Welcome to Afghanistan

This certainly is a deployment; the conditions are more rustic than what I experienced in Iraq. It has taken about three days to recover/adjust to the new time zone, which is minus 11.5 hours from PST. I don't know why this country has a 0.5 mark... it just does. Then again the best part about deployments thus far have not disappointed. The food is great, my base has a number of different cafeterias, and I am greatly enjoying the European style ones. When I was in Germany there was an orange-carrot type juice generically called throughout Europe "multivitamin" juice. It was wonderful and they have it here! I am being reminded to appreciate the little things each day. Getting a couple cups of juice helps offset variables like the tight living space, cold "navy showers”, and the connection speed that ebbs and flows; I think it coincides with the number of people awake and logging on, although yesterday it was especially slow.

In keeping with the "signs you are a contractor" I am working on a "deployment beard/goatee/facial hair growth experiment", I am about a week into it and I think it is slightly more than most men's five O' Clock shadow. This will be a slight source of entertainment for now. I'll post pictures in the event I actually grow enough to be detected by pictures. I managed to make it to the gym yesterday. Needless to say I am not looking forward to the pains of getting back into my lifting regiment. The mere discomfort of getting used to the burn and daily muscle soreness that I should be expecting for the next couple of months alone should be enough motivation that I had never stopped lifting. Then again life in CA was a bit busy often to the point to allot for more than six hours of sleep was a luxury. One of the main reasons I decided to come out here was to remember the simple lifestyle, and it is.

Among the other niceties I've been trying to appreciate were the flights here. Flying a real commercial flight to Kuwait was huge; I even got economy plus seating! This is compared to the lowest bidding "commercial" aircraft we fly as active duty in which we were packed in so tight sardines would complain. That is unless you volunteer to load the baggage and then you might get to pick your seats in the event the flight is not packed to capacity. So I got to Kuwait and after some minor headaches, to the hotel. Wow, would be a short description. If that hotel wasn't a five star, I cannot fathom what is. The beachfront view from the lobby, the multiple fountains and swimming pools in what I thought was a desert country, I was in awe. I think the icing on the cake was the fresh plate of fruit waiting for me in my room. Granted it wasn't exotic fruits like dates, pistachios and other more indigenous products but fresh fruit nonetheless. My experience in Kuwait was culminated with dinner at their in house seafood restaurant. The last several months I've been eating seafood at almost every opportunity, I continued that night. I was most impressed with their "salad bar" which amongst other things I dined on: hummus, smoked salmon, smoked mackerel, oyster salad, jumbo shrimp cocktail, and assorted veggies. I think a lot of American salad bars should take notes from this place.

On one of the legs of flight I happened to sit next to a brother in Christ from New York, I think his name was Mark. It was a great opportunity to encourage one another. An especially encouraging story about what God has been doing in this place. A man from India or Nepal, I can't remember exactly where but it was an unreached area, whom Mark helped get a job. By God's providence he was sent to a location which another brother, Robert, was located, it was there that he received the Gospel and became a Christ Follower. Sometime after that work location, he was transferred to the base where Mark was located. Upon seeing one another again, Mark started discipling the new believer. They have been going strong for a month now. The probability that they would see one another again, let alone be given the time and opportunity to disciple is the kind that can only be accomplished by God's plan.

I can't help but wonder what opportunities I might have. I will not have much if any contact with non-Americans. From what I have gathered thus far, no one on my team appear to be active Christ followers. I've been in this spiritual atmosphere before, that was two years in Germany, but I question how much I properly assessed this as a real possibility. So often I reminisce about the almost constant fellowship I enjoyed in Iraq, not fully considering what it would be like here. Only God knows and time will tell. I pray that this will be a beneficial time of learning both through my studies and the life lessons I learn.

Epilogue: This was the most difficult period of my life. There were several rotations of active duty and contractor team members, no one exhibited more than nominal faith at best. There was also one crew that was hostile to any kind of discussion that was in the least bit philosophical or existential. I should probably write about the reintegration after this, that was an important life chapter...

This is a Hard Teaching - 1 Timothy 2:9-14

Needless to say after returning home, my blogging has been greatly diminished. This is mostly due to being back in community and much of the thoughts that roll around have been able to be discussed. Then again, while basking in perhaps one of the most enjoyable Sundays I've had in many years, this thought hit me and I wanted to see if I can grapple with it.

