I believe in miracles

Tony told me this amazing story that happened today, and it's had me thinking ever since. For the last few months, the attendance at the church services has been dropping. Lately, it's only been Tony and maybe 1 or 2 others going to the Protestant service, which is led by Chaplain Juarez. They do not have a "chapel" yet, so the place where they meet changes constantly, and they never really know what to expect or where they will be from one week to the next. This morning, Chaplain Juarez came into the conference room, which was serving as their temporary place of worship, looking despondent. There were 2 other people besides Tony and the Chaplain in there as Chaplain Juarez informed them that he was going to cancel service for the rest of the deployment. The small group started their worship service with a few songs, as they usually do, and in the middle of the first song, someone walked in. A few minutes later, another person came. This continued on for a while, and by the end of the service, there were 12 or 13 people! Chaplain Juarez told Tony, "I guess we'll be having service next week."
How amazing is that?! When we are on the verge of giving up, God comes to our rescue!
Meanwhile, I can't imagine how frustrated that Chaplain must have felt. He does not seem at all like the type to give up, but I'm sure he was kinda og at the end of his rope. I have no doubt that he tried all he could do to get people to come, but, sometimes, we have to remember that it is God's power that brings people to Him, not our power. I want to show our deployed Chaplains that we care about them and what they are doing, and we appreciate their hard work. I'm thinking about getting something started at the Chapel. Maybe we can buy a bunch of thank you cards and get people to write a message or something, or maybe we can bring in a camcorder and record messages to them. Either way, we've got to do something to show them that they are not working for nothing. It's not just their jobs as chaplains to take care of us. We, in return, should be taking care of them.




This is one of the places where they have held service over there. Notice that huge flower growing on the right. That is the only flower Tony has seen since he's been over there.