From: "Barb Kavouras (by way of Rev. Eric J. Stefanski, )" To: Subject: CLIMB: Chaplain Field Report NYC 10/10/01 Date: Friday, November 02, 2001 12:54 PM My husband asks that if you forward this report, that you do so in its entirety. I am also repeating the address to which donations may be sent because several people have asked me to do so. This corporation was formed by my husband to support *his* chaplaincy work. All tax deductible donations go directly for that effort. Safety Forces Chaplain Service, Inc. 5948 W. 24th Street Cleveland, OH 44134 Barb K Cleveland kavouras@multiverse.com Field Report 10/10/01 Dear Friends, Let's begin on the lighter side tonight. After all, there's been plenty of the other, and we'll cover some of that as well. Here's a simple test you can give your friends to determine their intelligence. Question: what color is a "black box"? If you said "black" you'd be wrong. The correct answer: orange. Then why do they still call it a "black box" ? That I can answer in one word: tradition. Among other people at the Staten Island land fill are people from the airlines and the NTSB whose main function is to wait for the "black boxes" (each jet contained four of them) to be found. And here's a simple sanity test for you as well. Borrowing from the comedy routine "you know you're a Redneck if." allow me to create the new (and hopefully informative) category "you know you're crazy if.". If you hang around abandoned garbage dumps in the middle of chilly autumn nights, lit by hundreds of klieg lights, working 12 hour shifts, wearing a respirator so you don't contract who-knows-what; if you prefer porta-potties and decontamination rooms to your own cozy bed and shower; if you favor eating in mess tents with dirt floors and seeing hundreds of people walking around in space suits; if you pass your break time reading safety posters advising you to wash your personal clothes twice, and apart from the family's regular laundry; if you like the non-stop sound of heavy machinery moving piles of rubble that were once arranged in a way most pleasing to an architect's eye; if you don't mind dealing with human remains and possessions which once well-served fellow human beings; and if you do this day after day with like-minded individuals - then you might just be a little bit off. Or.you might just be an agent of the FBI, the Secret Service or a detective of the New York City Police Department who does this duty by choice. ("Greater love hath no man than this.") A few days ago I mentioned that I had met fellow Lutheran Mark Niendorf from Michigan. He is working on restoring the Verizon building which is just a few hundred feet away from the WTC site. He's been away home for several weeks and has not had a day off, even to go to church. Learning of my presence in NYC, he wondered if I would meet with him for the purpose of receiving the Lord's Supper, which we will do tentatively, tomorrow evening. I told him to inquire if there were others and invite them as well. Since that time I met a woman in the hotel laundromat who also is an LCMS Lutheran working with the SBA. She's here to help people re-establish their businesses since the disaster. I also informed her of our communion service. So it may be two, or three, or even a few more. I'll let you know. The state of Christianity in our country is still very poor. Though many people are talking about a god, whom they desire to bless America, it seems that few if any know who he is, how to get in touch with him, or if he is even interested in us. To quote from St. Paul's missionary speech in Athens (Acts 17:23) "as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you." With these words he began to preach the true Word of God to them; the good news of creation, preservation and most importantly that crowning message, the Gospel. The Good News of God's love for our lost world - the giving of His Son, who suffered death in our place and for our sins, and who was resurrected from the grave to give non-ending life to all who put their hope in Him. The greatest offenders against this very specific, and often offensive, message of the Gospel, and of its simple access via the Word and the Sacraments, are the clergy of our own land. Clerics from every denomination, including yet one more NYC Lutheran pastor (a wolf in shepherd 's clothing) who for fear of the consequences, denies Christ before men. And what can one say about a physician who has good medicine but will not give it to the sick and dying to relieve their pain and save their souls? I watched in horror as this same wolf administered poison to one of Christ's holy people. In our weekly meeting, an agent wanted to tell this wolf about his experience reading the Koran - how he (the agent) began to read it in connection with his part in the investigation of crime; and how he had found it wholly offensive, violent and de-grading of all non-Muslim people, especially women. The wolf listened for a moment and then quipped that the Bible is a violent book too (how greatly he misunderstands the Scriptures!!!) and that the Koran isn't as bad as everyone is making it out to be. By the time he was done with his politically-aromatic exegesis, he had elevated the Koran and completely undermined the agent's faith in God's true Word, the Bible. That very same Old Testament Word of God in which our Lord Himself, in His earthly life, found strength and true comfort. I watched the agent's face as the color noticably drained from it (and this a person who does "poker faces" for a living). His body-language began to show signs of extreme nervousness - meanwhile the wolf obliviously bayed. In that immediate venue I could not effectively intervene - so I just watched, awaiting my opportunity. A few minutes after the conversation was ended I introduced myself to him and quietly said that I too was a Lutheran pastor, and there's quite another side to what he had just been told. Great relief seemed to fill him that instant and I said we could talk later if he liked. He liked. We did. And will continue to. Because when the assignments were given for the week, he was made my partner. Our night at the landfill together was passed very successfully, working and complementing each other; and all for the welfare of these truly blessed heroes whose love for their neighbor is larger than Staten Island itself. He cared for their needs of body and mind, I for their souls. I think one last incident from our night is most telling. I closed the 5:30 a.m. NYPD roll call (shift change) with Scripture, prayer and a few words of encouragement. Being somewhat sensitized to this church/state non-sense myself, I announced that we would now have a short Christian prayer service for their strength, comfort and encouragement; but that if anyone had duties which could not wait, that they were free to leave. The roll call Lieutenant said (in his heavy NY accent no less, and in a way that will always endear this miserable city to me) words to me which I will never forget. He said: forget about that stuff chaplain, we all want what you do and need what you do, so do it for us now. God bless you Lieutenant! And with the help of the NYPD even "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (Phil. 4:13) Rev. Dean Kavouras, Chaplain FBI Cleveland Division Cleveland Safety Forces + + + Confessional Lutherans in Missionary Boldness + + + The CLIMB e-letter brings you unedited, uncut reports directly from the mission field, whether in South America, Africa, Europe, inner-city, rural, or collegiate America, or military installations and battle sites around the world. It is our contention that those who truly hold to the ~Book of Concord~ as the pure exposition of Holy Scripture and the true confession of the Christian faith are also the most zealous supporters of the preaching of the Gospel in every corner of the world and, as such, ought to be kept thoroughly informed of how those endeavors are faring and shown how they may be rightly carried out without the destruction of orthodox doctrine and practice that some within the pale of Lutheranism now advocate. 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