Planning Fall visits to your area

Hey folks,

I'm planning some visits to the papers that run my column. Here is rough schedule.

Colorado in July 6-10
Florida in August ??
New York/Virginia in September 10-20
Ohio in October 23-27

Please let me know if I can add your organization, church, employer, or library to the list of places I'll be.

Here's my column for the week.

May 31, 2008

Be prepared to weather storms, spirituality

I've spent the past two weeks of May deployed on Hawaii's island of Kauai with the California Air National Guard 149th Combat Communications Squadron.

Predictably, most of my friends reacted to my deployment news with a sarcastic, "That must be tough duty."

"Hey," I jokingly responded, "Hawaii was attacked once, and we must remain prepared."

The truth is we had a serious mission: practice setting up communications in the aftermath of a hurricane. It involved much the same kind of problem-solving families do during hurricane season with communication, shelter, food, power and transportation.

Our principle mission was done by our communications people, who busied themselves pulling cable under streets, climbing utility poles and programming computers.

In support of the communication mission, our engineers built tents and ran power lines. Our food-services people fed us in the field while our medics tended to strained backs and strep throat. Our transportation planned buses, rental cars and transport planes, while our personnel group kept good records to assure we'd all be paid.

My job involved planning how I'd conduct worship services, liturgy and music. I worked on a provision for airman of other faiths and found a place to counsel airmen who might be enduring a sudden deployment.

Being well-prepared to weather storms makes sense. It also makes sense to do the same in one's spiritual life.

Jesus told a story that contains a spiritual truth for all traditions. If you've ever missed a party because of lack of preparation, you'll identify with the story.

He compared our approach to spirituality to 10 young bridesmaids who were traveling to a wedding. Five of the women were "silly and five were smart." They all brought lamps for their journey, but only the smart women took extra oil.

When the wedding celebration began, only the smart women were equipped for the extended celebration; the silly women missed the party as they wandered in the darkness looking for extra oil.

While the parable has some twists that leave Biblical scholars scratching their heads, I hear encouragement for me to be spiritually prepared for the dark moments of life and the celebrations of life.

Being prepared for hurricanes involves life's basic needs such as shelter, water, food and power. In the same way, being prepared for life's dark storms involves basic preparation: meditation, study and community.

In my Christian tradition, we call them prayer, Bible study and church. Yet no matter what your tradition -- whether the newest of new age or the oldest of earth-based traditions -- it still boils down to these basics.

The women who failed were lacking in all three basics. They had not bothered to slow down and think (mediate or pray) about their task. They obviously didn't read the lamp's owner's manual (study), and they failed to heed the direction of the smarter bridesmaids (community).

Spiritual preparedness may involve varying traditions and strategies, but it will always require the same navigational tools: meditation, study and community. May God give you the wisdom to use those tools.

Aloha.

Burkes is a an Air National Guard chaplain and former civilian hospital chaplain. If you are interested in having Chaplain Norris speak to your organization, church, or library, please contact him at norris@thechaplain.net

Please visit his web site for www.thechaplain.net to join his mailing list or order an autographed copy of his book, No Small Miracles.

Getting to know God is like a courtship

BY NORRIS BURKES
SPIRITUALITY

The first time I met my wife, she had just stepped from the shower wearing a towel.

Wait, that's going to need some explaining; this is a family column.

After our high school graduation, we took a summer job working at a conference center in New Mexico. My mother was visiting and recognized Becky's last name as one belonging to my father's former seminary classmate.

"You went to kindergarten with this girl!" my mother exclaimed. "Have you met her?"

No, I hadn't met her, but perhaps I could start a conversation with something like, "Hey darlin', did you know we shared a nap blanket once?"

It seemed like a fact that would pique the interest of any girl. So with the line committed to memory, I hiked across the grounds to her dormitory lobby. In the absence of phones, I asked a girl to summon Becky.

