I know I've said this before but WOW!

I'm beat. I am ready for this semester to be over and I am only half way there! I do only have about 5 more weeks of oncalls at the hospital so there is an end in sight. One of the most frustrating things about my schedule this semester is the serious lack of time to just sit into anything. I feel like I am constantly being washed over and I am just trying to process every chance I get. Nearly impossible at the pace I am going.
Marten started a new job Monday which is good and bad but a job none the less. It obviously makes the logistics with the girls a bit more complicated. It gives us all less time together. I can't wait for summer!
So Monday, mysterious lights come on in my van and long story short we need a new transmission, not an inexpensive venture. I start stressing and really don't want to call Marten to tell him about the $5000 price tag. But then I get perspective. I am reminded of how insignificant this in the big picture. I am reminded of the pain and suffering and loss I see every day at the hospital and I am ok. I am usually the uptight one so after Marten gets over the initial shock he is ok too. We even laugh. So guess what? We find out yesterday that Honda is going to cover the whole thing and that we have to pay 0. Yup! Amazing. But that was late yesterday. The first part of the day was even more awesome.
I was doing my clinical rounds and was intentional about visiting a patient and family that had just been moved to my floor from the PICU. They have been at the hospital for nearly a month and had spent some time with the Staff chaplain on the PICU. The whole exchange was wonderful. I could have stayed all day. There were so many questions and God was doing so much in the room it was bulging at the corners with the work of the Holy Spirit. I am sitting there listening thinking I can't believe I get to be here for this. This is incredible.
There was so much searching going on. Mom calls herself a Christian and refers to her father's pentecostal background but she is not sure who Jesus is. Is he the great prophet that Jews and Muslims recognize or is he the Son of God. I was taken aback, thinking how could someone hear good preaching and read the Bible and not know. Biting my tongue I listened far more than I spoke. Before I left I prayed with the patient and with mom at bedside for continued healing and I asked God to continue to reveal who He was and to answer the questions being asked. When I finished I told mom that I would not normally tell her such a thing (because of our efforts to be interfaith and support the faith traditions of the people we minister to), then affirmed that Jesus is called a great prophet by all the major religions. She agreed. At the same time Jesus tells us who he is in the Bible. He says he is the Son of God. He either is who he says he is, Lord, or he was lying, Liar, or he was crazy, Lunatic. So he was either Lord, Liar, or Lunatic. You and God have to work that out so you can decide for yourself. She immediately grabbed me and hugged me for a solid one to two minutes. As she pulled away she had tears in her eyes and her son asked what's wrong with you, in a tone that most 13 year olds would use. She said something like you know when you just feel like God sent you an angel to answer your questions and show you he is here? He nodded. She said that's what I feel just happened. I smiled. She thanked me and I said I would check back on on them when I was back at the hospital.

WOW!

John 10:35-37 (New International Version)
35If he called them 'gods,' to whom the word of God came—and the Scripture cannot be broken— 36what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, 'I am God's Son'? 37Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does.

There Will Be A Day-Video Devotional

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpBuEuagZxE

Something I will not soon forget

I had to witness something horrible yesterday. I watched a baby dying. I am still trying to shake some images and sounds from my mind. One of the hardest things is realizing that it happens everyday, several times a day, all over the world. The grief and loss and the things people say in trying to make sense of it all is really something to hear. It is amazing the strength that some people have. It is amazing the way that people can come together during such a time. This is what I have been called and have committed to be a part of and present for as a chaplain. While this is something that I am doing this semester it is in a sense something I have committed to doing for a lifetime when I said yes to God and His call on me. Wow, that's a revelation! While death in the physical sense may not be so in my face on a regular basis, it certainly will be, and is, in the spiritual sense. People are dying every day and some of them don't even know it. It is very interesting to see how those who have faith grounded in God and His promises weather these times versus those who do not have a faith grounded in God. I am intrigued by what propels people forward and keeps them fighting for the next day, the next breath. Hope is so instrumental in all of this. That is what my message was about last week in my sermon at the hospital. Hope gives us a reason to live but at the same time this hope can be a reason to let go. The promise of eternity with no more pain, tears, hunger, but instead peace, rest, love, worship, beauty. The hope that we can find in the eyes of another, in the prayers of another, those can propel us forward. The hope found in those who have walked this hard road before and survived. The hope that can be found in the new beginning afforded us by Jesus.

My message was about planting and nurturing seeds of hope. Being seeds of hope to others and nurturing hope in others. In the end we can all feast on the harvest of the hope we have nurtured and grown. In the meantime some of us might be chucking rocks and pulling weeds, others of us watering and feeding. We all have a part to play. Live into it. Share your seeds of hope, share your harvest. Let's all sit down at a feast of thanksgiving together.

Remember?

I confess, I am a shortsighted human. I repeatedly find myself getting so caught up in the challenge of the moment I often find it hard to do two important things (1) remember that circumstances are temporary (2) remember where I have come from and what God has brought me through. Somehow I lose sight of these 2 most important practices and my hope is in a holding pattern. It doesn't help that Marten has now been out of a job for 3 months or that this is the hardest semester ever on our schedule, with two internships, a part-time job, and classes.
I know that God has brought us through some very hard times and that this time is no different.
Ya and then there is that whole instant gratification mentality that comes with our culture, I may blame my short sighted conditioning on that as well. Where is there redemption for that?

Matthew 16:9Do you still not understand? Don't you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered?

Preaching and Bodies

Something rare has occurred. I will actually have the opportunity to preach two times in two weeks. Imagine that! As a youngster in the preaching world (no jokes about age) this will rarely happen until later down the road. So I am beyond grateful for the opportunity. This Sunday I am preaching the Chapel service at the hospital. My message is about the newness, hope, and promise of Spring. It is about tilling soil, and planting and nurturing seeds. I will try to refrain from fertilizer jokes here. Anyway many of those listening this Sunday will be sick or caring for the sick, yet even in frailty and illness we all have a purpose. Some till, some plant, some water, some yank out the weeds. All of these are important parts in growth. What part are you playing? What season are you in? The wonderful thing about Spring is the newness, the fresh start. You know, kinda like the fresh start that we are afforded by the blood of Jesus!
Next week I will be preaching about the body of Christ at my home church. Again this message is about our individual purpose and our responsibility to live into it for the sake of others, for the rest of the body. Not only are we responsible to live into that purpose but to care for the other parts of the body as if they were are own. If you hurt your foot you might ice it down or prop it up or take some aspirin. What are we doing about our hurting brothers and sisters? And further would we curse our own hand or eye? Yet some do this to their brothers and sisters, members of the same body. Will that not come back to hurt them?
God has given us to each other. Let's be responsible. Let's bear fruit. They will know we are Christians by our LOVE!