Our God created dance

I want to tell you about Derrell Hendricks, a young troop I now admire.

I was invited to be a part of a humanitarian mission here (in Baghdad, Iraq) where a group of about ten of our guys went to deliver a load of goods to some local Iraqi children. The items given out were clothing, paper/pencils, food, soccer balls and other useful stuff. Most of the goods are sent from family members of deployed soldiers.

Anyway, we arrived to the village and there was a crowd of about 20 eager kids, (not including adults). It was a typical humanitarian mission: Soldiers passing stuff out to swarming Iraqi children – they jumped and crawled all over us and put their hands on everything. Several of them repeatedly asked (in broken English) for my camera. It was standard behavior. These missions are always a sort of joyful chaos.

Usually, however, once the items are all passed out, it gets a little slow. We often have only one translator and many soldiers have a hard time playing with kids who don’t speak English. They try to communicate – but it’s usually a little awkward. However, Derrell showed us all a thing or two about foreign relations.

He grabbed a soccer ball and bounced it right off a young boy’s head. That kid grabbed the ball and tossed it back at Derrell as hard as he could. Derrell head butted the ball right back to the boy and it was on. They both jockeyed around for the soccer ball as if they were opponents on a team. Many other children swarmed him and he just tossed them around playfully like they were his own kids.

After about 45 minutes, they grew weary of the soccer ball and all started singing some kind of playground chant in Arabic. Derrell seemed like he couldn’t contain himself. He broke out in a series of dance moves that were both spontaneous and smooth. As he danced to the rhythm of their chant, he was so animated and charismatic that even the adults came to watch. Now, Derrell is black, and his refined and unique dance moves reflected his subculture. No southern white kid my old neighborhood could move like he did and make it look good. There’s just something about the black culture that is joyful and attractive when it comes to dancing. It’s like Derrell just forgot everything around him and moved to the rhythm of the Iraqi chant. This only encouraged the kids – they loved it.



Any child that wasn’t already around Derrell was now on their way to him. The kids were captivated by him. They all joined in the chant and were clapping and singing louder and louder. Derrell just moved with a smiling face and snapping fingers.

After it got dark, the flight sergeant had to break up the fun so we could return. We loaded the bus. Just when we were about to drive off, a boy, who looked like he was about six, ran up the stairs of the bus and loudly sang out the now-familiar chant. Derrell jumped out of his seat and started dancing again, right in the isle. The kid exploded in laughter (a wonderful universal language I think).

A few seconds passed and an Iraqi man came and yanked the boy off the bus.

“That was some good old fashioned fun right there,” said Derrell. No doubt, Derrell made it fun for everyone. His flight sergeant said Derrell was always like that, and that he always connected with people in a unique way. “He’s the pied piper of our squadron,” said the sergeant.

Be reminded that Derrell is God’s creation. The Lord made that young man the way he is. So, when I see things like that, I can’t help but imagine how God enjoyed watching these events as well. It reminds me how carefully and creatively he designed each of us. And we are in his image – I wonder what it’s like to watch Him dance, and to be a part of that scene.

Should Christians fight in wars?

I recently heard of a new Christian group who is very critical to believers who serve in war – specifically because of Jesus’ words in Luke 6:27-38 about loving and praying for enemies, turning the other cheek, and giving whatever is asked of you. They claim fighting America’s wars is fighting for a worldly Kingdom. It is these claims I want to refute in this post.

According to C.S. Lewis (1949), acclaimed Christian philosopher, when Christ spoke these words recorded in Luke, there was a specific application for them his audience would not have missed.

"Does anyone suppose our Lord’s hearers understood him to mean that if a homicidal maniac, attempting to murder a third party, tried to knock me out of the way, I must stand aside and let him get his victim? I at any rate think it impossible they could have so understood him. I think it equally impossible that they supposed him to mean that the best way of bringing up a child was to let it hit its parents whenever it was in a temper, or, when it had grabbed the jam, to give it the honey also. I think the meaning of the words was perfectly clear – “Insofar as you are simply an angry man who has been hurt, mortify your anger and do not hit back” (p. 86).

He goes on further to say that if a person were in an official position, like a parent, or a court judge, or a soldier, “your duties may be very different because [there] may be then other motives than egotistic retaliation for hitting back” (p. 86).

Lewis also has a lot to say about serving in war. Like Lewis believed about WWII, I believe our cause to be honorable in Iraq and even further, I believe it’s our nation’s duty to at least attempt to help a less fortunate nation – even when it’s tough. It’s unfortunate though, this modern war in Iraq will likely not have the same outcome as WWII, because people in America (and Iraq) aren’t united for the common good, as Americans were in WWII. (Indeed, Americans had to be united because the laymen understood the war threatened the homeland if Hitler succeeded in Europe.)

