The Experience of War

NAOMI: Can you share an experience that significantly impacted you during this war? 

HANK: When we went to Hungary a couple years ago to help during the Ukraine war, we brought along with us a volunteer named Hannah Harrell. She's Ukrainian and she lives here in our community in the city of Karmiel with her husband. They're both believers.  

When this war began here, her husband was called to active duty and he's now an  
engineer for a tank crew here in the north. He called us a week after the war started and said, “Hey, do you guys have any Bibles?” He was in a tank crew of 100 men and he's like, I just want to give out some Bibles, encourage some guys, and share my faith with them. We said, “Yeah, sure, we can do that.” Hannah, his wife, is a medic in the military and she had gotten hold of some tourniquets. Her husband's brigade didn't have tourniquets to be able to take care of themselves if something happened. She came to me and said, “Hey, I heard you're going to see my husband, can I ride along with you? I have the tourniquets for them, and I need to show them how to apply them.” I said, “Sure not a problem.” So we loaded up the car with Bibles and Hannah came along with me. It was going to be an hour and a half drive into the Golan Heights.  

The problem was we didn’t leave in the middle of the day, we left towards the evening, and it had started to get dark. Also, we didn’t think that there would be a lot happening in the north because most of the fighting was going on in the south. But we were wrong. 

When we finally got near to where her husband was, I turned onto the road and he saw my car, and I can see his lights off in the distance as well. He calls me and he says, “I need you to do me a favor. I need you to stop your car, shut it off, and go hide in the ditch. Don't ask questions, just do what I tell you to do.” I'm like, “OK.” So I grabbed Hannah and we went and hid in this 10-foot-tall ditch. Flying above us were 2 Apache helicopters. And at the time I was like, is this Hezbollah? What is this? All the soldiers were hiding and me and Hannah were in this ditch. I was praying to the Lord that if this is going to be the end of our lives that God would just protect our families and protect my wife. I had this weird amount of peace in me, even in the middle of a battlefield. I hadn’t realized that I was going to step onto a battlefield that day. But here I am, sitting there in the ditch praying “Lord, if you're going to take me, okay. Just make sure my wife and my son are okay.”  

We sat in the ditch probably for like 20 minutes, and eventually Hannah’s husband called me back. He says “OK, get in your car and turn your flashers on. Drive up to my commander. And then when we got up there this commander - the shortest guy I've ever seen in my life - starts yelling at me upset, “What are you doing here?” And I'm like, brother, I'm here to bring supplies. I was confused because I had been there the day before, he just didn't remember me, but at this point it's also pitch black. At that moment while he is yelling at me, asking me what I'm doing there, a countrywide siren went off in the north. He pulled me out of the car and he's like, run. Hannah and I run towards a tank called an APC that holds about six to eight men. He tells me to get inside. So here I am, sitting in the APC next to Hannah. And this commander, the smallest guy I've ever met, grabs me again, and pushes me to the front of the tank. He said “My job is to protect you. You listen to me.” I’m like “Yes, sir.” He was literally protecting me with his body. And I'm big, I'm like 6.3, 280lbs. Yet, if something happens, if a bomb fell, this small, brave man would have thrown his body in front of me.  

At one point, a soldier says, “I only have one extra helmet. Who needs it?” I grabbed it and I gave it to Hannah and told her to put it on. She said, “Well, what about you?” She's an Israeli in the army, so for her this is kind of normal. But I said, “I'm OK, don't worry about it; I’m already wearing a hat.” I was wearing a baseball cap. And we sat there again praying. We probably sat there for another five minutes until the siren turned off. The commander looked at me and he said, “It's nice what you're doing, but you need to leave.” Hannah and I ran back to the car, and I had never driven so fast in my life as when I was driving out of there.  

The first thing I did was call my wife to make sure she was okay. They were sitting in our bunker with a group of Brazilians that were part of our congregation, who lived in the city that was being actively bombed. They left and lived with us for two weeks, something like that. They left just in the nick of time to get to our house before their city got bombed, and so they were in the bunker with Deby. I told her my experience and said, “I'm on the way home!” 

There are multiple experiences that I've had that are like this, but that was the scariest, most significant one. Hannah and I call ourselves ditch buddies now, we’re ditch bff’s, and we laugh about it. I saw her last night at Deby’s discipleship group. It was our first meeting since that night, and she didn't have to say anything. She just hugged me.  