Later, Becky would tell me that a girl pulled her from the shower saying some guy wanted to meet her.

"What does he want?" she asked.

"I dunno," the girl said as she raced away, late for work.

Unimpressed, Becky put on a full-length robe and pulled it tight about her neck. She then wrapped her hair in a towel to meet "some guy" in the lobby. Of course, I'd spent a half hour combing my hair and picking the right jeans. But here she came shrunk-wrapped in a corduroy robe and towel.

"Hello," I said. "Is your dad's name Wil?"

"Yes," she said, squinting to better see her strange inquisitor.

It was then I carefully delivered my line which was exquisitely timed to impress her.

"Our dads were in seminary together, and I went to kindergarten with you!" I blurted.

Still dripping, she gave a thoughtful response.

"So what?"

Undeterred, I asked her out for a soda and a walk. She cautiously accepted, warning me this wasn't a real "date."

During our walk, she told me her life story and philosophy. I spent my time staring into her blue eyes and catching whiffs of her freshly shampooed hair.

My roommates later asked what I thought of Becky.

"She's got some funny ideas. I'm not sure I'll ever date her again. On the other hand, I could marry her."

Four years passed in which we shared more of our philosophy, dreams, fears and desires.

Getting to know God can be like a courtship. It happens slowly. It rarely happens as fast as it did with the Apostle Paul -- aka "Saul."

Saul was at the top of his career path persecuting and killing Christians when business took him toward the city of Damascus. Somewhere along the interstate, a light blinded him and a heavenly voice asked him to reconsider his career path.

He did, of course. Wouldn't you?

However, most of us who search for God have to look a little harder. We take cautious steps. We're not sure of the answers, because we haven't figured out all of the questions. We seek our spirituality in everyday life, taking baby steps toward knowing God.

We get to know God by talking to God, questioning God and eventually by knowing God's love. And during this courtship, God takes us in our questioning state, accepting us just as we are until we are in a relationship with God.

Slowly and surely, this new relationship transforms us into people who have the ability to live happy, joyous and free.

Becky turned out to be the cautious one. We started our real dates 31/2 years after my drippy introduction. Six months later, like God, she accepted me for better or for worse.

Burkes is a former civilian hospital chaplain and an Air National Guard chaplain. E-mail norris@thechaplain.net or visit www.thechaplain.net.

A FATHER CARRIES ON

As a chaplain in the Air National Guard, I've knocked on at least 25 doors to share the regrets of the nation that a loved one has been lost in this current conflict. I've seen a lot of varied reaction.

However, Pastor Marc Unger's reaction to the news of his son's death is especially unique.

When the death notification team arrived at Marc and Lynda Unger's home on May 25, 2004, they recounted how Army Infantry Specialist Daniel Paul Unger had been escorting contractors around the Forward Operating Base Kalsu, Iraq on May 25 when mortars began to rain down on the base.

Trained as a part of the Immediate Reaction Force, the young Unger had written in his journal that during a mortar attack "normal people" run for the bunkers, but as an IRF member, his job was to run out "into the middle of everything to look for the attackers."

He availed himself of every opportunity to show how abnormal his team could be. In one case, he wrote about a rainstorm of 15 mortars that pounded his base. "I could see shrapnel flying around. I was running to my Humvee . I was pulling my vest on and slapping in a magazine.When I jumped in, I remember praying, 'Lord, please get me back to my family.'" On that day, everyone except two enemy combatants was saved.

A week later, as the first of three mortars whistled about him, Unger found himself singing the second verse of his previous prayer. Instinctively, everyone ran for the bunkers, but Unger who had been working an escort detail with a group of Iraqi plumbers and electricians, had a different tact.

His effort focused on getting his workers to safe ground.

His Commanding Officer would later state that, "Once the attack started, Daniel placed his own well being in jeopardy by making sure the civilian workers went inside the protective bunker before he did."