I think if the greater good would come from the decision to go to war, then war (although tragic) is justified. It is rational to say that peace under Hitler (or Islam) would in no way be better than a war preventing his (its) rule.

I think Lewis’s strongest point about war is made on page 75ff though. To summarize, he said good countries should do good things for other countries. However, no single country has resources to do good things for all countries in need. In the process of helping A, it neglects B. So it therefore makes sense that the good country should choose to help the country who is a benefactor and neglect the one who has no special claim on it. And sometimes “it involves helping A by actually doing some degree of violence to B” because B is threatening A.

Consider the following excerpt from Lewis (1949):

The doctrine that war is always a greater evil seems to imply a materialist ethic, a belief that death and pain are the greatest evils. But I do not think they are. I think the suppression of a higher religion by a lower, or even a higher secular culture by a lower, a much greater evil. Nor am I greatly moved by the fact that many of the individuals we strike down in war are innocent. That seems, in a way, to make war not worse but better. All men die, and most men miserably. That two soldiers on opposites sides, each believing his own country to be in the right, each at the moment when his selfishness in most in abeyance and his will to sacrifice in the ascendant, should kill [each] other in plain battle seems to me by no means one of the most terrible things in this very terrible world (p. 77-78).

I would take it even further and say that when women and children die resulting from collateral damage in war, (although unjust), it is not the worse evil that could have happened to them. Their own countrymen could be doing far more damage to them in life, than the attacking country has done in killing them unintentionally. (This I know to be the case from experience in Afghanistan and Iraq. Many times the lives of the innocent suffer long lives under their oppressors.)

Finally, I believe that even in a corrupt society, there can be righteous individuals in that society’s military who do good things wherever they’re sent. (Wasn’t this the case with Cornelius, officer in the Roman Empire in Acts 10.) Additionally, When soldiers serving under a corrupt establishment asked Jesus how they should live, (Luke 3:14) he did not instruct them to defect. He told them not to treat people poorly and be satisfied with their pay.

There may be a lot of corrupt decision makers involved in the process of this war, but in no way do I see those decisions inhibiting the righteous work of individual soldiers. Furthermore I believe the ultimate attempt is for America to help Iraq, not harm it.

There is a caution every believing soldier should be aware of though. It would not be good for a soldier to serve his country as he would serve God. We shouldn’t allow the war “to absorb our whole attention, because it is a finite object and therefore intrinsically unfitted to support the whole attention of the human soul” (Lewis, 1949, p. 52). And also, “A man may have to die for his country, but no man must, in any exclusive sense, live for his country. He who surrenders himself without reservation to the temporal claims of a nation, or party, or class is rendering to Caesar that which, of all things, most empathetically belong to God: himself” (p. 53).

Reference

Lewis, C.S. (1949) The weight of glory. New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

Culture clash! Iraqis train with Americans

A few days ago I attached myself to some of our firefighters so I could write an article about their interaction with the Iraqis. The American troops are tasked to train the Iraqis how to be autonomous. But often progress is slow because there’s a cultural disconnect. We in the military make up mostly Type ‘A’ personalities. When we have a job to do, we’re focused on getting it done – by the book. It’s all business for us. The Middle Eastern culture is more emotional. They’re big on building relationships before doing business. With that in mind, the situation that unfolded from our training was both amusing and thought provoking. Here’s what happened:

We arrived early on the Iraqis’ side of the base ready to do business. When we pulled up, they invited us inside their quarters. So we walked in and made their acquaintance. However, we noticed all the Iraqis were sitting around a table (and some on the floor) with tea cups. They weren’t ready to train – and I could tell our fire chief was irritated.

After much Iraqi insistence, our chief agreed to sit with them and drink tea. Our scheduled training time was one hour, but already 15 minutes had gone by with us just talking to them about unrelated topics. Talk was slow because everything had to go through a translator. Most of it was pointless flattery.

Finally, they agreed to get started. As we were walking toward the fire trucks, one of the Iraqis started speaking Arabic. The translator said to the chief, “They want you to meet their commander.” “How long will this take?” said our chief in an elevated tone. Through the translator, the Iraqi firefighter said “We have time – the day is new.”

Reluctantly, the chief decided to meet their commander. As we stepped in the Iraqi’s office I saw a table set up, adorned with fresh tea and tea cups. “Have some tea with me,” said the Iraqi officer. Our chief was barely holding on.