It made me have a deep appreciation for the soldiers and what they go through to protect me, my wife and our son as we sleep in our own beds.  

“Where are you from? Florida? Bro, you had all the reasons on Earth to leave and get the heck out of here and just go back home to your family. But you’re here.”

Another time, I drove down south to deliver some stuff, and I talked to a guy and said, “Hey, I'm going to be praying for you, if there's anything that you need let me know.” Then I left and ten minutes later, that place got bombed, right where I had been. Another time I went back up north, to the same area where I had hidden in the ditch. I found another guy who was in need, a surgeon who was helping people. I delivered him cleaning materials. And as I was handing him these materials, I heard this massive boom. It was so strong it shook the ground. And he said, “Oh don’t worry, brother. It's our soldiers, they're shooting at Hezbollah. They got attacked today.” I said, “Oh, okay.” He asked, “Are you Jewish?” I replied “No, I'm a Christian.” He said, “Wow, that's amazing,” and he sat and talked to me, and we took a picture. He was a really nice guy. I told him I was going to be praying for him, and I left. Ten minutes later, that place got bombed. 

DEBY: There was almost like an appreciation from the Israeli soldiers and families towards Hank, because when they heard his accent, they knew he wasn't from here. Where are you from? Florida? Bro, you had all the reasons on Earth to leave and get the heck out of here and just go back home to your family. But you’re here. 

HANK: And they even encouraged me to leave. They asked “What are you doing here?” I said, “I'm serving you. I'm helping you.” And they respond with, “We appreciate that so much.” A lot of them are just regular people, you know. I've had guys say, “Man, I really miss my wife and my son. I really miss my wife and my daughter.” I asked one guy “What's the thing that you missed the most?” He answered, “My family and my bed. But here I am. I'm serving my country and you're here serving me and that means the world to me. So thank you.” Responses like this drastically affected how we viewed our soldiers, because a lot of people from the outside world just see them as military. They think if we’re helping them, we’re funding the Gears of War and we're looking at it as like the guy who threw himself in front of me is just a husband, a dad, doing his job to protect me, but at the same time he's doing his job to protect his family.  

DEBY: And before the war, they were teachers, bank workers, social workers, engineers. You know, they're normal people. 

HANK: I don't know if God was trying to shake me up a little bit, but he did. It made me grow a deep appreciation for the country and the people. As hard as it sounds, I would never trade that experience for the world. It has 100% shaped me and I think that's why God let me go through that experience. Sometimes I sit there and I think ‘What am I doing here? I'm a big white guy from America, I'm a believer in Jesus and I'm hiding in a ditch. What did I get myself into?’ And then I remember that I'm here for a bigger purpose. Here for a bigger purpose. It's all God's plan. 

NAOMI: When you look back to what your life was like before you moved to Israel, what was some of the stuff that you now see that God was preparing you to face what you're currently facing? It could even be events or challenges that, at the time, you thought were either really harsh or unimportant, that now is very fitting for what you’re experiencing. 

DEBY: Hank and I lived in Florida for four years. And we always had in the back of our heads that we wanted to move to Israel, we want to serve people. We were not sure when, how, or what. We didn't know any details. But it was a season where older gentlemen would come to Hank all the time and ask for advice. He would come back home asking, "Deby, is it the beard that makes people think that I'm wise or something?” Really old gentlemen would say, “I'm having problems in my marriage.” “I'm having problems with my dad.” “I'm having problems with alcohol”, like deep stuff. And God would use Hank to speak life to them, he even baptized one of them! One guy would drink alcohol as though it was water, and he just stopped! And Hank helped him fix his marriage! God was using him through and through. God opened this position for me to work at a church.  

Through these things we've learned so much! It was admin stuff, it was the experience of constantly serving people, it was learning to constantly open our home. We rented this tiny, little apartment and there were always teenagers there. We never had rests, there were always people inside our house, adults, kids, everybody. I overdid it sometimes, but it was definitely God preparing us for something this big. Right now, we're not overwhelmed. We're tired, of course, but we have coffee and energy drinks, and we do what we can.  

We're so freaking honored that this is God's calling in our lives. I get up every day and I do what I do; it's mind-blowingly good. We have so many friends that say, “I studied for four years, I have all this debt, but I don’t want to do it anymore.” So sad! And I'm like thank God that he gave me a husband with the same calling! It might just be for the next ten years. But for now, the season that he has us in is good.  

