Pastor Matt Back to Afghanistan

OK I have to admit; it's been 12 weeks since I have blogged and I feel a little guilty about something. I don't feel guilty because I haven't blogged, but today I am heading back to Afghanistan and am just now thinking of how all the while I was home and enjoying my family, and the good ole' US of A, you guys have been there nugging it out. In the heat! I hope all of you have been well.

I know that each of you would have wanted me to enjoy the family time, I definitely did. Just as I will want you to enjoy your families when you rotate back home.

Well, let me just start of with a reminder. A reminder of what this "Crossroads Afghanistan" is all about.

While your there it is definitely hard to think of Ft. Rucker, but rest assured there are many eager and anxious pilots and soldiers right behind you. They are uncertain of the "when and where" for their turn to the giant sand box, and their thoughts are on you guys...the tip of the spear. You are the ones on the front lines of this now ten year old war. My thoughts and prayers are with you, and it is my great honor to join you on the field of battle.

I said all that to say that this blog is designed to keep us all connected. Those that are overthere, and those that are waiting in anticipation of going; as you read, whether stateside or from overseas, know that many are using this blog as a connection to a piece of their time while at Mother Rucker.

Let me encourage you to respond, comment, or join in. I will be blogging from my foxhole in Kabul. From time to time I will get out to the FOB's and would love to see you. Let me know where you are. Even if it's someone you know only attended Crossroads once, or not even once, welcome them to read the blog.

The most important thing is that we know each other are out there. I know many of you don't get to go all over, but just like it's comforting to know if your flight school buddy is somewhere overthere with you, it is even more comforting to know that your brother or sister in Christ is somewhere out there too.

Talk to you soon!

God Bless You,
Matt

Hey Roadies.

I will be rotating back to the states this week! As you can imagine I am very excited.

Looking back of the past 90 or so days I can remember so many different challenges. It seems like everything is a Leader Reaction Course (LRC) drill. I am sure most of you have done this type of thing. In military training you are given a challenge with a task to solve a problem, of which, there may or may not be a solution. It seems as if my time in Afghanistan is one impossible challenge after the next. These LRC type events seem to have littered the past 10 weeks; one challenge after the next with each challenge having completely unique characteristics from the previous one. I seriously think I might lose my hair……too late-).

In the middle of all the chaos I have also had some wonderful personal experiences. Each personal experience seemed to impact me in a great way. I am sure the depth of emotion I felt from each experience was due to the other chaotic things going on around me, and in many cases it was a shared experience with someone else. Here are a few.

In the middle of very challenging times; I along with a colleague had been having a rough few days. In the midst of our rough times the topic of God and the Lord came up several times. One evening as I was finishing a long day he asked me a question about God as I was walking out the door to the office. He knows I love and know the Lord, and it was almost as if he had been lacking the courage to ask me right up until I was leaving. We talked about God for two hours. We talked about who Christ really was and what faith in him really meant. Our talk ended in a prayer of praise and humbling acceptance of the forgiveness that is offered by having faith in Christ. After a bit more talking we both went in for the night. I walked into my room exhausted; fell to the floor and wept. Crying out praises to God, I felt so humbled and exhausted and the same time. Any person that has had the Holy Spirit moving inside them before knows how exhausted you feel when it’s over. That’s how I felt. Praise God. This was a great day in heaven and earth!!!

Another experience dealt with a friendship I have established with a man named Joia Aziz. He is the head of the Afghan security forces that provide us protection. I had met him several times due to several security things that have gone on here. He doesn’t speak any English and always has several men sitting around him in his office. I went into his office one day to discuss a routine security concern and we ended up talking for a couple of hours. We drank tea, and talked about our families and our faiths. I very much enjoy my relationship with this man and look forward to seeing him when I get back. A couple of days later I went into his office and he gave me a bag full of wonderful gifts. His wife, and their 7 children, had each given me a gift for me and my family. This was very humbling and will be something I remember forever.

Another experience deals with a new friend I have made in the past couple of weeks. The program I am on in Northrop Grumman is designed so that I will rotate in and out of Kabul with another program manager every couple of months. That way each of us will not get burnt out on being away from our families. Doug has just been hired onto our team and is a retired US Marine Colonel. He is very smart and very funny and brings a lot of experience and knowledge to our business team. He has five children and has been married for over 30 years. Another interesting fact is that he is a Muslim. Do you think that it is coincidence that a Christian minister and follower of Christ Jesus, is teamed up with a Muslim man. I can’t accept that it is. Again, I found myself humbled and feeling very inadequate at what the Lord has put before me. I have never prayed so much.

