Sailor Went From Submarine to KIA Saving Lives--On Vacation

Submariner stranded in Puerto Rico delivered critical aid in his mom's sedan

The Virginia Pilot
Brock Vergakis
December 25, 2017

While the Navy sent helicopters, ships and doctors from Hampton Roads to help, Rivera was simply on vacation. He managed to get to an Army Reserve Center base, secured orders to temporarily join a military police battalion there, then was given an incredible autonomy to help in a way few others could – all without ever wearing a uniform.

Joel Rivera, right, shown here in a photo from 2011, aboard a submarine during a submarine rescue exercise as part of Bold Monarch 2011.RICARDO J. REYES/U.S. NAVY PHOTO 

NORFOLK — Joel Rivera rumbled down dirt roads in his mother’s Kia Forte weeks after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico – on a mission for the U.S. military that he never imagined when he joined the Navy 14 years ago as a submariner.

Dressed in civilian clothing, Rivera and his cousin drove through mountains searching for islanders needing food and water who were out of reach because large trucks couldn’t use debris-filled and washed-out roads. He’d drop off what little provisions he could carry in the four-door sedan and – whenever he could get a cell phone signal – report to military officials on the island about the hardest-hit areas.

“I’d really just pick a spot on a map that was secluded,” he said. “At this point the government was handing out food and water to the cities.

“I wanted to take care of the places where they were overlooking.” 
read more here

So how do we prove God's love and this day?

Do You Prove God's Love?
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
December 25, 2017

One Christmas Eve, an elderly widow was talking to a neighbor about plans for Christmas day. The widow couldn't make it to be with her family and they couldn't get to her. It was the first Christmas she would be alone.

The neighbor talked about having a houseful of family and friends, while complaining about having so much to do for all of them.

The widow wished her a Merry Christmas as she started to walk away. The neighbor had a change of heart and called her back to the fence.

"I was just thinking, we're having dinner around 1:00. Why don't you come over after dessert and you can watch us open our gifts." The widow just shook her head. She walked away feeling more lonely than she had before.

How can we prove God's love without opening a gate?

It is so easy to take care of our own needs, wants, desires and our pride, yet we forget about what this day is supposed to represent.

Tomorrow at work, we'll all hear stories about what we got, what we gave and then which family member ruined the day. 

Someone will regret spending so much money on ungrateful relatives. Someone else will regret deciding to spend the time with them instead of being alone binging on treats and watching "It's a Wonderful Life."

Others will remember times spent with people they loved, holding onto warm memories for comfort while they sit alone. 

Some will wander the streets, much like any other day, homeless and hungry. They will come to the shelter to get out of the cold for a while, find something to eat, and if they're lucky, someone to talk to.

Some will remember what they used to have and how much they lost.

Others will spend the day thinking of others, what they can do for someone to make this day better than it would have been otherwise.

They spent money shopping for someone else's children, so they could put it into a collection box, knowing they would never see the joy on that child's face. No one would ever thank them for the gift they gave, but they would receive the warmth within them knowing what they did in secret.

Some will volunteer their time at the shelter to care for the homeless and needy.

Some will take the time to pray during church service for someone else instead of praying for what they want for themselves.

So how do we prove God's love and this day we remember when "For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

The Sheep and the Goats31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

So dear friends, remember the blessing we are all able to receive when the gifts we give ourselves, are priceless when they are given to others.

My Christmas wish for all of you is that you be blessed by the love this day was intended to share.

The Beatitudes

He said:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Dayton VA Medical Center Christmas Eve Service

Veterans come together for Christmas Eve vigil

WDTN 2 News

Kristen Eskow

December 24, 2017

“You can be so far away from home and think that maybe you’re forgotten about,” said Wendell Rome, chief of chaplain service for the Dayton VA Medical Center.

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) – Veterans and their families gathered for an annual service Sunday night to honor veterans and those currently serving our country.

The Dayton VA Medical Center hosted its annual Christmas Eve vigil. As Christmas carols filled the lobby, it brought back memories for veterans like Marvin Schroeder.

“We were all brothers and sisters separated from our own families,” said Schroeder, who served in the Air Force during the Vietnam war.

Schroeder recalls those Christmases spent with his family of fellow soldiers.

“We made the celebration all together, and we really made the best of what we had,” he said.

“You can be so far away from home and think that maybe you’re forgotten about,” said Wendell Rome, chief of chaplain service for the Dayton VA Medical Center.

