Day 117: Holy Ground

In the Bible, in the Book of Exodus, the Lord called Moses up to the mountain. He spoke with him and told him, “put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.”

God has always had holy ground on which he visits and communicates with man. From the earliest days, He has commanded men to build temples as places of worship and a place where He can dwell. We have temples today--sacred buildings built to worship and glorify our loving Father in Heaven.


Moses was commanded to remove his shoes when he entered holy ground as a way to show respect and reverence to God. Similarly, temples of old and those of modern times, have been built so that their beauty will cause those that see them to think of and have reverence for God. Since arriving in Afghanistan, I have seen a lot of brown, dusty buildings. The exception to this are the mosques. Even if they are small, the mosques that I have seen have been colorful and relatively nice buildings. They consider their houses of worship “holy ground” and consequently dedicate their finest materials and resources to construct buildings that show their love and faith in God.

Below is a mosque near a police headquarters that I visited today. We met with the medic in charge of a small clinic there. This medic has no medications, no supplies, no exam table, no stethoscope...really nothing. Part of my job is to help get these clinics up and running, so their medical personnel can start working. It was a nice little trip.

Me and the medic (is that a quadruple chin I have?)

Shafiq (my interpreter) and me in a little garden near the mosque

The outside of the Police Headquarters