USO Canteen FReeper Style Pray for the Troops and President Bush....October 20,2002

FRiends of the USO Canteen FReeper Style ~Coteblanche & Snow Bunny~

[Snow Bunny]

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Although we are always aware
that the Canteen is operating
in Cyberspace, we want the troops
and anyone who is on the receiving end
of prayers at the Canteen,
to know that these prayers are very real.

I hope the troops and Canteeners
alike, will view this Canteen Chapel,
as a place where you might go in times of
trouble or times of joy to be with your God.

"Come unto me all ye who are weary and
burdened,and I shall give you rest." (Matt: 11:28).

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George W. Bush: A President of Faith

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A Man of Prayer

A reporter on CNN was asked

"What did George W. Bush do
on his first morning as president-elect?"

This was Tony Clark's answer:

"He attended a prayer service with family,
friends and staff members."

George W Bush's priorities were established
on the first day of his Presidency.

The President Takes His Faith to Work

President George W. Bush looks over to Thomas Martello, 6,
during the signing ceremony of the Victims of Terrorism
Tax Relief Act in the East Room Jan. 23.
"We're joined today by families who have lost loved ones
in the great acts of evil," said the President.
"As you draw on faith and personal strength to cope with your grief,
I hope you'll also find comfort in the knowledge that
your nation stands with you and prays for you.
We mourn those whom we've lost, and we face the future together."

The President Lives his Faith

President Bush says he prays every day
in all kinds of situations,
and has been seen to quietly bow his head and pray
before news conferences and important meetings.
"I pray for guidance. I do not pray for earthly things
but for heavenly things, for wisdom
and patience and understanding."

"For strength and support, Bush turns to
the same things that have sustained
him for two decades: his faith and his family . . .
Bush prays and reads the Bible every day.
These days, aides say, they often spot
a Bible on his desk in the Oval Office.
In conversation or meetings, he often refers to
passages of Scripture that he has just read."

"There are prayers that help us last
through the day, or endure the night.
There are prayers of friends and strangers
that give us strength for the journey.
And there are prayers that yield
our will to a will greater than our own."

George W. Bush September 14, 2001
National Day of Prayer and Remembrance.

Listen to President George W Bush
in an Inspiring Song by Russ Lee

Don't miss this.

I'm Going To Live What I Believe

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Music for a Sunday

How Great Thou Art (Elvis Presley) ......A Mighty Fortress

Amazing Grace (Statler Brothers).....Praise Adonai (Steve Israel)

The Lord's Prayer.....Ave Maria

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Hymns of the Military

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Army Hymn: "God of Our Fathers"

Navy Hymn: "Eternal Father Strong to Save"

Air Force Hymn: "Lord Guard and Guide the Men Who Fly"

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We, at the Canteen, offer these prayers 
to those serving their country 
today. God Bless you all.

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Psalm 59:1,16&17
(Patti Vaillant)

"Deliver me from mine enemies,O my God:
Defend me from them that rise up against me.
But I will sing of thy power;yes I will sing
aloud of thy mercy in the morning; for thou
hast been my defence and refuge in the day
of my trouble. Unto thee, O my strength will
I sing: for God is my defence, and the God of 
my mercy."

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Our Prayer
(Celine Dion/Andrea Bocelli)

I pray you'll be our eyes, 
And watch us where we go.
And help us to be wise 
In times when we don't know.

Let this be our prayer, 
When we lose our way.
Lead us to a place, 
Guide us with your grace
To a place where we'll be safe. 

I pray we'll find your light,
And hold it in our hearts
When stars go out each night,
Remind us where you are.. 

Let this be our prayer
When shadows fill our day
Lead us to a place
Guide us with your grace 
Give us faith so we'll be safe.

We ask that life be kind
And watch us from above.
We hope each soul will find
Another soul to love.

Let this be our prayer,
Just like every child,
Needs to find a place, 
Guide us with your grace
Give us faith so we'll be safe.

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Introducing .....

Today we are introducing a new feature to the 
Sunday Canteen - The Chaplain's Corner - with our 
very own FReeper chaplain, Grant Swank. 

Grant has been a regular contributor at the Poetry 
Branch, and we have come to know and appreciate his 
talent and his sincerity. Besides that - he is a 
genuinely nice guy :-).

