My Early Story (20)

 

Miguel Diaz

 

Life at Ayers Kaserne in Kirchgoens, Germany was lonely for me. The men in my infantry unit were good guys, but I hungered for Christian fellowship. The chapel services were plain vanilla, about as inspiring as Interstate 64 between Richmond and Charlottesville, straight with no scenery, a drive that can easily put you to sleep. Our chaplain was nice enough, but in the military you never know what you’re going to get with a chaplain – I guess it’s the same way in churches with pastors, some guys and gals should have gone into social work and skipped the ministry.

 

I taught Sunday School for a crowd of military children, and I mean a crowd. There must have been fifty of the rascals. I only mention this because I might forget it and years from now this will remind me.

 

A new chaplain arrived on base, a tall, balding, red-haired, slender colonel in his mid-40’s. He was a Southern Baptist. Shortly after his arrival there was a notice: GOSPEL HYMN SING THIS COMING SUNDAY, 1900 HOURS (1900 hours is military talk for 7:00 P.M.). That Sunday evening a group of about 40 of us gathered and sang hymns. A few pews in front of me I noticed a Hispanic soldier. When the hymn service concluded I made my way to him and asked, “Are you from New York City?”

 

“Yes,” he replied.

 

“Are you Pentecostal?” I continued. (In those days if you were Hispanic and lived in NYC and were not Roman Catholic you were probably Pentecostal.)

 

“Yes,” he said.

 

So began my friendship with Miguel Diaz. Miguel is about 6’1”, was around 185 pounds in those days, wore glasses, and had a deep voice that ended sentences on high notes. Perhaps that was the Spanish coming through the English? Miguel was a medic. We quickly got to know each other, spending time praying, reading the Bible, and talking to other soldiers about Jesus.

 

We soon received permission from the new chaplain to hold Sunday evening services at the chapel. We put posters up around the base and folks showed up. We ended up receiving support in the form of hymnals from the Church of God, Cleveland, TN. Miguel remembers a time he and I prayed with a distraught soldier out in the rain, kneeling on the ground – since I’m accustomed to people remembering things that I don’t I’ll trust him on that one.

 

Miguel was thoughtful, good natured, patient, and a good friend. After our Army days I looked him up in Manhattan and we had more time together. He was going into vocational ministry and I visited his church on more than one occasion. One of my shining moments was my participation in a street meeting his church was holding. There we were on the street, singing and preaching, I guess at least 20 of us.

 

Now you never know who or what you’ll attract at a street meeting. Some folks will be respectful, others derisive.  D.L. Moody was warned not to go to some places in the UK for open air meetings due to the roughness of the population, but he went anyway. John Wesley went into some pretty tough areas too. David Wilkerson established Teen Challenge on the streets of NY. If you are going to put yourself out in public you have to be willing to suffer the consequences.

 

There we were, on a street corner, sharing the Gospel – not knowing what might befall us…when it happened…

 

A bird pooped on my head.

 

Miguel cleaned it off. I told you that he was a good friend.