Mohammed’s Birthday Celebration: I received a call from an Imam inviting my Commanding General and I to attend Mohammed’s birthday celebration. Then before he gets off the phone, the Imam adds, “…I have been receiving death threats…and he wants to talk to me about it.”
In our change of command ceremony another Imam came up to me and applauded me for my prayer during the ceremony. He said that it is unusual that the military invites a religious leader to pray for the soldiers and families. This same imam has written three books and is a professor at a University here in Kosovo. We shared coffee and then he said without America he and his family would not be experiencing the new life that they now live. Sometimes we don’t know of the good things that impact people across the world. Before America stepped in there was ethnic cleansing. Now his family can live in peace.
The independence of Kosovo is a problem for the Serbian Orthodox Church. Here is what happened. The Serbians had to give up land to Kosovars. The Kosovars are 80% Albanian Muslims. The Serbian Orthodox Church is led by the archbishop. In order for me to visit or talk with the Serbian Orthodox Priests I had to go to the Archbishop and receive his blessing. You walk in and he looks you up and down and then majestically you sit down and begin to talk. I have to admit, I did not know what to say. When in doubt, keep mouth shut. So I spoke very little. The custom in Kosovo is that every meeting you attend must first start out with coffee. I hate coffee. I had to drink a sip and it was terrible. I don’t know how people acquire a taste for it. So I sat, had coffee and exchanged small talk. After 30 minutes of small talk, the archbishop did something that he never has done and that was to raise a toast to me and a good year together. Then he proceeded to give me a gift. I was impressed by his hospitality. I then said, “Father, I am not normally short for words. But today I was limited. It is my hope that in another time I can come and spend time in a conversation with you. He invited me back and I left with his blessing.
I heard about this Serbian Orthodox Priest who lived in a monastery in the mountains. I talked briefly about him a few Sundays back. He was big man with a sense of power and strength behind his voice. He worked with his hands and had an understanding of the Scriptures that was quite impressive. He pulled out his Bible and began to speak God’s truth. Three hours later I heard messages from Genesis to Revelation. He covered a snap shot of every basic Christian doctrine. I was impressed. I felt that he had actually spent time alone with God. He inspired me to spend time with God. He invited me to come back to spend time with God. I am planning to take a group of soldiers to this monastery and have a spiritual retreat.
2008 was the Army’s worst year – in January we lost more soldiers to suicide than we did on the battle field. The Army did a Suicide Prevention Stand-down. A stand down means everything must stop and every soldier must be given a brief and resources to make sure that they know what to do if they are depressed or if their buddy is depressed. After I briefed over 1200 soldiers people started setting up appointments. Their issues were not about suicide but about stress. People who had issues from last year that were unresolved and people who needed to make decisions but could not make it on their own without being heard. People who are leaders and people you would not expect to have problems. Many of these people have none or little faith. It is an opportunity to invite them to a faith experience.
Last week I went to this city called Okhrid, Macedonia. It was a really nice town. Thirty minutes further was a monastery. We went to the monastery and then returned to the city. In this city was a university, a fortress and a church on a mountain. At the bottom of the mountain was another church. We went to the church and discovered that a ninth century monk’s hand bones were still in the church that he built and was the pastor. This same man built the first university in Europe. On opening day 3500 students showed up to attend his university. Amazing. I then went down the mountain and was ready to walk back to the car when a man down by the church on the lake was waving at me to come back. I never saw him before and thought there must be a problem. I went back and in his broken Macadonian language asked me if I would like him to take our group across the lake to where our car is located. I said sure. As the sun was going down I took control of the boat so that he could smoke and the sun behind me, the breeze, the beauty of the lake…and I thought to myself I should not share this with ECW they will think I am having fun….I was having fun in a time when I needed it most