CH (COL) Curt Bowers, USA (Ret)
2001

After presenting an award to Chaplain Chris Fosback at an official retirement ceremony at Cherry Point, North Carolina, an attractive young lady approached me with a very friendly smile and asked if I remembered her. I recognized her, but when I couldn't think of her name, she identified herself as having been my chaplain's assistant, Vicki, at Fort Hood, Texas while I was serving as the Brigade Chaplain for the 6th Air Cavalry. I immediately remembered her and was delighted to see her again. However, I was not prepared for the next statement, when she said excitedly, "I thought I was going to have to wait until I got to heaven to tell you!"

By this time my curiosity was piqued and I couldn't wait to hear what it was that was so important, that she would want to share it with an old retired army chaplain and former supervisor. As she went on, for there was no way of stopping her, she shared a fascinating story. She stated that she wasn't a Christian when she worked for me, and she wasn't proud of that fact. Then she went on to say she now was a believer and that she really wanted to share her experience with us. She actually wanted to see my wife more than me, but Doris wasn't with me at the time. She remembered how Doris and I befriended her when her former husband was abusing her. She stayed with us a few days in our home until she was able to feel safe again. The marriage did not last and ended in divorce. Because of this traumatic experience, she lost trust in men and thought she would never marry again.

As our Lord knows, things can change if one is willing to follow Him and not lean to their own understanding. She met a handsome marine officer and fell in love with him. At first she thought she couldn't give herself to him in marriage because of damaged emotions from her previous relationship. However, she shared that when she thought of the marriage relationship that she had seen in our home, she began to have confidence that she could make it in marriage. They did marry and were happy, but then Desert Storm came along and Vicki's spouse was deployed for the duration of the war. Thank the Lord he met an evangelical chaplain in the desert and gave his heart to the Lord. He began to develop a real relationship with the Savior. It was not a temporary conversion, but one of substance and a beautiful changed life. Like the Philippian jailer, who, after hearing Paul's command to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, led his entire family to the Lord, Vicki's husband followed his desire to share with his family. Naturally, he began with his wife. He told her how Jesus had invaded his life, forgiven his sins, and had taken charge of his life. Vicki said that up to that point she had been "turned off" on religion, but then she remembered the Bowers family and thought that they were "real". So she decided to go for it and she, too, prayed to receive Christ as her Savior. Her husband went on to lead the rest of her family to the Lord.

But that's not the end of the story. Vicki and her husband had an autistic child who made it difficult for both of them to attend worship services at the same time. He would often make a lot of noise and be disruptive during worship. She knew that I was a Nazarene Chaplain and inquired about our church near Cherry Point. I told her that I was confident the pastor, who was one of our host pastors, and his congregation would accept them as they were and they would feel at home there. Sometime later I received an e-mail from her and she was ecstatic that for the first time a congregation accepted them as a family and they felt very comfortable there. Needless to say, I was proud to be a Nazarene and was grateful for a pastor and his people who took them in. I immediately wrote the host pastor and praised him and his congregation for their compassion and care for this great family of new Christians.

I thank God for my spouse who so actively engaged herself in my ministry as a chaplain and for the privilege of hearing about a changed life just by chance. Or was it a serendipitous experience allowed by our loving Lord to encourage all of us who serve and have served beyond the walls of our church? The scripture "Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again" (Ecclesiastes 11:1, NIV), is particularly meaningful to me because of my encounter with Vicki. In fact I believe I could loosely paraphrase this passage to exclaim, "Cast your bread on the water and it will come back peanut buttered."