When the third mortar hit, Daniel was struck just short of the protective bunker. Daniel was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star with Valor Device, Purple Heart and Combat Infantryman Badge.

Daniel's dad explains on his web site that "No terrorist took Daniel Unger's life from him. The Fourth Degree Black Belt and four-year starting center fielder was, arguably, the fastest runner on the base. From all accounts, Daniel could have made it into the safety of the bunker with the rest of the men."

I mentioned that Daniel's dad had a very different reaction to the news brought by the chaplain on the death notification team that day four years ago. Pastor Marc decided to become Chaplain, First Lieutenant Marc Unger. He is a part of the California State Military Reserve and has been attached as the Battalion Chaplain to his son's former battalion, the 1-184 Infantry of the California Army National Guard. It is now Chaplain Unger's job to occasionally carry the same unimaginable words to other families.

He does this with a sense of love and affection for his own son. He sees his son's sacrifice expressed in the words of Jesus in John 15:13, "Greater love has no one than this that one lay down his life for his friends."

When the Ungers think of their son, also a licensed minister, they take some comfort in the fact that "Daniel's life wasn't taken, he laid it down for his friends: for those he was assigned to guard to be saved, for the Iraqi people to be free from tyranny and for the American people to remain free."

On May 27th 2004 California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered the Capitol flags flown at half-staff in honor of SPC Daniel Unger.

You can read more about SPC Daniel Paul Unger at: www.danielunger.com

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If you are interested in having Chaplain Norris speak to your organization, church, or library, please contact him at norris@thechaplain.net Please visit his web site for www.thechaplain.net to join his mailing list or order an autographed copy of his book, No Small Miracles.

A FATHER CARRIES ON

As a chaplain in the Air National Guard, I've knocked on at least 25 doors to share the regrets of the nation that a loved one has been lost in this current conflict. I've seen a lot of varied reaction.

However, Pastor Marc Unger's reaction to the news of his son's death is especially unique.

When the death notification team arrived at Marc and Lynda Unger's home on May 25, 2004, they recounted how Army Infantry Specialist Daniel Paul Unger had been escorting contractors around the Forward Operating Base Kalsu, Iraq on May 25 when mortars began to rain down on the base.

Trained as a part of the Immediate Reaction Force, the young Unger had written in his journal that during a mortar attack "normal people" run for the bunkers, but as an IRF member, his job was to run out "into the middle of everything to look for the attackers."

He availed himself of every opportunity to show how abnormal his team could be. In one case, he wrote about a rainstorm of 15 mortars that pounded his base. "I could see shrapnel flying around. I was running to my Humvee . I was pulling my vest on and slapping in a magazine.When I jumped in, I remember praying, 'Lord, please get me back to my family.'" On that day, everyone except two enemy combatants was saved.

A week later, as the first of three mortars whistled about him, Unger found himself singing the second verse of his previous prayer. Instinctively, everyone ran for the bunkers, but Unger who had been working an escort detail with a group of Iraqi plumbers and electricians, had a different tact.

His effort focused on getting his workers to safe ground.

His Commanding Officer would later state that, "Once the attack started, Daniel placed his own well being in jeopardy by making sure the civilian workers went inside the protective bunker before he did."

When the third mortar hit, Daniel was struck just short of the protective bunker. Daniel was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star with Valor Device, Purple Heart and Combat Infantryman Badge.

Daniel's dad explains on his web site that "No terrorist took Daniel Unger's life from him. The Fourth Degree Black Belt and four-year starting center fielder was, arguably, the fastest runner on the base. From all accounts, Daniel could have made it into the safety of the bunker with the rest of the men."

I mentioned that Daniel's dad had a very different reaction to the news brought by the chaplain on the death notification team that day four years ago. Pastor Marc decided to become Chaplain, First Lieutenant Marc Unger. He is a part of the California State Military Reserve and has been attached as the Battalion Chaplain to his son's former battalion, the 1-184 Infantry of the California Army National Guard. It is now Chaplain Unger's job to occasionally carry the same unimaginable words to other families.

