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Photo: Charles Seelaus

My name is Specialist Charles Seelaus, and my Army Reserve unit, the 2/228th Aviation Regiment, is currently stationed in Iraq.

I got here last June. This long journey has felt surreal, because the men and women in my unit, like a lot of the military personnel over here, used to think of themselves as just weekend warriors. We were citizen/soldiers, who would drill one weekend a month. We have a completely different life apart from the Army. Just a few weeks before leaving for Iraq, I was in my classroom, teaching second-graders at Gideon Elementary School in Philadelphia. My days were spent grading homework, having tea with my beautiful wife Michelle, and tucking our four children into their beds for a bedtime story and prayers.

Then, in March 2003, the war began.

The night I arrived in Iraq, I was greeted by a brilliant sunset. The dark sky danced with the most beautiful array of stars I have ever seen.

That same night, our camp was attacked by mortar fire, and a few of my comrades were injured.

It would be the first of many mortar attacks to follow. Suddenly, I realized the war wasn't over. We were going to have much work ahead of us.

While we built up fortifications around our camp, one of the very first jobs our chaplain, Major John Hunter, did was to establish a chapel tent where we could gather for Bibles studies and worship services.

The Bibles studies are full of lively discussions, and I marvel that we are actually in the lands spoken of in the Bible. I never dreamed I would someday walk in Iraq, the region some scholars believe was the location of the biblical Garden of Eden, the ancient city of Ur (homeland of Abraham), and the Babylonian empire, which represented the world's first superpower. The Old Testament was everywhere I turned. It is one thing to read about it, but quite another to see, feel, and touch history.

Prayer takes on a whole new meaning when you're in a war. My commander told me that no one prays more than a soldier targeted for death. And he's right. We say a lot of prayers over here. Something happens inside a soldier when he sees his comrades being sent home in body bags. You realize just how fragile and precious life is.

But I also realized that there was more to prayer than just me praying. I know without a doubt that, sometimes when my mind races with anxiety, it's the prayers of loved ones and my brothers and sisters at my church back home that bring me strength.

On August 23, 2003, thanks mostly to the kindness of Chaplain (Captain) Robert Miller, I was given the opportunity to be baptized in the waters of the Euphrates River. It was one of the most moving experiences of my life, a chance to reaffirm my faith in Jesus Christ while living in this holy land where prophets and kings once walked.

War is hell, but God blesses us with peace in the midst of it. Whether at home or thousands of miles away, whether in peace or in war, our Lord is sovereign and He is with us. I turn to Him, my Redeemer.

Editor's Note: Charles Seelaus's reserve unit is scheduled to return home in April or May.

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