Christmas Rambling from KNB...

Greetings from sunny Kuwait! I hope each of you is keeping very well during this Christmas season! May the light of Christ dwell richly in you as we wait together!

Things here are going well, I think. I’m settling into a weekly routine of sorts where I have meetings, hold services, counsel soldiers do visitation. There is a sense of security that I get from having a routine, but it’s a double edged sword most of the time – on the one hand, I like knowing what I’m doing on a consistent basis, but on the other, I get board very quickly and the routine can grate on me.

The Lord is stretching me in a number of ways, primarily in the ways I am present to people in different venues. Preaching every week is a challenge I haven’t had to do this in a while and it’s forcing me to rely on Jesus as my only source of affirmation. Now, this doesn’t mean people don’t give me affirmation, it just means, I know people are fickle and so have learned not to rely or ‘feed’ on their praise. My classic problem is that I want to do everything at once; the good things that I know take time to develop, I long to see already established. It is hard for me to wait patiently and work slowly, allowing this community to unfold and become what Christ has for it. I want to just be there now. *sigh*


The holidays in a military (I say ‘military’ because we’re Army, Navy and Marines) camp are a strange thing. On the one hand folks are not generally in the festive mood. They feel most keenly the absence of family, friends and holiday traditions at home. And unfortunately, we’ve arrived at just the time of year to catch all the holidays during our stay. So, this is where I see my role as a priest of God and how God has made me intersect with this group. I don’t generally love the holidays when I’m at home. I love being single all the rest of the year, except at the holidays – then it becomes very difficult for me. However, here everyone is feeling like a fish out of water, so –strangely- I don’t feel that way; I love the holidays here! And it enables me to speak words of encouragement, peace and hope into this community. And that is such an encouragement to me, too.

Emotionally, it is a roller-coaster for me. I can be rejoicing with a group of people over promotions or whatnot one minute, the next diving the depths of fresh grief with someone who just lost a loved one. Now, when I’m doing well and am at peace with myself and Jesus, I find this to be one of the best aspects of my job – you never know what you’re going to get and the Lord literally lines the streets with divine appointments. However, when I’m feeling drained and overwhelmed, this is difficult and I feel I have nothing useful to give. Again, the lessons are present: 1st- a constant reminder that this is Jesus’ ministry and love for this folks, not just mine; 2nd – I need to be vigilant about my self-care. (For those of you tracking this – I have managed to get my ‘day off’ mostly nailed down and am now working to get a routine that will actually refresh me established – this is still very hit or miss.)

On the friend front, this continues to be a struggle, but the Lord has provided a few tentative life-lines. I feel like I’ve learned so much about starting a new life from my move to Denver and these lessons are paying off now. I know the Lord has friends for me here, but it takes time to find them and who I start off with may not be who I end up with. So, patience is again the watch-word. It is also complicated making friends here as I am the post chaplain, so it requires someone of fairly significant maturity to be able to see me as a human and a pastor and not have a melt down about either. I have one real possibility for a friend, but she just got moved to another camp, so I’m not sure if we’ll be able to stay in touch. This is a pretty serious need I have, so if y’all could pray for that, I’d sure appreciate it. Right now my major source of support are my fantastic friends back in Denver (I’m SO grateful for y’all!!!), but obviously, I need some fellowship here as well.

Well, thanks for hanging in on this Christmas ramble…do stay in touch – I’m on em regularly at tkin5787@hotmail.com or terri.king1@us.army.mil.

Prayer Reqs:
- Friends for me
- Connections and community here at KNB for everyone
- Holiday mercies for all
- God’s comfort for the grieving (there are a lot)