplains from the Navy and Air Fore and besides leading worship and prayer services, we also counsel soldiers, lead group traumatic event debriefings and are the first line of help for suicidal soldiers. Caulfield and myself and our brigade psychologist, Major Fernbach, will travel with our brigade commander as he visits our New Jersey troops in their various locations inIraq, which should provide many opportunities for ministry.

In addition to my training I've been counseling 2-4 soldiers every evening. Some of the counseling is about problems at home, some about the soldier's own struggle with suicidal thoughts, fear, personality clashes in the platoons, and a great variety of other issues.

At the end of August we will get a 4 day pass when our families can visit us; I'm looking forward to seeing Kathy then!

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers!

Blessings!

Chaplain Jan Koczera

Four Weeks left in Texas

Hello, here are a few photos of me during the training; eating an MRE, being a vehicle commander during convoy training, and in the chapel.

I've completed the physically demanding part of our training and now am able to devote myself to counseling soldiers, religious services and staff work. Two pairs of New Jersey chaplains and assistants that are not deploying with us have visited us for a week each and helped with the counseling loads. While all of the soldiers here have volunteered to go, the actual physical and mental demands of this place have proved too much for some. Those that we can encourage and help to continue on we do, those that cannot have to be sent back to New Jersey and eventually discharged from the military.

This week we will be visited by the Govenor of New Jersey for two days. We've had many late arrivals to training and these final weeks are giving them time to catch up, as well as time for all of us to communicate with the units that we will replace in Iraq so that we can be as familiar as we can with our coming work.

On another note, in the 2nd week of August my son Ben will graduate from the Basic Armor Officer's Course at Ft. Knox. Kathy and I are very proud and Kathy is driving out to see his graduation ceremony.

As always, thanks for all your thoughts and prayers!
Chaplain Jan Koczera

Kathy and I want to offer our sincere and heartfelt thanks to everyone of you who made my Commissioning Service so special on June 12^th. Special thanks to the Chancel Choir and to the Voices in Praise, and to Pastor Andrew and the Member Care Committee for setting everything up! Thanks so much to the Sunday School for the cards, the Prayer Shawl Ministry for the shawls for Kathy and I and to Barbara Anderson for the bookmark! And if I’ve forgotten to include anyone else, my apologies – it was a tremendous experience. It was a wonderful evening and I will always treasure these memories!

As you read this article, I will have begun a year long deployment with the 50^th Brigade of the New Jersey Army National Guard to Iraq. We will be mobilized on June 16 and fly to Ft. Bliss in El Paso Texas for training through August and then fly to Kuwait for final preparation and arrive in Iraq in September 08. Our group of 3000 New Jersey soldiers will be split into several groups working at different locations. I will be in Baghdad, in one of Saddam’s old palaces in what is now called the Green Zone. I will return before July 2009 and should start back at the church before the fall of 2009.

My work this time, just as last time, will be caring for soldiers through counseling and providing spiritual resources through worship services and Bible studies. The big difference for me this time will be that this time I should be part of a large number of chaplains in the Baghdad area, assisting in the total ministry to the very large concentration of our soldiers in this area. For me, this is a major step up in responsibility and ministry. It will be particularly interesting to see how my harp will enhance my ministry to soldiers, especially to those who are troubled and stressed out. The people at Bedside Harp have performed a wonder for me by providing me a harp and a fiberglass shipping case.

As many of you know, one of the great joys of my life has been my pursuit of a ministry as a pastor in the local church and as a military chaplain. The two are very different and equally rewarding. All of you have been a tremendous help to me during the over eight years I have been here in Hamilton Square and, while I know that I am missed, you are so gracious to me as you have loaned me to the Army for this period.

I am very excited and happy about going. It is hard saying goodbye to you and especially for Kathy for a year, but this ministry with soldiers is very fulfilling and truly is worthwhile. As

in the past, I urge you to regard me as a missionary outreach from our church to the military, where truly, as Jesus said, “the fields are white for harvest.”

I will have internet access fairly regularly throughout my time in Ft. Bliss Texas and in Kuwait. In Baghdad, I should be able to be on a computer whenever I want to. You can reach me either through my Army email, jan.koczera@us.army.mil, or my personal email, jan.koczera@gmail.com, I’ll send you my mailing address and also be emailing regularly with photos and articles. Kathy will stay in the manse and we’ll stay in regular contact.

Again, please regard me as your missionary to the military for this time, keep me in your prayers and understand that it is because of your love and support that I am able to provide this essential ministry to our soldiers.

As part of our church’s 2008 Action Plan, here are two ministries of our church that we are revitalizing to reach out to our community.

Our Evangelism committee is reviving our Welcome Ministry and changing it slightly to also reach out to our new members. We have organized a group of willing volunteers who for one Sunday each month will be alert to visitors to our church at the service they attend and take a moment either before or after the service to greet them, introduce themselves and welcome the visitors to our church. In addition, they will take the time to get to know our new members. Along with this, we want to encourage everyone to wear their nametags every Sunday to help our visitors get to know us. If you’d like to know more about this ministry, please talk to Pastor Jan or Marion Walters.