Let me introduce you to Grant:

Grant Swank is pastor of the New Hope Church. 
He has pastored for 40+ years, 
ministering in Calgary, Alberta; Indianapolis; 
Kansas City; Manchester CT; Akron OH; Fishkill NY; 
Walpole MA and presently in Maine. 

Grant also finds ministry in writing for various 
Protestant and Catholic publications, including 
CHRISTIANITY TODAY, DECISION and THE PRIEST. 

Presently, Grant is providing columns for websites 
such as CHALCEDON, INTELLECTUAL.CONSERVATIVE, 
MENSNEWSDAILY, MICHNEWS and WOUNDEDSHEPHERDS. 

He also writes a weekly column, "Lakes Religion," 
for the PORTLAND PRESS HERALD newspaper, Portland ME. 

He and his wife, Priscilla, have traveled extensively, 
including the Middle East, Europe and South America. 
The Swanks have three adult children: Crystal, Jay and 
Heidi Jo.

We are very fortunate that Grant has agreed to give 
us a brief message every Sunday at the Canteen. We 
hope it will be a comfort to you, and to every serviceman 
and servicewoman joining us.

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The Chaplain's Corner

J. Grant Swank, Jr.,
Pastor, New Hope Church

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WHEN NOTHING WORKS, GOD IS

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How many times in life do you sit yourself down and say, "Nothing is happening. Maybe even God forgot to punch in today."

Oh really?

Go figure, as the teens say today. Go figure what happened with Joe seated in Egypt's jailhouse cell. Nothing was going on. Nothing. Rats ran across the floor. Water gathered flies in the corner bowl. But God had failed to punch in.

Go figure what was going on with Job seated on an ash heap. Nothing was moving but his squirrelly wife who wound his ear drums up tight. "Curse God and die!" Nice woman. Really one sweety pie of a gal. In other words, from all appearances, nothing at all was happening in that man's life but the worst of times.

Go figure with Dan being led to the den. Hands tied with rope. Burly soldiers tossing him about the footpath. An empire breathing down his slender throat. And lions salivating all over the cave floor. Obviously, God had forgotten to punch in.

Go figure with Noah and Mom Noah and three sons with daughters-in-law. Nothing really was happening but more sweat pounded into a backyard boat. And for what? For a "rain" that had never been? For "drops from above" that were mere fiction? Noah had ringing in his ears night and day due to the clamor of neighbors' pans clanging ridicule till dawn. Evidently God had forgotten to punch in.

Go figure with Paul, stoned and left for dead. For doing what? For preaching love, joy and peace. For showing a village how to find their ways to heaven. For befriending Jews and Gentiles alike for Jesus' sake. The end of it all was a ministry of stones pounded into his flesh. God--why don't you remember to show up for work when Paul needs you?

Go figure with you--vacuum, nobody loves you, nothing is going right, friends have betrayed you, enemies are screwing up their ammunition fire for another round, skies are loaded with rain clouds, and a dentist appointment stares you in the face for l o'clock this afternoon!

Do you not believe that when nothing works, God is? Have you not committed yourself to blind faith in His doings, whether you can understand them or not, whether you feel anything religious or not, whether anyone else cares about your mission or not?

Do you not reckon that the journey can be a lonely one? The way of the cross? The pilgrimage of an alien here below?

Then look back particularly on one who--go figure--had all the reasons to conclude that Father had forgotten to clock in on that particular Thursday night, moving into Friday's bloodletting as well.

There He hung--messed up, unsightly, belly bellowing to the Calvary winds, flies buzzing about his crusted brow, arms sagging beneath nails punched into his skin, an army of cowardly disciples hiding out in nighttime's shelters. Nothing was going on. Nothing.

Go figure.

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

Welcome to the USO Canteen Chaplin.

[Soaring Feather]

Thank you Linda for the prayer.

[Soaring Feather]

Thank you Troops and Canteen gents for the lovely red rose.

[HiJinx]

Grant, thank you for such a powerful opening message in our chapel this day. Once we know and believe that our Lord is with us always, everything will be ok.

Cote and SnowBunny, what a wonderful idea to bring a chaplain to the chapel! Thank you sooo much!

Now it's time for me to get ready to go to Church and share in the Word with friends and family. God Bless you all.

