If You're Serving the U.S. - Read The Spirit

For many years as a pastoral counselor, the Rev. Dr. Benjamin Pratt worked with men and women in various forms of U.S. service. In fact, when you read the book, you’ll find a number of letters from such men and women included in chapters on spiritual themes like Moral Cowardice, Cruelty & Malice, and Accidie to name a few.

Here’s just one example…

…of a letter included among the book’s many reflections on the great temptations—the “deadlier sins”—of our age. A man who Dr. Pratt asked to read an early version of the book wrote back to him in a letter that now appears in the chapter on Moral Cowardice:

I think you hit on what is truly a fundamental struggle for anyone who is in the line of work which, as you state, is ‘defined by a calling to a larger sense of mission, duty or faith.’ How does one balance the mission, in Bond’s case duty to country, with everything else? It is what keeps most of us up at night. It is what made coming home from Iraq when I knew others were still there so incredibly difficult.

From a Medical MEDEVAC Helicopter Company in Iraq

Chaplain J.Kent Berry (Major-P), based in Balad, Iraq, is road testing the Bond Bible study with a Medical MEDEVAC Helicopter Company. He wrote back:

The work is difficult here especially for the medical aviation crews that work with getting patients to the hospital in Balad. Most of our patients are actually Iraqi citizens and that is a blessing for the assets to be here for everyone.

Your contribution in this Bible study helps us to see our mission in the light of being servants of Christ dressed in our own humanity.

This last week I shared with the medical MEDEVAC crews while using your Bible study a great Nieburian aphorism that says that ‘Our infinite capacity for rationalization is the surest sign of original sin.’ And I really made the connection then with the quote from Maya Angelou that says, ‘If you are not facing down Demons — You’re not truly alive.’

James…a bond servant—surely has something to offer to us today.

To Chaplains and Men and Women in the Service:

We Want to Hear from You

We’ve just shipped off copies of the Bond book to a number of chaplains in the U.S. Armed Forces who requested the book, so they can read it and try the book in small-group discussions with men and women in the field. Our list of chaplains road-testing the book are based in areas from the U.S. to the Middle East to Asia.

As they react to the book and road test it with troops, we invite them to send back word on what they’ve found helpful.

Chaplains in Other Settings: We Welcome You, Too

Another area where we’ve picked up interest in the book: prisons.

Millions of men and women behind bars in the U.S. often find themselves turning to spiritual resources and, often, these men and women are well aware of popular heroic figures like James Bond.

The book helps participants wrestle with temptations, including violence, malice, cruelty—and also that soul-withering temptation to simply feel powerless and lose hope that one’s life may, someday, make a difference in the world.

We welcome any word from prison chaplains who may be exploring this new book.