NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. — The National Football League season is right around the corner! Many of you have been looking forward to this season and hope to watch your team reach the Super Bowl.
Growing up in New Mexico, I did not have an NFL team to call my own. Because of this, I reached out to Texas to find mine. Today, I am a die-hard Dallas Cowboys fan. That’s right.
I know many of my fellow Cowboy fans are as excited for the upcoming season. Even though the Cowboys haven’t won the Super Bowl since 1995, we Cowboy fans are resilient by staying faithful and loyal. We remain hopeful that they will hold up the Lombardi trophy once again! Even through the ups and downs of a long season, I pray and have faith each year that the team will perform well, without injuries, and be able to call themselves “champions” come February 2017.
I have noticed that in today’s NFL, fans and players are able to put aside their differences to come together. They accommodate each other’s religious needs no matter what they may be. At the beginning or the end of a football game, players from different teams often gather together in the middle of the field to pray that they each have a good game and remain healthy throughout. You will find that what the players are doing in the middle of the field tends to mirror what we do here at the Chapel.
When NFL players aren’t engaged in a game or at practice, you will often find them charitable within their communities. Again, this reflects what the Chaplain Corps does for our Airmen who are working hard to ensure mission success. We reach out to our community and build relationships with people by being charitable. Whether we are leading worship, providing an environment in which kids can learn, feeding those in need, visiting the homebound or those in hospitals; we are present when people need us.
Each chaplain and chaplain assistant is assigned to and serves several units around the base. That, in turn, allows the Chaplain Corps to be present with you and build relationships with all of our Airmen, civilians, mission partners, and families. We really don’t care which NFL team you cheer for because we know what is truly important. We will always provide a comfort zone for our Airmen whenever you need us.
We can all use this season, to unwind, put our feet up Sunday afternoons (and Mondays and Thursdays) to relax, rebound, and reignite our spirit to seize the day for the USA. And if you’re still looking for a team, the Cowboys ARE America’s Team, you know?!
Go Boyz, Go Nellis, Go Air Force!
