written by SAD — Last week, the kids and I attended the Chapel Dedication Service and Army Family Covenant Signing here at Ft. Stewart. The new chapel is beautiful and a very important turning point for the chapel ministry in the Army. According to the information given at the service, the Main Post Chapel is the first of its kind on army installations throughout the United States. It seats 600 in the sanctuary with a 400 -seat overflow section. It has 17 educational rooms and office space as well. When we walked into the sanctuary, I was awed. It is really beautiful! But more important than its beauty is its purpose — a place where our chaplains are “bringing soldiers to God and God to soldiers.”
After the ribbon-cutting, we moved inside for the Army Family Covenant signing. General Campbell, commanding general of U.S. Forces Command, was here for the ceremony and gave a very inspirational speech. Among other things, he noted these numbers: 1, 000,000 soldiers on active/guard/reserve duty in the U.S. Army…1/2 of those are married….and 700,000 children are a part of those Army families…all sacrificing to protect the freedoms of 300,000,000 people (along with the “sister” services, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, etc). WOW! This covenant, in short, is the U.S. Army recognizing the sacrifices of the spouses and children of the dedicated men and women who serve in the Army and being committed to providing and improving quality of life for those families. After the ribbon-cutting and this signing, I was humbled to be able to count myself and our family among these others. There was a short video presentation about the Army Family Covenant and the last tag line read “Families are Strong…Army Families are Army Strong”. I think I stood a little straighter and held my head a little higher after that because that’s my family! And although we sang the 3ID Song (The Dog-Faced Soldier) and the U.S. Army Song (The Army Goes Rolling Along), I couldn’t help but sing to myself “I’m in the Lord’s Army!”
On a lighter note, we took Daddy with us to the Chapel Dedication. I mean, really, shouldn’t the chaplain be at the Chapel service? Here are a couple of pictures of S attending the service with us…and you thought he was already gone!
