Single Soldier Retreat

On Friday, I took about 30 soldiers to an indoor rock climbig facility near Ft. Hood. This was an amazing place with walls reaching 40 feet straight up. The object is to climb to the top and then once there, just let go and allow the auto descend cable lower you down. I made it to the top about four times, but I can sure feel it today in my arms and upper legs.

 

After about four hours of climbing and a great lunch, I taught for an hour and a half on the subject “How To Avoid Marrying a Jerk.” One of the biggest mistakes young soldiers make is marrying someone they are not compatible with, or simply someone they really do not know. I hope by providing a little “free advice,” I can help them avoid a bad marriage. In the course of the training I was also able to share the real source of a great marriage, Jesus Christ!

 

 

 

Welcome Home 1st Cavalry

Welcome back First Cavalry!!!!!

Over the last couple of months, the 1st Cav has been returning from Iraq while simultaneously being replaced by my very own 4th Infantry Division. Every day we see buses loaded with soldiers coming from the direction of the airport with a police escort. I am proud of these soldiers. They have given up so much to serve their country. Many have even given their lives. As this war drags on, soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are receiving less and less recognition for their service. Let us not forget their sacrifice. For many of them this is their third or fourth tour over seas. At Christmas time this year, remember our soldiers.

 

Here are a few of the hundreds of welcome home poster hung along the roads here at Fort Hood.

 

 

 

Along with those coming home, remember the soldiers of the 4th ID as they head out for fifteen months. Over 1000 of them have left already. The rest of us will be leaving in the months to come. I will be enjoying my Christmas in Tennessee this year with my family, but next year I will be celebrating it in the ancient land of Babylon.

Thanks for remembering our troops!!!!

Promotion Day

This has been a week full of celebrations within our battalion. We have had two change of commands, at least six promotions, and a Winter Formal. I was among those promoted today from First Lieutenant to Captain. 

 

 

LaDonna and I before the formal

Picture of the Day

HELP! I need children’s books!

I am beginning a program at our unit called United Through Reading. My desire is to collect about a thousand books to form a library for soldier’s to be able to read to their children. The way this works is that we record soldiers reading a children’s story to their children and then send a video along with the actual book to the soldier’s children so that they can stay visually and emotionally connected.

If you would like to help by organizing a book drive in your school, church, or work place, then I would like to hear from you. If you would like to help individually that would be appreciated as well. This is a great way for you to get plugged into an Army unit and play a big part in the ministry that takes place here.

If you would like to know more about United Through Reading, click HERE.

If you would like to see a list of suggested books, click HERE.

Besides the books on this list, I would love to have some Bible Stories for children. Thank you so much for your willingness to help.

To contact me, simply email me at ChaplainMarkOlson@Gmail.com or click HERE to leave a message.

God’s Work

I have now been working as a Chaplain for about six months.  I love my job.  Every day is a great day to be an Army Chaplain.  Much of my time is spent preparing retreats for my soldiers to help them become stronger in their relationships with each other, and their children, spouses, and families.  (There is a link on the right side of this page that tells you more about these conferences called Building Strong Bonds Together).  We believe that by building stronger families we build stronger soldiers.

Another large chunk of my time is invested into counseling.  Every day soldiers come into my office to seek help with personal, relational, financial, and spiritual problems.  Some of these problems make anything I dealt with in the civilian world pale in comparison.  But yesterday was an exception.  In the morning, one young male soldier came into my office to tell me that he had become a Christian the night before at his girlfriends church.  This was a soldier I had counseled just two days before. During that counseling I had encouraged him to seek healing by seeking a relationship with God who made him and loved him.

Later on that same morning another young soldier came into my office to ask me how she could become a Christian.  We talked for over an hour about the meaning of being a Christian and what it meant to surrender one’s life to God.  She is now going through a mini Bible study with me and we will meet again tomorrow to talk more, and hopefully take that life changing step into the Kingdom of God.  Please keep her in prayer.

Every day is an adventure.  Tomorrow night, LaDonna and I will team teach our first retreat together.  We will be teaching parents how to communicate with there children.  By reaching out to soldiers in areas of very real need, we develop relationships that allow us to share with them about the deeper need in their lives for Jesus.

Thanks for all your many prayers as we walk with God in this adventure.

3-4 Avn Blackhawks

I just returned from a weekend at Ft. Irwin California where one company of our soldiers went to train for five weeks. It was a joy to just spend time getting to know them and sharing the love of Christ. Pictured here is one of our Blackhawks yesterday morning that was preparing to redeploy back to Ft. Hood.

Below are a couple pictures of the scenery we enjoyed at NTC. This site is located at the bottom end of death valley. Although the place is beautiful, it has claimed the lives of many people.

This is an Apache helicopter that belongs to one of our sister battalions. We were there to support them for this training cycle.

The Chapel at FOB Miami

 

All Work and No Play Makes For…

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Just in case you thought that being an Army Chaplain was all about counseling and preaching.

Today, all of the Commanders, First Sergeants, and Staff served in the dining facility

A couple of weeks ago, the Battalion Commander takes a pie to help raise money for the Christmas Formal

About a month ago, I took all the officers and warrant officers over to the sportsman’s center to shoot “trap” and have a BBQ.

 

Being an Army Chaplain is really about loving soldiers with the love of Jesus Christ.

Leadership Lessons From the Life of Jesus #2

Leaders Exercise Discipline

Mark 1:35-37

35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. 36 Simon and his companions went to look for him, 37 and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”

Life in the military can become overwhelming. It is too easy to find yourself doing nothing but putting out fires. In this passage of Scripture, we find Jesus getting up very early in the morning, leaving the house, and going to a solitary place. But everyone was looking for him.

In the context of this passage, Jesus had been healing people who were sick and demon possessed, and the word had gotten out. People were coming from everywhere to be healed, and there was no end to it. Jesus could have spent the rest of his life doing nothing but putting out fires.

However, that is not why he came. In vs. 38 Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else-to the nearby villages-so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.”

Jesus had the practice of discipline in his life. In the midst of all the chaos, he took time to:

• Get up early (before daylight)
• Leave everyone else
• Go to a solitary place
• Pray

It was because of this practice of discipline that he was able to stay on course and not become distracted by all the people making demands of his life.

If you don’t have a habit finding time every day to refocus, now is a good time to start.

We all need these times of mental and spiritual refreshment.

Best Days Of Our Lives