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Show TIMES November 8, 2007 ••A* COMMENTARY Seek ways to become more spiritual BY CHAPLAIN (MAJ.) CARL W. WRIGHT TIMES H 75th Air Base Wing Chaplain Office W.vUv Hilltop Times Editorial Staff: Lee Carter... Standard • Examiner publishe, AndyHowell ...Stondtrd-Examinei managing oditoi Tom Bussclbcrg Hilltop Times* odito, Mitch Shaw Military affairs reporte, Deadlines: Editorial and news items are due by noon on the Friday prior to the Thursday print date. To submit news items e-mail hil!toptimM*stand<ird.n©t or call 629-5250. For advertising, call 62S-43O0. The Hilltop Times is published by Ogden Publishing Corp. in cooperation with Hill Air Force Base. Ogden Publishing is a private company in no way connected with the U.S. Air Force and is solely responsible for the content and advertising. Contents of the Hill Top Times are not necessarily the official views of, or endorsed by, the U.S. Government, the Department of Defense or the Air Force. The appearance of advertisements in this publication, including inserts or supplements, does not constitute endorsement by the Air Force. Everything advertised in this publication shall be made available for purchase, use or patronage without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, physical handicap, political affiliation or any other nonmerit factor of the purchaser, user or patron. Editorial content is edited, prepared and provided by the Standard-Examiner's Davis County Office, 67 S. Main St., Suite 104, Layton, Otah, 84041. Additional editorial content is provided by various military and civilian wire services and Hill Air Force Base public affairs departments. Call 629-5220 with story ideas or comments, or send e-mail to Editor Tom Busselberg at tbusselberg® standard.net. Call 625-4300 for advertising needs. ILL AIR FORCE BASE —I've just returned from a six-month deployment to Camp Patriot, Kuwait. The camp is situated where the desert meets the sea. I developed a habit, each evening, of walking or running on a twomile pier that juts out into the Persian Gulf. Very early on, it became apparent that I was having a spiritual experience each night. There was something about the end of the long pier — the waves crashing against the walls and the warm winds beating my face — that helped me to hear the voice of God. Some of my better sermons came to me on that pier! Whether home or deployed, we don't normally think of ourselves as spiritual beings. We don't affix a label to our spirituality. We're just ordinary creatures, doing our jobs, taking care of our families, serving God and country. We may not think of ourselves as spiritual, but we are. The ancient Greeks frequently debated whether we are primarily bodies that have a spirit somewhere buried within us or whether we are spirits housed in a body. Either way, our spiritual well-being is vitally important. The problem with trying to talk about spiritual wellness is that the spirit isn't as tangible to us as the body. Or, is it? Perhaps we place so much value on what we can see and touch that we miss the more important things. We need to talk about such things. We need to create a language that will help us to express those deep things we experience, rarely making it to the gym and wondering those precious moments when the divine why my energy level was low and I was touches the mundane. TVaditionally, organized religion has given getting sick. But with encouragement from my us that language, but wingmen, I turned that situation around, organized religion started hitting the gym each day and is. not popular nowadays. Self-help consequently feel better than I've felt in years. Not only that, an unexpected result books are more was a heightened spiritual awareness: I'm popular than houses closer to God than I've ever been. of worship these For me, the physical helped the spiritual. days. Nontraditional I suspect, for many, the spiritual can help religions are the physical. Try it. Find some small way to growing by leaps improve your relationship with God. There and bounds. And are many ways to do so. that's OK. If they You could register for Chaplain Haltom's Chaplain (Maj.) Carl Wright make US more "True-Target E-Devotional." You could get aware of our of those spiritually uplifting calendars one spirituality and help with an inspiring thought for each day us to become better human beings, then of the year. Buy a good book. Ask people they are welcome. you admire how they keep themselves However, books and religions alone fit. Find a house of worship where spiritually cannot make us spiritually healthy. you can exercise your faith with kindred Spiritual health is a personal and spirits. individual task. As with the physical Hopefully, at least one of these dimension of wellness, we each must work