IHN is being reborn under the auspices of Family Promise of Mercer County. Family Promise is an interfaith group that is the parent organization of IHN and is hosting their first (re)organizing meeting at the New Covenant United Methodist Church, 1965 S Broad Street, Hamilton NJ 08610, host pastor Rev. Danny Thomas on Monday, March 3 at 7:30 pm. The key first step is assess which congregations who have formerly participated in this ministry and then to recruit a total of at least thirteen committed congregations. There is a need for this ministry for the homeless; Home Front, which does much of the same work, is turning away families because the need exceeds their ability to respond. If you are interested in finding out more about this “hands on” ministry to assist the homeless, please consider coming to this meeting or contact Pastor Jan or Joe and Lucille Fennimore.

The following is an article that I wrote for the 2007 Christmas edition of our 50^th Brigade Newsletter and is part of how we are preparing our soldiers and families for our deployment this coming summer. I often have to separate my work as a pastor and as an Army chaplain; I thought that you might like to read this sample of what I am telling our troops.

This time of the year is always stressful, because in all the joy of reunions and gift giving, there is always some unfinished business, always something left unsaid. And I know that as many of us face next year’s deployment, the additional uncertainty of our future has added stress to this holiday. Maybe you’ve had an experience like mine; I had a hard Thanksgiving. I traveled to my mother’s home in Ohio and told her in person the news that I would be returning again to Iraq. In all honesty, it was hard for her and while she always supports me, she is deeply concerned for me and for all of us. Perhaps some of you and your families have had a difficult time as you told them and your friends about our deployment in 2008. Perhaps they are very fearful for you and perhaps you yourself feel great uncertainty.

I want to share with you a story that may help, because it helped me. It’s an old story, about a young warrior. His teacher told him that he had to do battle with fear. He didn’t want to do that. Fear seemed too aggressive; it was scary; it seemed unfriendly. But the teacher said that he had to do it and gave him the instructions for the battle. The day arrived. The student stood on one side, and fear stood on the other. The warrior was feeling very small, and fear was looking big and wrathful. They both had their weapons. The young warrior roused himself and went towards fear, prostrated three times, and asked, “May I have permission to go into battle with you?” Fear said, “Thank you for showing me so much respect that you ask permission.” Then the warrior said, “How can I defeat you?” Fear replied, “My weapons are that I talk fast, and I get very close to your face. I am so close and talk so fast that you forget your friends. Then you get completely unnerved, and you do whatever I say. But you must understand my name; my name is FEAR, and it stands for False Evidence Appearing Real. If you don’t listen to my voice, I have no power.” In that way, the warrior learned how to defeat fear.

This is how it actually works. There has to be respect for the jitters, and understanding of how our emotions have the power to run us around in circles. But fear always tries to isolate us and make us forget that we are going into this together and there is support both for us who deploy and for those who stay home. In addition, many of you also, like myself, have faith in a Divine Presence that will never abandon us. Don’t lose contact with your sources of support; hold close to them and we will come through this and every struggle by God’s grace.

Many of you have probably seen the news that nearly 3000 New Jersey Army National Guard soldiers will be called up for a year of active duty June 2008-2009 to serve in Iraq. I have been notified that I will be one of these mobilized soldiers, serving as their Brigade Chaplain, which is the senior chaplain position. I have agreed to this mobilization because I have felt called to be a military chaplain for many years; it has been a very fruitful and fulfilling ministry for me even though it has high physical, mental and spiritual demands. I go as Christ’s representative, bringing hope to the discouraged, courage to the fearful and peace to the broken hearted. I am also going because honestly there is no other chaplain available in New Jersey for this position with my experience. The National Guard has only one half of the chaplains that it needs and it is absolutely vital that our soldiers have ministers, priests, imams and rabbis to meet their spiritual needs.

Our call up in June of 2008 will include 2-3 months of training here in the United States and then we will be sent for the remainder of the year to Iraq. National Guard troops are only being asked to serve for twelve months because of the hardship to our families and jobs. I want to thank you in advance for your support and prayers for me and for my wife as she remains behind. As in the past deployment, the Army will pay my salary for the time I am called up and I will pay the church the housing allowance that the military provides as rent for the manse.

Many of you know that I have been learning to play the harp in hospitals through the program of Bedside Harp. The harp has been a great help to me, releasing stress and bringing me much happiness and I’ve been glad to share it with others. When I told the people at Bedside Harp about this deployment, they decided to buy one of the brand new Celtic harps that we use in this work, along with a hard shell carrying case, and to send it to me in Iraq for me to play as I have opportunity for myself and for our troops. They are bearing the entire expense of this through individual donations.

I share this story because it is such a beautiful reminder that when God calls, He provides our needs for the journey, and He so often does this through other people. The challenge that I face in Iraq is only one of the many we all face. God is always good, He will provide a way to proceed through every challenge and He shows us His grace through the people that He brings into our path. Never feel that you must bear your burdens alone, and never despair that God has abandoned you. Look up to God and look around you for God’s people, and you won’t be disappointed.

First Presbyterian Church of Hamilton Square, NJ