These last two experiences lead me to a huge thought. In the past several months I have spoken about Jesus to a Muslim on numerous occasions! Again, I feel very humbled and with this in mind I feel very weighted down by the enormity and burden of what I am to doing. Matthew 5:14, “You are the light of the world”. This is so easy to preach and proclaim from within a church deep inside the United States. Yet here I am talking to men who do not know the truth of Jesus Christ. The truth is the truth though and someone must pass it forward. Yet you can’t just bang someone over the head with it. It takes relationship; specifically with such opposing cultural and religious belief systems.

Follow this chain if you will. John 1:1, John 8:32, Isaiah 40:8, and John 14:6. These versus have been on the fore front of my mind over the past several months. Christ is the word, which is truth, who is standing now, and will stand for eternity, and no one comes to the father except through Him.

How did I end up with this? A long time ago I got rid of my way and got real with God’s way. Do you want that in your life? Ask God to break your heart for his people. Ask him to melt away the cares of this world with only the broken left to be seen. Ask him to burden your eyes for the lost; to only see the lost as he sees them. Ask him to give you courage to be courageous! Tell him you want to sell out to him. He already knows it’s hard for you….just acknowledge your desire to sell out to him and his desires….and watch him transform your life.

God Bless you Roadies.
Matt

Hey Roadies!

So who felt the earthquake? I know I did. I was dreaming that my older brother was picking on me and shaking my bed to wake me up....ouch! What's that all about? The reality is that a hundred or so miles north of Kabul there was a 5.9 quake last week. Exciting right! There's more.
Some rocket attacks and an explosion downtown at the Hospital. Can't we all just get along? I mean if you want us to leave, quit blowing stuff up. Wait a minute...they don't want us to leave because we bring money and work right. Sorry, looks like I am drifting into other topics.

Anyway, for the most part things are back to normal here in Kabul. I am getting back to a steady state. I know things are really busy down in Helmond. Our guys are playing a part in quite a bit of that.

Couple of things. I need to know you’re out there Roadies. Where you at Lauren G.?? I know you’re out there. Call my Afghan cell: 070-734-7915. For that matter, any Roadie in this nation call my Afghan cell. I don't care if we have never met personally. It would be "most excellent" for my cell to ring and here any of your voices.

Also, sound of if you are enjoying the 120 days of wind. I have decided I don't like wind any more. It's good for a little bit, maybe a day, but it seems like we have 30 to 40 knots all day....everyday!!!

Maybe I should rebuke the wind like Christ did in Mark 4…..ok maybe not.

Either way, my prayers are with each of you. Don’t hesitate to call me. I know one thing is for sure about serving in Afghanistan….time goes by pretty fast, so hang in there.
God Bless,
Matt

Hey Roadies! Guess What!

I am back up as a PIC in the Mi-17. YAY! After the last couple of weeks we have had here I can tell you that going flying a couple of times was the perfect dose for me. I needed a bit of out of the office time. It felt good to challenge myself a little bit too. I got to fly up to the HLZ's just west of BAF. Shout out to me if you know where that is! The first one I picked on was right at 8700 MSL and the second was over 10500 MSL, so it was exciting. These LZ's are definitely the right way to practice the minimum power pinnacle landing. Never take mountain flying lightly. Read the books about the windward and leeward sides, how to fly through valleys, etc. Most importantly is performance planning. How much power will be available to me when I climb up and land? I think its really fun. I like to do the planning and then go see if it works. I hope you enjoy the planning too.

Well let me say Happy Mother's Day to all the mother's out there. I am thankful for both my mothers and my beautful wife who is also a great mother. Make sure to go out of your way for your mother.

Hopefully in the next week or so I will be totally back to normal here in Kabul. My replacement will be coming in soon, so that means it's getting closer to my return. I will really be ready for home this time.

I also want to give a shout out to the faithful patriots at my mom's American Legion post in Indiana. Thanks for reading!

Must go for now!
God Bless.
Matt

Hey Roadies!

It’s been a tough time over here. First the crash of an OH-58D which resulted in the loss of one US Army Warrant Officer and then the shooting in Kabul which resulted in 9 US killed.  That's 10 in 4 days. As long as we have been in Afghanistan it is easy for those at home to see these numbers on TV and move on with their daily routine, but I can tell you first hand these losses are very heavy on those of us on this side. That is not to mention the families of those that were lost. The loss of not one person is acceptable. In a military operation it is understood that the loss of a team member is a possibility and maybe even a likely hood, but never acceptable. Measures must be taken, tactics changed, and procedures manipulated to do whatever conceivable to try and prevent the same type of events in the future.  

