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Are you spiritually prepared?

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Kenny Lynch
  • 451st Air Expeditionary Wing chaplain assistant
KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan --  It's 3 o'clock and I find myself quickly trying to find a point on my project where I take a break and pick up tomorrow. I rush home to change my clothes because it's time for my physical training routine ... you know, the one where we must work on muscular endurance, strength, flexibility, body composition and cardiovascular fitness. A routine that if we engage in weekly, can nearly ensure we pass our semi-annual PT test. And as an added bonus, if you have pushed yourselves beyond the minimum limits, you will find the test easier and move to the top percentile of your age category. For example, Super Bowl champion athletes have reached the pinnacle of their profession. How did they get to the top? It's simple: practice, practice and more practice. Just as the Super Bowl champ developed a routine to carry him to the top spot, we too can excel with a well developed PT routine.

Besides our physical readiness, we also need to develop a routine to become spiritually ready. It should be a routine that, no matter where we are in our daily lives, whether at our home station, deployed or enjoying time away on leave, will motivate others when incorporated.

Spiritual readiness results from your faith in your God, trust in your personal values, and good moral character. Spiritual fitness brings resilience, order and peace that naturally guides your life. This spiritual resilience sustains us in difficult times. Issues magnified by stress on the job, the hardship of being away on a deployment, the fear of getting hit by a rocket attack, or worse yet, the tragedy of death in the family or the end of a marriage looming. When crisis or trouble abounds, rank, gender, race or religion is not a discriminator. Being spiritually prepared means knowing how to get help for yourself or Airmen who work for you who might be experiencing the same tough issues. Whatever the case, being spiritually prepared should be a part of our everyday routine, much like your daily PT. Are you physically and spiritually prepared?