Incoming top chaplain speaks about trust

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Russell P. Petcoff
  • 11th Wing Public Affairs
BOLLING AIR FORCE BASE, D.C. (AFPN) --  The Air Force's next chief of chaplains spoke about the importance of trusting in God, and the effect it has had on America and his life during the Feb. 12 Bolling Air Force Base annual prayer breakfast.

"Trust is critical to our faith, crucial to our prayers and central to who we are as Americans," said Chaplain (Brig. Gen.) Cecil R. Richardson, the Air Force deputy chief of chaplains.

"It is the confident assurance that we can count on God, no matter what," the chaplain said. "Trust is an act of the soul by which we surrender to God and hold tightly to His promises."

Airmen need to develop trust in God by always keeping their eyes on Him, Chaplain Richardson said. When the storms come, Airmen shouldn't let the storms overcome them. They should "tell the storms how big God is," he said.

"Isn't it time you started trusting in God?" the chaplain challenged the audience.

The Senate confirmed him Feb. 8 for his second star as the next Air Force chief of chaplains. He will take over from Chaplain (Maj. Gen.) Charles C. Baldwin, who retires May 29.

To illustrate the power of trusting in God, Chaplain Richardson told the Old Testament story of Job, a wealthy landowner and rancher. Job ended up losing everything -- his wealth and his family -- and boils covered his body when God allowed Satan to test Job. Despite all this, Job still kept his faith and trust in God. 

"The Bible says Job did not curse God," Chaplain Richardson said. "Through it all, he learned to trust in God."

Job's message is applicable to today's Airmen, Chaplain Richardson said. When an Airman can't find God, the chaplain said that person must reach deep down inside, take hold of the thing called trust and remember God is there, and He does care.

"When your faith is challenged and strained to its limit, when emotions sweep you off your feet, when you feel alone and abandoned and unappreciated, when you've reached the end of your road and you don't think you can go another step, just keep trusting in God," Chaplain Richardson said.

"Trust Him in times of trials. Trust Him in times of affliction. Trust Him when you've failed. Trust Him when your heart is breaking. Trust Him when you've lost your way. Trust Him when you have no place else to turn," the chaplain said.

Chaplain Richardson gave a testimony about trust from his life. Early in his marriage, the chaplain said his wife and he didn't have much money. They lived mainly on macaroni and cheese, and chicken backs because they were inexpensive. Their money ran out one day, and there was nothing in the cupboards to eat.

"I went fishing and prayed, 'Oh, Lord, don't let my young wife go hungry,'" Chaplain Richardson said. The first fish the chaplain said he caught was about 5 inches long. The second -- and last -- was even smaller. He took them home and cleaned them for his wife to cook.

"My wife and I held hands in our little apartment and thanked God for our fish," Chaplain Richardson said, "and trusted God for our future."

The next day, the chaplain said, he received a letter with $600 in it. It was from the man to whom the chaplain had sold his car to two years before, but who had never paid for it. The man said he couldn't sleep because of it, so he mailed the check, Chaplain Richardson said.

"That $600 got us going. It got us back on our feet," he said. "To this day, when we're faced with challenges and I wonder where God is, my wife says, 'Two fish.' And then we take comfort and trust in Him."

Chaplain Richardson said trust has played a role in the development of the United States.

"There are people who think it inappropriate for the most powerful nation on earth to stamp 'In God We Trust' on every dollar bill, every coin and across every official seal," Chaplain Richardson said. "There are people who believe trusting in God is nothing more than foolishness, superstition (and) weakness. But what they forget is that Americans have always trusted in God. America exists because of men and women who trusted in God. It was trust in God that gave religiously persecuted families the courage to sail across the Atlantic and arrive in a new world far from the comforts of civilization."

It was trust in God that helped Puritans establish Massachusetts, led Roman Catholics to found Maryland as a Catholic colony, caused the Quakers to settle Pennsylvania, helped Catholic priests establish missions in California and gave strength and vision to our ancestors to build this nation, Chaplain Richardson said.

"It will be our trust in God that will keep our nation free and preserve us as a nation," the chaplain said.

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