From the Pulpit: Here I am, send me!

This past week I participated as one of the chaplains in a combat training exercise with the Air National Guard, 114th Fighter Wing, out of Sioux Falls. These exercises are meant to test our unit to ensure that we are able to answer the call if our nation needs us to respond to international, national or even local threats or disasters.  One of the roles of the chaplain is to ensure that before members deploy or leave our base that they are ready to go – mentally and spiritually – even in mock scenarios like these. So, as they prepared to load the transport airplane, or in our case last week, old yellow school buses, which thankfully did have air conditioning, chaplains greeted them, made eye contact and offered support. One observation made to me from a colleague was, “So many new faces in our unit. They look so young.”

I thought about those words as I, too, noticed very young Airmen who only recently joined the South Dakota Air National Guard, many from the Brandon and Valley Springs area.  The words of our Lord came to mind from the Old Testament when our Lord questioned in the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, Chapter Six: “Whom shall I send?  ,Who will go for us?”  ,The prophet Isaiah responded, “Here I am.  Send me!”  ,These young men and women, despite the current state of affairs of our world, stood up and responded “send me!”  ,Why?  Why would they choose to give up certain freedoms and be willing to be called upon at any time to support our local, state and national needs?

As these Airmen, both young and old, process through the line, not only do chaplains offer their support and wellbeing, but we also have a table filled with religious items that they can carry with them to lean upon when times get tough. We had books on spiritual resilience, Korans, Bibles, Torahs, rosaries, daily scripture passages and other books of encouragement. Also, in good chaplain fashion, we had an array of candy to put a smile on their faces either now or as they traveled to their future destination.

At the end of the long day of processing all of our “deployers” leaving the base, an observer walking by our table noted that nearly all of the religious texts were taken, but still a small pile of candy remained. “Here I am. Send me!” Why do the ranks continue to fill up with young men and women willing to raise their right hand?  Like Isaiah, they have faith and trust in God. Faith is not dead amongst the ranks of our military – praise God!  These service members understand all that has been given to them from our Lord and that it takes people, like Isaiah, to allow themselves to be sent to continue His good work. Our Lord did not just call Isaiah but also went with him to help him carry out the calling to which Isaiah was responding – to convince God’s people to turn back to Him. Our Lord also goes with these service members and these religious texts help them to continue to rely upon Him to fulfill His mission. The Lord has plans for each of us and desires all of us to answer. The South Dakota Air National Guard is just one example. How might the Lord be calling you to serve those around you – your family, community or school? How will you answer? With God’s grace, may we all respond “Here I am, Lord. Send me!”