At the local Publix I know the manager well and when I was dressed in shorts and a T-shirt, she used to ask if I had the day off. I told her, if I'm awake, I'm working. My Chaplain ID hangs from a hat on my dashboard for when I arrive at an accident or called to visit someone at the hospital. Most of the time I'm just going about my daily business and not dressed up in Chaplain gear, so having some kind of identification to let people know who I am is vital. It reassures them that I am trained and ready for any crisis they have.
Yet as a Chaplain, no matter how much faith I have in God and Christ, no matter how much I pray and put my faith in God's hands, I know I am subjected to the actions of others. Sometimes they are angry and take it out on me. Sometimes they are grieving so much, there isn't much I can say to ease their pain, but I offer a listening ear and all the time they need while I pray for them.
The work I do online is mixed between heartache when I read about another suicide or veteran on the brink, yet I am fed when I read stories about how far we've come in taking care of our veterans or stories about other people stepping up to help. I go to bed each night, praying and saying Thank You to God for the blessing I do have even as I pray for help with what I need, and I wake up with prayers sitting quietly as the day begins. I grieve. I rejoice. I beg. I rejoice. I cry and feel hopeless thinking about how much I mess up my life and then I rejoice knowing God can fix even people like me.
On this I am reassured simply by what He managed to do with the people we call heroes of the Bible. Each one of them messed up. They all made mistakes. They were all simple humans but no matter how much they messed up, God had not given up on them and the world was better off for them having lived.
Yet even with what I know, what I believe or how strong my faith is, there are times when I want to just go home to God unable to carry this burden and times when I regret I asked Him to use me. Times when it feels as if the entire world has turned against me so I would be better off not getting out of bed. I see how mean people can be, how selfish and uncaring, but the next moment I see how unselfishly they reach out to offer comfort to someone else and then, then I know I want to be counted among the caring and belong right where I am.
One of them is another Chaplain in the Brevard County Chaplains' group I belong to. Papa Roy sends out daily reminders of faith to offer support to other Chaplains. Today it was a message too beautiful to not share. He sends them everyday no matter what is going on in his life or what pain he has. He lets nothing stop him from getting up way too early to share the love of God.
Good morning, thank Him for your blessings!
Do you want a stronger, spiritual life?
The more ministry involves working with people, the more we need quiet time with God. In the previous verses in Mark 1, Jesus has been highly involved in people-intensive ministry as he teaches, preaches, heals, and casts out demons. This is exhausting work. Yet there is always more work with people than any one of us can complete. There will always be another need, broken heart, hurting soul, and desperate problem. For us to continue to minister, we desperately need to get alone and be with God to renew our relationship, to restore our soul, and to rekindle our passion in the presence of God. (Phil Ware)
Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed. (Mark 1:35)
Our response to the normal, ordinary demands of life and the power to cope with those demands must come from our reliance upon Him at work within us. This is the secret: All power to live the Christian life comes not from us, doing our dead-level best to serve God, but from Him, granted to us moment by moment as the demand is made upon us. Power is given to those who follow, who obey. The Father is at work in the Son; the Son is at work in us. As we learn this, then we are given power to meet the demands and the needs that are waiting for us in the ministry yet to come. (Ray Stedman)
Thank You, Father, that the same power is available to me today, making me ready so be your instrument in any and every situation in which demand is laid upon me.
Depending on His grace.
Papa Roy
July 14, 2010
In God we trust
We are not supposed to be prefect. We are simple humans, complicated by living.
Our identification is not what we are paid but what we make different. Our lives are not perfect but we put our faith in Perfect Love. We do not rejoice always but rejoice we have God to turn to when people let us down. We do not judge others as evil but understand what it is like to also do things we are not proud of. We look at the possibilities in others just as much as we look at how far we've come from the days when we lived for ourselves.
Chaplain Kathie
PTSD Consultant
Senior IFOC Chaplain
DAV Chapter 16 Auxiliary Chaplain
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