Chaplain Rome said he knows the feeling all too well. A veteran himself, he remembers spending Christmas in Iraq.

“It was just a difficult time, it was lonely away from home,” he said. “But yet we’re serving our country and so we just kind of band together and do the best that we can.”

read more here

Running Back to Faith with Iraq Veteran Chaplain

How I became Christian again: my long journey to find faith once more 
The Guardian 
Bryan Mealer 
December 25, 2017 

After experiencing the horrors of war, Bryan Mealer lost his faith. Morning runs with a priest – and a visit to a more welcoming church – helped restore it

Reclaiming the title is a moral protest against those who attack immigrants, refugees, minorities, and the poor and the sick, the very people whom Christ instructed us to help.’ Photograph: El Mundo Ilustrado/Rex/Shutterstock

"Our first Sunday, a man stood up and testified about being ostracized from his previous congregation because he was gay. All he’d wanted to do was worship, and the God who’d met him at Trinity did so with compassion and love, not judgment. I knew I’d found a home, one whose Christian values were suitable for my children."

A few mornings a week, I go running with a priest.

We meet at 5.30 under a streetlamp in central Austin and make our way down to the state capitol building and back, a distance of about eight miles. It’s a routine we started nearly two years ago, and it came during a pivotal point in my life.

I was 40 years old, the father of three small children, and beginning to wrestle with some of the bigger questions that loom at middle age, particularly about faith.

After growing up in the church and leaving for many years – even abandoning my beliefs at one point while covering war – I was contemplating a return. On a visit to my parents, my children had inadvertently exposed a void that I’d been trying to ignore. My three-year-old daughter asked my mother, “What is God?” only to have her brother reply: “Don’t you know, silly? God is Harvey.” 

Harvey is what we called our Honda. The look my mother shot me is still burned into my retinas.

David was a priest at an Episcopal church in south Austin and the author of two books. He was also a former marine and chaplain in the army who’d served in Iraq. read more here

"Yet we considered him punished by God"

Tonight Your Soul Can Feel Its Worth
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
December 24, 2017

The road ahead is in your control. Which way do you want to go?

Christmas Eve is a night to celebrate the birth of a miracle. It is about, as the song goes, "the soul felt its worth."


The thing, among oh so many others, we miss is that the birth of Jesus was a gift of love from God. He came to set things right in the world. Too many things had gotten twisted and some manipulated the message Jesus had come to deliver for their own gain.

Seems that is the way of the world but not the way of love. Love is what makes some think of others before they think of themselves. Love is what drives some to be willing to die for the sake of someone else. 

Jesus knew He would die when His time came and it was something He was willing to do. His birth, life and death were prophesized 700 years before it all happened.

4 

Surely he took up our pain

    and bore our suffering,

yet we considered him punished by God,

    stricken by him, and afflicted.

5 

But he was pierced for our transgressions,

    he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

    and by his wounds we are healed.

6 

We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

    each of us has turned to our own way;

and the Lord has laid on him

    the iniquity of us all.

Some have looked at this "story" and say that Jesus failed but since what He came to do, was accomplished, the way it was supposed to happen, He won and defeated death.

I suppose it is just too hard for some people to understand that level of unselfish love, but there are others who know exactly what it feels like to be that way.

Christ was born knowing He'd suffer to teach us how to love others, as much as He came to help us understand we were loved. 

There are many among us suffering because they loved so much their own life was an afterthought. When they needed to spend time healing their own inner-wound, they thought about how others had suffered.

It is still hard to believe that no one told them they are a survivor because they fought for their life as much as they fought for others. The longer they lived, the more they could help others live.

So where is that attitude now? Where is the mindset that tells them they beat death already? Someone along the way must have told them that PTSD is something to be ashamed of. Like some kind of failure instead of what they succeeded at doing.

The secret is, they succeeded at defeating death as well as retaining love. After over 35 years, there has not been one single veteran who said he did not want to help other veterans heal. Think about that for a second.

They are eventually unashamed of themselves, yet instead of just thinking of living their own lives better, they want to make sure they pass saving grace on to them.

Tonight can be the night when your soul feels its worth. That same soul, who fought so hard to live before, is still needed to fight for others now.

Suffering for the sake of love does not mean failure. It meant that love won. Fight to take your life back from PTSD as hard as you fought its birth~