Healthcare ministry Diary Entry 1

This semester I am taking a class in healthcare ministry. In addition to class time I am required to spend two hours a week in visiting people in the hospital. I just finished my first 5 week rotation on the Cardiac Care wing and now I find myself wandering the halls of the oncology wing.

The phrase "genuine presence" or "authentic presence" has been thrown out to describe the nature of our ministry to the people in the hospital. This is a difficult concept to realize as I go from room to room, changing people and situations more often than socks. Very rarely are the same people there from time to time, and yet I am called to be God's representative to that situation. I believe that in this place of ignorance and incompetence is room enough for the Spirit of God to work in me to minister to the patients.

H

If I were a pirate . . .

My pirate name is:

Mad Harry Flint

Every pirate is a little bit crazy. You, though, are more than just a little bit. Like the rock flint, you're hard and sharp. But, also like flint, you're easily chipped, and sparky. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from fidius.org.

Habakkuk's Prayer

I think I'm coming to know how Habakkuk the prophet felt when at the beginning of his book he said,

"How long, O LORD , must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, "Violence!" but you do not save? ³ Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. ⁴ Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted."

This morning as I was taking my shower it hit me, "Why hasn't the current president been impeached for lying to the public about his justification for war?" We attempted to impeach a president for getting a blowjob in the oval office, but when it comes to unjustly going to war and lying to the American people to cover it up we smile, nod, and re-elect him.

When I got out of my shower I heard on NPR, the story found here of the deposed head of Hewlett Packard who got a golden parachute that surely must sound obscene to the thousands of workers fired while she was chief.

And time and html would fail me if I continued.

At this point I must stop and remember Habakukk. He cried out to God about the injustice in the world and God told him he was doing something about it. It is very easy to get caught up in all the injustices and forget that God is still God and Jesus is still Lord. We do what we can and have faith that God will act just as he promised.

H

Long Live Al Capone

Today I finally figured out why I like Al Capone. Al Capone used this day where we celebrate romantic love to introduce a few of his closest rivals to a few of his closest fish friends. Valentines day is no Holiday for ole Al, it's a workday. So here's to all you coupled people who have a holiday all to yourself. Remember the rest of us folks for whom today is just another working day. I wouldn't want you to end up in a garage on the southside of Chicago facing the wrong end of a couple of Tommy guns.

Today, here's to better living through machine guns ;-)

H

An Epiphany

This week I came to an understanding about myself. I live in a very closed off world. I walk around wearing armor that would make the most medieval of knights jealous. Normally I wouldn't consider it that much of a problem, but I'm currently participating in several ministries (hospital chaplain, assistant dorm director) that require me to relate to people. This makes the personal armor I wear a liablility. Taking it off though is a frightening thing. It means I have to deal with who I really am, and I'm not so sure I like that all that much. Well, I guess this is the first step.

Here's to better living through blogging.

H

The Return of Noah's Flood

Last night I got to experience one of the true joys of living in the dorm. For those of you who don't know, I am the assistant residence director of Smith Hall at ACU. This means that I get to live with 125 of my closest sophomore male friends. Well last night I got home from class at dinner in the lobby and went to my room. Upon entering my room I discovered that a lake had formed in the center of my room. This lake had formed when the main sewer line under my room had gotten clogged and backed up into my room and the one adjacent to it. The water was about a quarter of an inch deep the whole length of my room. I look at it as God telling me he wants me to live a simpler life and I had to move, with the help of two of my good friends, a BUNCH of stuff out of the way of the marauding water.

H

West Texas

I don't let anyone ever complain to me that West Texas is ugly. I've heard a bunch in my time here in Abilene. There aren't many trees, or there's just nothing here on the south tip of the Great Plains to look at. Tonight a buddy of mine and I went for a little drive while listening to some good music. We were able to watch the end of the sunset while driving around the north-east corner of Lake Fort Phantom Hill. The peach colored sky was reflected in the rippled surface of the lake so that the whole area was virtually exploding with color. A person would have to be dead to not see the beauty in that most serene picture.

H