After we got through the unscheduled hour of tea, we headed out toward the flightline where an aircraft was parked for the training event. Our firefighters set up a scenario to test the ability of the Iraqi firefighters. We simulated a fire on a C-130 (large cargo aircraft). Part of the scenario included two unconscious pilots in the cockpit. The Iraqis were to drive up in fire trucks, put out the fire, and climb up to the cockpit to rescue the pilots.

For realistic purposes, our firefighters always use live people to play the role of unconscious pilots. Now, the C-130 cockpit is about 10 feet above the ground, so for safety purposes, we only required the Iraqis to remove the pilot from the seat, but not down the ladder. Carrying a live body down the ladder is dangerous and only practiced with a life-like dummy. For some reason, this bit of information did not make it through the translator to the Iraqis.

So the exercise began and the Iraqis barreled into the aircraft. The cockpit was crowded. There were two Americans playing unconscious pilots, two Iraqi rescue men, and myself (I was taking photos).

The Iraqis grabbed the first guy, whose name was Vance, and forcefully ripped him out of the seat. But instead of releasing him, they continued toward the exit hatch. They were carrying Vance belly up, with his head forward. The first Iraqi was holding Vance by the armpits and the Iraqi in back had his legs. As they moved toward the hatch, Vance suddenly animated himself and said, “Okay, that’s good. Put me down.” But they ignored him. The translator wasn’t there and these guys were playing serious.

“That’s enough, let me go!” Vance repeated, raising his voice a few octaves. He got a response in Arabic this time, but it didn’t sound friendly.

At this point the first Iraqi, who had Vance’s forward end, was mounting the ladder. Vance’s head was beginning to dip downward as his legs elevated above his torso. His voice quickly became unintelligible and high pitched and he was squirming like a cat avoiding a dunk in the toilet. He sounded like a greased pig behind a megaphone. I could hear our guys outside laughing at him.



The following seconds were a little hazy for me because I was doubled over laughing too. Vance was screaming like a little girl, but the two Iraqis just gripped harder and said things in Arabic that sounded like hard-core expletives. I’m not sure what the words were, but I doubt they would’ve used them in front of grandma.

The Iraqis finally got Vance down safely, but when they turned around to get the second victim, they found him standing there outside the aircraft with a smile. “I woke up,” he said. The Iraqis seemed disappointed they only got to rescue one guy. But we all had a great time making fun of Vance.

After thinking back on this, I realized how our different cultures caused such a clash. We Americans are big on business and safety to preserve individual life. The people of the Middle East seem to place more importance on sociality and community. In their minds, it’s okay to lose the lives of a few to benefit the whole. They see death as a rite of passage. We see death as a tragedy. They see us as worldly when we celebrate the individual; we see them as barbaric when they recruit people for suicide. Both of us need adjustments in these areas – they represent extremes of ideals gone corrupt. In the west we should learn to value community more, because it promotes selflessness. In the Middle East they should learn to value the individual more, because we are all created with intrinsic value.

Whatever the answer is, I’m no philosopher, or even a leader, so I’ll stick to what I know: praying for understanding, and a loving heart. That, I believe, is a good start in this world. As for Vance, he said that was the last time he’ll train with the Iraqis. I told him they were probably calling him a sissy.

What is our daily bread?

When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we say “give this day our daily bread” (italics mine). How often in America do we ask God to provide our daily meals and mean it? Richard Roberts, a good friend of mine, pointed out this thought-provoking question to me. Even now, when I pray the Lord’s Prayer, I never find myself compelled to depend on God for my next meal. It makes me feel rather ashamed – especially when people in less fortunate countries reflexively beg God every day for a meal.

The reason we can only mouth this prayer is because we are so secure in our next meal. As you read this, there is likely more than several days’ worth of food stocked in your house. And as I write this, there are service members in the chow hall here preparing our next meal. But I had a small epiphany recently that enabled me to pray for my daily bread renewed fervor.

In this environment (Baghdad, Iraq) we get tired quickly. Hours are long, tempers are short, and stress is abundant. I often find myself struggling to maintain composure. Sometimes hourly I need to remind myself to take deep breaths. (This happens frequently to us even when we’re not in war environments. We all have trials.) I need something more than my own grit and mettle to get me to sunset.

Anyway, I was in the chapel a while back and we were singing the song Breathe by Michael W. Smith. There is a line in that song that says “This is my daily bread, your very Word, living in me.” After I left the chapel I fell to my knees and thanked God for showing me a new meaning to this part of the Lord’s Prayer. The Words of God are something I need to ask for everyday – we were meant to feed on them. This is something we Americans do starve for – especially if we aren’t in the habit of seeking it or asking for it. I find if I don’t get this kind of Bread, my state of mind deteriorates.

So now, I pray for daily bread every day with new meaning “God please, just for today, give me your Words, my bread, so I can get through this day.”