He does this with a sense of love and affection for his own son. He sees his son's sacrifice expressed in the words of Jesus in John 15:13, "Greater love has no one than this that one lay down his life for his friends."

When the Ungers think of their son, also a licensed minister, they take some comfort in the fact that "Daniel's life wasn't taken, he laid it down for his friends: for those he was assigned to guard to be saved, for the Iraqi people to be free from tyranny and for the American people to remain free."

On May 27th 2004 California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered the Capitol flags flown at half-staff in honor of SPC Daniel Unger.

You can read more about SPC Daniel Paul Unger at: www.danielunger.com

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you are interested in having Chaplain Norris speak to your organization, church, or library, please contact him at norris@thechaplain.net Please visit his web site for www.thechaplain.net to join his mailing list or order an autographed copy of his book, No Small Miracles.

Be content with who you are

BY NORRIS BURKES
FOR FLORIDA TODAY

Last week, I wrote about the prayers that get a "No" answer.

This week, let me confess that there are two prayers for which I feel some shame for praying.

The first prayer starts off with, "God, please make me like this man." I pray this prayer when I hear from friends such as Cecil Murphy, who tells me his New York Times best-selling book, "90 Minutes in Heaven," just surpassed 3 million in sales.

It's a prayer I pray in the midst of people such as Andy Petruska. Andy's a retired U.S. Navy captain who still is navigating the seven seas with his wife, Laura, as merchant marines. I stayed in their Florida home last week and swapped his sea stories for my less-than-exciting chaplain stories well into the night.

Oh, I know what you're thinking. Those are self-defeating prayers, Norris. Don't say things like that. Well, like you, I pray these prayers because I'm human.

Regretfully, the most human prayer I pray is the "At Least Prayer."

It starts like this: "Thank you, God, that at least I'm not as bad as so-and-so!"

No, it's not a prayer I vocalize. It's a prayer that slips from the surly bonds of my brain and erupts when I'm asked for change by the fourth homeless person of the day. "Thank you, God, that at least I work for a living."

Or it comes out when I browse a lousy book and I say, "At least I can write."

Or it erupts at the gas station when some fellow pulls in driving a Hummer with his stereo blasting. The self-serving jerk is yelling into his tiny wireless earpiece about some business deal gone bad, all the while pretending he doesn't notice the single mom who's been waiting 10 minutes for the spot he took.

The prayer slips into my conscious stream of thought through an unspoken barrel roll of my eyes. "Thank you, God, I'm not like him!"

Maybe you're praying it now. "Thank God I'm not like this hypocritical chaplain!"

Maybe I should be a better example of what Chuang Tzu, a Chinese philosopher who lived during the fourth century B.C, described. "The Perfect Man has no self; the Holy Man has no merit; the Sage has no fame." (Chuang Tzu, 26).

But you'd have to admit we tend to think this way. For instance, did you say it to the cop who ticketed you last month? "At least I don't weave through traffic!"

Have you said it to your children when they've complained about your overbearing attitude? "At least I let you go the movies."

The thinking is similar to a man Jesus described in Luke 18. He stood praying in the front of the temple when he noticed over his shoulder a Roman collaborator, the most hideous of all beings.

"Thank you God that I am not like thissss man," he hissed.

His At Least Prayer was so loud, he failed to hear the prayer of the one he condemned.

The message translation says the man "slumped in the shadows, his face in his hands, not daring to look up, saying, 'God, give mercy. Forgive me, a sinner.' "

"Jesus commented, 'This tax man, not the other, went home, made right with God.' "

Then Jesus said something that will forever squelch the At Least Prayer.

"If you walk around with your nose in the air, you're going to end up flat on your face, but if you're content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself."

Contact Burkes at norris@thechaplain.net or visit his Web site for www.thechaplain.net. Burkes is the author of "No Small Miracles."

