CAFB holds prayer breakfast

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Charles Dickens
  • 14th Flying Training Wing Public Affairs
COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. --  Columbus Air Force Base was visited by Col. Gerald McManus, Command Chaplin of the Global Strike Command, during its own observation of the National Prayer Breakfast Feb. 28 at the Columbus Club.

Team BLAZE, religious leaders and members of the local community participated in this breakfast in part to promote the spiritual aspect of Comprehensive Airman Fitness in order to maintain proper resiliency.

McManus shared several stories that involved people discovering their personal spiritual motivation and using that to inspire resiliency, despite what life puts in their way.
One story he told involved a girl whose mother held her family together but during the birth of her 15th child went into a coma for 11 years. Despite the downturn that her family took, the girl managed to live a happy life.

"Melinda, a survivor, built a philosophy around the experiences of her life," said McManus. "As a child, life throws you these things. You learn, you adapt, your mind kicks in helping you to cope and to deal. You have feelings you might want to shut down or give up, but the next day you go on."

This philosophy represents the overall meaning of resiliency and shows how important it is to remain resilient through tough times.

Another story that McManus shared was that of a man that was shot during the Vietnam War and couldn't move or walk. The man found the strength in himself to crawl through the jungle using his arms for three days until he was found and taken to a hospital where they told him that he'd never walk again. He also forged a philosophy based on experiences in his life.

"No matter what your life experience is as a combat soldier, every battle that you're in you are scared to death, said McManus. "You have to choose, are you just going to lie down or are you going to get back up and fight?"

Col. Barre Seguin, Wing Commander of the 14th Flying Training Wing also spoke during the Prayer Breakfast and noted that the breakfast was beneficial to strengthening Comprehensive Airman Fitness.

"Today is not about a specific faith, but it's about recognition that our fitness in our spiritual domain is as important as our fitness physically, mentally and socially," said Seguin. "So I ask that this be a spiritual renewal of sorts for you in however it was meaningful to you, that your takeaway is one of renewed emphasis in the time you place toward the spiritual domain of fitness to ensure resiliency."