Middle East deployment a journey of discovery

26 September 2020

Major Garry Johnson outside his home in Townsville. His house, and Salvos truck, were extensively damaged in the 2019 floods.

Words Garry Johnson

In October 2019, I was deployed as the ‘Sallyman’ (a representative of The Salvation Army Red Shield Defence Services) to support Australian Defence Force personnel on various operations in the Middle East. This gave me the opportunity to discover more about myself and about God.

I was in a country where faith is an important part of everyday life, affecting all interactions with the local community and promoted by all government departments.

Being woken by the call to prayer each morning before sunrise and having mosques at service stations and in shopping centres made me think about my own faith journey and how secular our country had become. Faith is very much an individual thing in Australia. We see that it is tolerated in much of public life but not encouraged.

To be in an ancient land where much of the stories in the Bible took place, to see the countryside and the arid desert, I discov­ered a deeper understanding of much of the cultural significance in the Scriptures – the difficulty of travel and security, and the importance of hospitality and family. God was there and interacted with the people living their everyday life. He lived with them through Jesus, who taught them about the Eternal One, who created them and the world, who was rejected but not willing to give up on his creation.

The trip also gave me the opportunity to look beyond the everyday to the bigger picture. Each person on deployment has tasks – many mundane daily tasks – but all are important in achieving the bigger objective. I was there to be able to support people, to see their value and encourage them to a deepening under­standing of their own faith journey; to explore the Bible and the deeper questions of life.

I am not the same person who left Australia. I experienced God in a new way. God is at work in his world and in the lives of all people. Even when we reject him, he does not give up on us. He continues to love us and provide for us.

Since I have come home to the COVID-19 situation – to isolation and social distancing – I am again reminded of how blessed we are in this country. Even with the current situation, we live in a bountiful land where food and security are readily available and we all have the oppor­tunity to consider God in our life journey.

We need to remember and pray for those who are suffering and struggling at this time all around the world, as well as how we can support and encourage our families and friends to take God with them on the journey we are on.

Major Garry Johnson is a Salvation Army Red Shield Defence Services representative at Lavarack Barracks, Townsville.

* The Salvation Army Red Shield Defence Services (RSDS) in Australia provides prac­tical, emotional and spiritual support to members of the Australian Defence Force (primarily the Army) and their families. The ‘Sallymen’ and ‘Sallywomen’ serve on bases and in the field, in Australia and overseas, in peacetime and during hostilities.