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Planning a visit to your area

Dear Readers,

I am currently trying to plan a visit in all the towns where my where my column is running. I have a wide-open colander at this point, so I'll need your help.

Do you know of any organizations, churches, hospitals, bookstores that would like to have me speak or do book signings? Since I have free air travel available through my daughter's job, my expenses are comparable to any local speaker.

I had a great time in the Cape Canaveral area of Florida. We stayed in the home of Andy and Laura and spoke to their church. We often ran out of books and seats.

I'm hoping to go to FT Collins, CO the first week of July and Ft Meyers FL next

Please let me know if you have some ideas. See this week's column below.

Blessings,

Norris

May 3, 2008

Sometimes God just says 'no'

BY NORRIS BURKES
FOR FLORIDA TODAY

Sometimes we proclaim that God answers prayer, but we are unwilling to accept that God's answer can be "no."

This week as I visited Florida's Space Coast to talk to churches, hospitals and bookstores, I recalled that "No-go" was an answer I sometimes heard during my days at Canaveral Air Station, where I served as a chaplain at the Cape from 1999 to 2001.

As a formal member of the launch crew, my job was to deliver a written prayer to the crew consoles of anyone requesting a prayer prior to a rocket launch.

In the multi-faith environment of a military workplace, the 50-word prayer was limited to stating our shared concern for fair weather and safety; it represented more ceremony than a legitimate attempt to court God's favor. Nevertheless, my prayer and pastoral visit served as a reminder that spirituality had a valid presence in the workplace.

The first five launches I attended went up without delay.

On the early morning of my sixth launch, many of the folks were jokingly bragging that they'd found their lucky chaplain.

I returned their banter by joking about the early hour. "I'm not sure God's up yet," I said as I laid the prayers aside their consoles.

Night launches were usually spectacular, but occasionally weather or technical problems caused us to scrub the launch and try again the next day.

That was the case on this launch, and we were forced to return at "O-dark-thirty" the next morning for our second attempt.

At about "T minus 60" I again greeted the crew, walking down a long line of consoles with a smile and my photocopied prayer.

Suddenly, I heard a bark from the commander's console.

"Chaplain!" yelled the general.

"Yes sir?"

"This is the same prayer you prayed last night!"

"Yes sir."

"It didn't work!" he said with a smirk.

"Sir?"

Like Gen. George Patton who asked his chaplain to pray for better weather, the general sent me back to the ecclesiastical drawing board in search of a "better prayer."

I didn't ask him if he was joking. Superstitious ball players wear lucky socks, pendants or shirts; launch crews aren't much different. He had implied that my prayer jinxed the launch, so I returned the following night with a new prayer.

I repeated the rewrites for the next three nights until our rocket soared into space.

Daily life can be equally frustrating in our attempts to force things to go according to our plans. When we fail in our launch attempts, we often ask God to try again. Like the spoiled child, we don't take no for an answer.

Somehow, in our "never-say-quit" Western society, we have picked up the notion that "no" is an unacceptable answer from God. My experience tells me that it's a very spiritual answer that says several things.

First, it calls to mind the Serenity prayer, which asks for the courage to accept the things that cannot be changed.

This is one of the deepest prayers I know, because it forces me to confront that carnal desire to be the "Mission Control" for everything and everyone.

Second, it presents a much more spiritual challenge than does the word "yes," because it reminds us that we are not God, nor can we control God. At this finite level, we are forced to turn our attention toward a God who has our best interests at heart, not just our personal interests.

Of course I understand "no" isn't acceptable when dealing with an umpteen-million-dollar rocket. After five attempts and four different prayers, the rocket launched.

Nevertheless, "no" was the answer we all eventually accepted -- the rocket never reached its intended orbit.

Norris Burkes is a former civilian hospital chaplain and an Air National Guard chaplain. Contact him at norris@thechaplain.net or visit www.thechaplain.net.

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