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.
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