HJ

[JustAmy]

Thanks for the ping.

[tmprincesa]

Dear Lord,

There's a young man far from home,
called to serve his nation in time of war;
sent to defend our freedom
on some distant foreign shore.

We pray You keep him safe,
we pray You keep him strong,
we pray You send him safely home ...
for he's been away so long.

There's a young woman far from home,
serving her nation with pride.
Her step is strong, her step is sure,
there is courage in every stride.

We pray You keep her safe,
we pray You keep her strong,
we pray You send her safely home ...
for she's been away too long.

Bless those who await their safe return.
Bless those who mourn the lost.
Bless those who serve this country well,
no matter what the cost.

God, Bless America!

[MeekOneGOP]

Mornin', everybody !!

Have a cup while you FReep !

For those who prefer hot chocolate.....

[MeekOneGOP]

A bit of humor for your Sunday.....

Why Saddam's vote impressed me

AS this paper's newly appointed World Affairs Editor (to be confirmed), I was damned impressed by Saddam Hussein's vote in the Iraqi general election/referendum. A result of 100 per cent of the popular vote is not to be sneezed at, particularly given that the entire liberal media establishment was opposed to him. Fortunately for Saddam, prisoners don't have a vote.

Regrettably, there has been some adverse comment about the 100 per cent vote coming on the back of a 100 per cent turnout. Sceptics have raised eyebrows about the fact that nobody seemed to miss voting for reasons of work, illness or death. Happily ignoring the fact that in many countries, not excluding our own, death has regularly been just the catalyst a voter needs to get out there and do his civic duty.

It is also worth remembering that the referendum/general election arrangement, where you vote on whether the current leader should stay rather than on a confusing list of candidates, presents voters with a stark choice which tends to capture their imagination. Mind you, I have noticed that it is a format that has historically tended to favour the incumbent.

The vote comes at a crucial time for Iraq. The economy is in ongoing crisis due to the continued oil embargo. The president is again under suspicion of attempting to build weapons of mass destruction and the world's only superpower is currently contemplating whether to get UN approval to attack or just do it unilaterally. At least, the one accusation that can't be laid at Saddam's door were one, in fact, able to find his door is the suggestion that he misled the people at election time by telling them that the good times were going to continue. Inevitably, somewhat jocose parallels have been drawn between the Iraqi vote and the Nice referendum. At the time of going to print, however, it seems that the slogans 'No to bombing Iraq', 'No to American terrorism' and 'Stop American planes landing on our soil' are not proving to be the surefire vote-getters here as they are in downtown Baghdad.

It would, of course, be wrong to suggest that everything is perfect with Iraqi democracy. An old World Affairs hand like myself can see that even where 100 per cent of the population support the leader, there may be grumbles beneath the surface, particularly when he had held the post uninterrupted since 1979 and lost a million men in two wars, both of which he started. Besides, Iraq has to be the only country in the world where the only people involved in personation on polling day are the chaps who bear a striking resemblance to Saddam Hussein.

Inevitably the vote hasn't diverted George W Bush a president whose own mandate isn't beyond comment from continuing to explore methods of trying to talk the UN Security Council into passing a resolution allowing the United States attack Iraq if inspectors are prevented from carrying out their mission. It now appears that the French are the greatest obstacle to that goal. Bad news for Iraq there, then.

Of course, as we have seen at home, general election success is no guarantee of ongoing popularity.

However, the months ahead may well see the first occasion in recorded history where a 100 per cent satisfaction rating turns into a zero per cent satisfaction rating. As we World Affairs chaps tend to end our reports, only time will tell.

[SAMWolf]

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the brave
young men and women of America
who are now in the battle front defending freedom.

May they come home, honorably and victoriously,
before we have been apart from them too long and may
they all come home safely into the arms of those
who love and miss them.

God Bless

each and every one of our young men and women
and may He protect and watch over them
during this time of conflict.

Our prayers will not cease until they are all safely home

[zip]

A BIG WELCOME TO OUR CHAPLIN SWANK FROM THE MID MISSOURI PATRIOTS.

GOOD MORNING MILITARY PERSONNEL, PAST AND PRESENT, AND YOUR FAMILIES. THANK YOU FOR BEING THERE FOR AMERICA.

[zip]

"We have a new Chaplin on board" Ping.