He was even preparing us for this when we were dating! When we first got married in Florida. Frida, you know Hank led so many guys, he's still in touch with them even today. And they're so thankful for him, Hank never gives up. He sees the best in them all. His brother was the most screwed up, messed up guy, and Hank never stopped praying for him. And a couple of months ago, he was baptized; he's going to church every Sunday, he is like a changed man! 

HANK: The funny thing is, I see how everything trickles down. The guy that I did discipleship with and baptized, he did discipleship with my brother! That's how my brother got baptized! 

NAOMI: That’s just beautiful. 

DEBY: It is. God is good. And the freaking Devil makes us question ourselves all the time. “We're so young. What are we doing?” We have hard moments! Are we supposed to be here or are we supposed to go to America? Hank goes through so many difficulties and sometimes my attitude "You'll be okay.” But other times I’m more like “No, he's not Jewish, he's not Israeli, he doesn't speak the language fluently.” But he’s still flourishing so much. When we moved to Israel, he was the first one to open a guy's group, even before I opened my group for women! And I knew the language and I knew the people, but he just did it!  

HANK: We would not be in the season that we're in, we would not be serving if we didn't have that time together as a young couple, and as newlyweds, learning from people, having people within the church mentor us, and let us lead. All that history helps us figure out how to lead here. We had a lot of time growing, studying theology, doing other study and being poured into so that we can eventually pour into others. 

NAOMI: How can we be praying for your team? You mentioned that you had good preparation to get to Israel and do this ministry well. So, looking toward the future, what are some ways that you need to be continually preparing, ways that we can help you, whether that’s through prayer or other forms of support? 

HANK: Well, the war's not over. Pray for boldness and understanding. Pray for us to be able to have an open heart, even towards our enemies. I got a text this morning from my aunt, and she said, “Hey, I'm praying for you and your family, for your son, for your wife. But I'm also praying that the enemy will turn their hearts towards Jesus.” That's such a good reminder that there are people on the other side - shooting at us - who need to know about Jesus too. Sometimes when you're in the thick of things and living in this, you don't think about them. Let's just be honest. It's not a natural thing to say, “There's the enemy. Jesus tells me to pray for my enemies, to love my enemies.” That's actually a very hard thing to do, especially right now. And we've said this before, the Jewish people have every right to be upset. But as believers and as Jewish believers in Jesus, we have the opportunity to shine the light, we have the opportunity to pray for people, even the ones that are persecuting us, and it's a very hard thing to do. So, pray for boldness, pray for courage, pray for a steadfast love that focuses on Jesus and loves other people. 

“When I’m working in ministry, I do so much good all day. And sometimes I let that be my personal relationship with God. And I have to tell myself to stop!...We can serve so much and think that’s the relationship, but it’s not.”

DEBY: Pray for us to be intentional. Yesterday God really spoke to me. I was praying before my latest study because I felt like I haven't yet reached my full potential as a believer in Christ. What's stopping me? I know what’s stopping me. We need discipline in our spiritual lives. When you serve in the field, doing what God wants you to do, the devil knows exactly where to get you. You’ve got to put down those walls so deep, spiritually. Be so deep into God's word. Yesterday at my ladies group, we talked about the life of David. Thank God for David, because he messed up time after time after time, and God responds with “I like you, you are good in my eyes.” Why? Because he always had a relationship with God. That was David’s priority. Yes, he killed people, committed adultery, all that rubbish, but he always had a relationship with God, he listened to God, he repented.  

That's the go. I know it's like our ABC’s as believers: have a relationship with Christ, but truly that’s who we are. That's our identity, you know.  

To clarify, we're not good or bad Christians based on how much we read our Bible, or how much we pray. Obviously, life has seasons. When you have a newborn, you might not pray and read as much. Yesterday a friend said, “Look at the life of Joseph. I bet he didn't have a Bible and he was an amazing believer.” It should be who we are; it has to be our core. Christian society today makes it about praying twice a day, this much, this often. But it's so much deeper than that. So, may we be really intentional.  

When I’m working in ministry, I do so much good all day. And sometimes I let that be my personal relationship with God. And I have to tell myself to stop! You have to be so deep into God's word to be pouring to other people. I get home feeling content because I served, or I did this, or I shared the gospel. But all the while my personal walk with God is low. So just pray for my personal relationship with God and for my spiritual walk with Christ, because it can be dangerous. We can serve so much and think that's the relationship, but it’s not.