by Carolyn Abell
If talking about God and miracles is something that makes you uncomfortable, you can skip my column today and move on to something else.
When a friend recently urged me to read “A Table in the Presence,” by Navy Lt. (Chaplain) Carey Cash, I ordered the book and began reading. As soon as I was a few pages into it, I knew it was one of those I wouldn’t want to put down.
The author is a Navy chaplain who was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment-- the first unit to engage Iraqi forces in the war that started in 2003. Cash’s up-close and personal account of those first days, of the courage and selfless teamwork of the men in his battalion, and the genuine miracles that occurred, is spell-binding. With gripping intensity, he talks about them with an intimate knowledge that draws the reader into a kinship with some of America’s finest and most patriotic—those men who risk their lives on the front lines of battle.
It takes a special person to be a chaplain to a combat unit. Cash felt that calling and he answered it, leaving a wife and five children behind as he joined up with the Marine infantry battalions as chaplain for the unit that would forge into the heart of Baghdad and take that city.
They say there are no atheists in foxholes. I don’t know if that is true or not, but I know from having served in Desert Storm that war causes many people to seriously evaluate where they stand with God. Chaplain Cash definitely sensed a spiritual awakening in his battalion as men confronted with the distinct possibility of imminent death wanted to insure that should it happen, they would be welcomed by a loving God in Heaven. Religious services conducted in the battalion resulted in massive professions of faith. Baptisms were conducted with whatever was available, sometimes a canteen of water poured over one’s head.
During the battle so many miracles occurred, that one literally lost count. A Bible lost by a sergeant in the middle of the desert during a raging sandstorm followed by hail, was found a couple of days later, lying on the ground, in excellent condition—unaltered by the harsh weather. Two Marines armed only with personal rifles found themselves facing enemy insurgents with a grenade launcher aimed at them. Suddenly the enemy abandoned their weapons and got up and ran away, yelling wildly in Arabic. They had obviously seen something supernatural which frightened them enough to cause them to flee in panic. In another incident Marines observed the Humvee in front of them absorb a direct hit from an RPG. The windshield exploded and fiery flames engulfed the vehicle. Yet when the smoke cleared, the four Marines inside the vehicle emerged unbelievably alive, with nothing more than superficial injuries!
In still another incredibly fierce night battle, the battalion Operations Officer saw during the worst part of the fight, a line of unmarked amphibious assault vehicles (AAVs) on an overpass in front of them. He had no idea where they had come from or why they were there, but they provided an excellent shield from incoming enemy rounds being fired from nearby buildings. In daylight later, the Ops officer tried to locate the overpass where he had seen the strange vehicles, and there wasn’t one. No matter how he searched the vicinity, it simply wasn’t there and never had been. Chaplain Cash likened it to the incident in 2 Kings 6:14-17, where God provided a supernatural army with “horses and chariots of fire” to surround and protect Elisha and the city he was in.
Dozens of similar miracles of survival occurred with auspicious frequency. Cash attributes them to prayers by family members, friends, and total strangers who would write to his unit and provide words of encouragement. In fact, sometimes the letters would identify the dates and times of their prayers, which often coincided with the miraculous occurrences.
Cash cites scripture throughout the book, and one of the most oft-quoted passages was Psalm 91, which talks about God’s powerful protection under the most threatening circumstances.
He closes the book by acknowledging that even though there were many miracles of survival, they also sustained some losses, and it is hard to understand why some lived and some died. But this is true in almost any catastrophic event, whether it is war or a natural disaster such as a hurricane or earthquake. Cash compares it with God sparing Daniel from the lions (Daniel 6) but allowing Steven to die as a martyr (Acts 7). As he phrased it, “…in life or death, in miracle or sacrifice, in unexplainable deliverance or the sad loss of a fallen brother, God remains in the center of it all. He is the power behind every miracle. He is the source of all heroic sacrifice.”
Copywrite April 2010
