A Letter From the Chaplain

My Chaplain recently started sending out a weekly email with some inspiration and motivation.
At first when I saw his name pop up in my "inbox" for my government email, my first thought was..."ugh...more junk mail. more emails that have nothing to do with me taking up more space in my inbox."
Was I ever wrong! Last week, he sent this email, and I really liked it.

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Blessings MAG 39,

Last week I forgot to mention what DUI stands for.  It means DAILY UNDER THE INFLUENCE.   


Over the last several months there has been an increase in the amount of Domestic Violence (DV) incidents.  And many questions have risen asking why is this happening and how can we stop them from happening. 

As I discussed last week we are always influenced by something.  Some of those influences are positive and some are negative.  But what influences someone to physically, emotionally, or sexually abuse their spouse?  Some of those influences might include selfishness, arrogance, anger, and resentment.  If these are negative influences in our lives that provoke people to DV, than how do we combat those negative influences so that we don't have more incidents?  The answer is in having positive influences.  We must choose to be positively influenced.

I just performed a wedding and I told the bride and groom that LOVE must influence their marriage.  And then I gave them examples of what LOVE is and what LOVE is not.  To some this may sound familiar.  It is taken from 1 Corinthians 13: the Bible's LOVE chapter.  Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;  bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails.

Here's the KEY:  When we LOVE our spouses there are certain ways we are TO ACT and certain ways we are NOT TO ACT.  We are not to lord over our spouses.  We are not to hit or speak evil of them.  We do not wish evil to come upon them.  We are to be patient and kind to our spouses.  We are to bear with are spouses (even when they irritate us).  We are to believe and hope in our spouses (even when they say mean things to us).  We are to endure our spouses (even when they hurt us).  And most important we are to forgive them...every day.

Live by the positive influence of LOVE and teach these to our Marines, and I believe we will see our DV rates decrease.  That and come check out the MAG 39 Chaplain's Office Marriage Enrichment Seminar given the 1st Thursday of every month.  SEE ATTACHMENT.


~ An email from the Marines:

     Chaps:  {HOW AWESOME IS THIS LITTLE BLURB DOWN HERE?!?!?!?!?!?! I LOVE IT}

    " I would like to share with all that I'm under the influence of the word of GOD! Please know that my BAC (BELIEVING the ALMIGHTY CHRIST) is extremely high!!! Let the angels of the Lord arrest me for being drunk on the word of GOD."

AMEN!


So today, tonight, and tomorrow think about who's influence you are going to be under.  The choice is yours.  What are you going to be Under the Influence of?

And as always, if you have a thought for the "Chaplain's DUI Report" please don't hesitate to send me an email.


Thanks and Blessings!

Very Respectfully,
Chaplain Dennis Wheeler