Finally the most important thing is that we continue our work. We cannot stop or be deterred.  We must ensure that those that have fallen did not fall in vain. Many feel the guilt of “why not me”, many have seen things no one should see, but all must go on. Trust has been lost and a once stable relationship is now less solid, but still we must continue in order to honor the dead.

I am safe, I am confident in the purpose of our work, and I feel your prayers and concern. May I take a moment to speak to all the Roadies who may have this type of work in their future? Study Hard! Get far away from the “Rucker University” mentality and understand that the training you receive at Ft. Rucker is life and death stuff. I know many of you may have heard this before, but the “Instructor Pilot and the less experience pilot arrive to the crash at the same time”. What that means is that you are responsible for you! Know all you can, ask all the questions you can, study all you can; and come over here as prepared as you can.
God bless you guys. I am still in austere conditions right now until we can get back to operations normal. I will be back soon. Go to the link to read details of what happened in Kabul.
Thanks again for all your prayers and concern.
Matt

Hey Afghan Roadies! What's happening?

Shout out to the Roadies in JBAD and KAF!!  What's up?  U guys alright?  I know the reports people hear from far off are never right.
We have had some EXPLOSIONS in Kabul too!  Never a fun thing.
New tactic for this city. There have been quite a bit of police imposters making attempts at our perimeters.  We had one the other day at our gate.  A guy was dressed up as a Afghan soldier and attempted to get in....he is no longer with us.  Needless to say when I get some time off I won't be hanging around the outer gate!!

I am smoked right now and wanted to quickly sum up last weeks truth and fairness discussion.  Bottom line is God may seem unfair in light of certain events here on earth, but the reality is God is very fair.  Think about it.

1. Everybody is welcome. 
2. Everybody gets in the same way. 
3. Everybody can meet the requirement.

This is very fair.  Without a doubt the most fair!  So we can be thankful that we may not always understand God's ways and we most certainly can't live up to His standards, but that by true faith in Jesus Christ we are good to go.
Thank goodness...cause otherwise I'd be toast. 

You guys rock!  Keep up the good fight.  Watch out for the birds!

Matt

Hey Afghan Roadies!

I hope you all are well.  Things are well here in Kabul.  Not sure  

if you realize it, but it's been a rough last couple of weeks for  

coalition forces.  I know in KAF and Kabul its been a pretty costly  

10 days or so.  Looks like the winter is officially over and the  

hills are alive!  Be careful out there.  What may have been a safe  

valley in February, may not be now!!!  Bottom Line Up Front:  Watch  

the recenty thawed out high ground!

On another topic; I would like to vent just a bit about a topic  

close to my heart.  Hope that's ok.

While I am in Afghanistan I seem to run into more and more people  

that just don’t like the message that salvation can only come  

through faith in the resurrected Christ Jesus.  They say it’s unfair!

It’s a basic argument for most people.  The argument that “good  

people” will be able to go to heaven.  This thought process is of  

course a very palatable and fair idea.  I get that logic.  I  

understand the human desire for “all people” to be good, and that if  

you’re good; you get a good outcome after you die.

For me it’s hard to look at people that you know are going to  

struggle to walk out a faith in Christ.

For example, if I were to lead one of my Afghan interpreters to  

faith in Christ.  Of course this could occur only by the power of  

God’s Holy Spirit.  Anyway, this faith would be a suicide mission  

for him.  He would have to be so sold out for Christ because his  

entire world would be shattered in unimaginable ways if he even  

mentioned believing in Christ as the risen Lord.  Is this unfair?

So, do I not tell him…….?

Of course not, I have to tell him.  Now, I have to be smart about  

how I do it and I mostly have to pray for him, but this brings me to  

my point.

Fairness has nothing to do with truth.

Put another way….for something to be true, it does not have to be  

fair.  Sorry, that’s the truth.

FAIRNESS IS NOT A REQUIREMENT OF TRUTH!!!!

Realizing this truth as a Christ follower is what fuels a lifelong  

passion to tell other people about the truth that is Jesus.  It may  

not be fair from a non-believers perspective, but God is holy and  

great in ways humanity can’t understand, so I am compelled to trust  

Him, even if his judgments don’t seem fair.

What do you think?