suggestions can motivate you to improve. on our own spiritual development. We must Finally, don't forget that spiritual things take the initiative to search for God. are not separate from physical things. In The first step toward doing this is to fact, all four dimensions of wellness are recognize that we need God. A person who interrelated. is physically fit, emotionally stable and If you work on your spiritual vision, you'll psychologically normal is still incomplete soon be able to see God's hand at work in the if that person has no sense of the spiritual world and in your life. There are, no doubt, dimension. places around your home, or indeed in Let me use an example. Deployed your heart, where you can see the spiritual chaplains often advise airmen to take care transcending the everyday. of themselves in the deployed location. This I went out to the end of a pier to meet chaplain didn't practice what he preached. God. Now that I'm home, I "lift up my eyes" I kept so busy leading multiple worship to the Wasatch Mountain Range, knowing services and doing "chaplainy" things that I neglected to physically take care of myself. that "my help cometh from the Lord" (Psalm 121). There I was, in average 120-degree heat, 777-7000 action.line.pa@hill.af.mil Col. Scott Chambers, 75th Air Base Wing commander, presents a farewell gift on behalf of the 75th ABW to Brig. Gen. Ken Merchant, Ogden Air Logisitics Center vice commander, during a special Oct. 29 luncheon. Q l've noticed it has Hill Field Elementary sometimes been School This week, we a bit dangerous took your advice and painted crosswalks for children dropped off at the school gates on the three drop-off using the middle lane. areas from the middle They have to cross traf- lane to the gates. fic to get to the gate. Is The safest way, there any way to make +kowevBrt is to ority~ this procedure more use the inside lane safe like painting a for dropping off kids. crosswalk by the drop- We've noticed that offs or something? most parents are not A Thanks for the question — safety of our children is our top priority. As you know, we took the advice of a group of spouses and implemented their redesigned drop-off/ pick-up procedures for using all three gates, so we suggest you find an empty gate and go to the inside lane to drop off your kids. We met with the principal this week and asked him to send a letter to all parents stating the same. Thanks again! Pholo by Todd CfOmar US. Air Force When you call or send an e-mail, your comments will be recorded and staffed through the agency responsible for action. Please give your supervisor and chain of command the opportunity to work with you in answering questions and solving problems before calling the Action Line. This will help me better serve your interests. Items of basewide interest will be published in the Hilltop Times. Phone numbers — The Security Forces 777-5550 Crisis Information...777-3056 base agencies listed can 24-hr. Services 777-4134 be contacted directly if Base Restaurants 777-2043 you have a complaint or a Retirement/Compensatioa.777-6142 (civilian) problem with their services: Social Actions ; 777-3516 Employer Relations 777-7129 Military Pay..... : 777-1851 Civilian Pay 777-6246 Air Force Suggestion 777-6901 Program IG Complaints 777-5305 (for appointment) IC Complaints 777-5361 (after hours) Fraud, Waste or Abuse 777-5361 (recording) 75th Medical Croup 777-4918 Gvil Engineering : 777-1856 Hill Pride Hotline 777-7433 Public Affairs 777-5201 Public Affairs Information ..777-96% Control Line Military Housing 777-2963 Maintenance Safety Office 777-3333 Union 777-3257 AFOSI Narcotics Hotline....777-1852 Family Assistance Center,..777-3090 (when activated) HAWC Nest Filntu Tip from Itw Health ind Wollneu Canter Hip breaks can be fatal. Statistics show that 70 percent to 80 percent of people past the age of 70 who fall and break a hip will die within one year. Improving balance, core strength and ankle flexibility are key elements in preventing falls. What's your biggest accomplishment so far this year? THINK SAFETY Hill's Total 2007 DUIs: 19 Hill's Last DUI: Unit Involved: Debbie Hartman Airman Agaimt Drinking and Driving provide ride* when designated drivers are unavailable. Call 777-1 lit anytime to request a ride. 500th Aircraft Sustainment Squadron "Surviving all the trials and tribulations that have come into my life this year." Special Agent Steve Cox Sonja Jensen Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Del 113 "Getting custody of my grandchildren. It has changed my whole lifestyle." 75th Aerospace Medicine Squadron "Receiving a letter of appreciation from the assistant fire chief for outstanding customer service." Master Sgt. Julie McQueen Hill Air Base Career Assistance Adviser "Being there for my kids when they need me." |