1 Timothy 2:9-14 probably ranks up there at the top of many people's minds when it comes to difficult passages to understand and even more apply. I think Peter said it well in 2 Peter 3:14-16, with "there are some things hard to understand" being ever so clear. The response to this passage usually varies somewhere between justified chauvinism and ignoring the passage altogether. Perhaps the unique factor about this difficult passage isn't so much its clarity but just the opposite. Plainly read it has some serious guidelines that are difficult to apply and to justify; both to the non-Christians who view God's Word as a sexist book which seeks to subjugate women; and to those earnestly seeking to follow God's Word but are at a bit of a loss on this passage's application.

This commentary tends to focus on the cultural aspect and focus on the physical adornment and exclusion occurring in the church than this as an impendent issue. The problem with this is it doesn't address if the practice of flaunting wealth and style are still applicable things to avoid in orderly worship, worse still it often tends to resign this passage to being cultural and thus outdated and we can justifiably ignore it. The primary problem with this as with other difficult passages is the inevitable slippery slope we establish within Scripture while fully ignoring clear teachings to satisfy our own wills or misunderstanding. Or as Peter through the Holy Spirit says, "ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction." If we believe the Bible is God's Word and that God is perfect without error, then we must deduce the Bible is God's inerrant Word. This also happens to be a primary doctrine for you two other doctrine nerds who might read this.

On to the meat, within the context the most biting part I would think is verse 12, "I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet." While there is plenty of meat to deal with verse 11, for the sake of brevity (like I am good at that anyways...) I would rather refer to Ephesians 5:22-33 which it explicitly describes the relationship a husband and wife ought to have. A piece I have heard and fully agree with about the Ephesians passage, if a husband loves his wife as Christ loved the Church, why wouldn't she want to submit to him? Enough said.

I suppose the difficulty I have by attempting to tackle this passage is much in the practice (or lack of practice) of church discipline. The best way I could describe church discipline is the maintenance and accountability of our own. Paul speaks of this most clearly throughout 1 Corinthians (5:9-13, 6:1-8, 11:27-32). Peter also explains the concept in 1 Peter 2:13 - 3:22. In Church we ought to submit ourselves to one another, everyone ought to be submissive to someone; many of us are submissive to the pastor/elders, deacons, older men and women, and so on. There are checks in balances in the Church as well. We call him Jesus. Once we grasp the idea of submission to one another, the judgment we are to cast upon one another as a Shepherd protects his flock; in love, and the purity of Christ's Church the passage in Timothy doesn't irk as much.

It is important to remember one of the primary duties of pastors/elders in scripture is to practice authority (Shepherd in fluffier terms) over the members of the church. I might be isogeting my youth ministry experience on this, but when Paul restricts women from practicing authority over men is it really that outlandish? Consider this; within the family are mothers not the most appropriate to deal with certain issues of their daughters and likewise fathers with their sons? Likewise I directly consider this in light of my work with the high schoolers. If there is an issue with a girl, I would not attempt to address the issue at large. Women handle women's issues and men handle men's issues. I think many of us would find it odd if women sought to offer guidance on being a man when men are present to give such guidance. This is in no way saying mothers cannot teach their sons as some naysayers would attempt to imply. Children are to submit to their parents, and likewise parents are to practice authority over their children.

Whether you want to get into the issue if women can teach men, I think that is a less clear issue. The most profound example I would point to in scripture is the instruction Priscilla and Aquila gave to Apollos in Acts 18 Priscilla and Aquila are addressed 6 times in scripture. Of those 5 of those times Priscilla is addressed first, considering the writing style it is believed she had the stronger relationship with Paul in faith. In the personal setting, such as home church/bible study in which the couple instructed Apollos, it is reasonable to say Priscilla did more teaching, yet she did so without practicing authority over Apollos. I think it is also important to specify that Paul says a woman is not to have authority over a man, not boy, man. Leading up to a man, I would say it is more than permissible to practice authority on non-adult males. Then the can of beans opened "What is a man?" That is a separate blog unto itself. The short answer, a man is a male who takes responsibility for himself and those around him.

Does this expand to women in the pulpit? Yes, I think it does. I will make it clear though, based on what I have seen and read showing that women are more numerous in ministry, I believe this to be the result of males not being men. If males would be men, much of this controversy and frustration would disappear. The confusion and misunderstanding of what Paul wrote through the Holy Spirit will clear up and we can practice Church as it was meant to be done.