Things I Think…
1. Before I get started…many thanks to all who prayed for my clan and myself as my godson was hospitalized this week. Everyone is now home and recuperating well…
2. During Monday Night Football this week a player suffered cardiac arrest after taking a blow to the chest. Immediately afterwards, social media blew up with claims that this was most probably a result of his taking the Covid 19 vaccination…which led to all sorts of insults and recriminations going back and forth between a badly divided nation. No matter what the final outcome and diagnosis is, some will only believe what fits the narrative they have chosen…
3. Whatever side you fall on, as a Christian you should be an advocate of an open discussion on the matter and and transparency from our political and medical leaders…simply insulting others is not working and we are “ministers of reconciliation”…and reconciliation is badly needed if we are to move forward as a society…truth is supposed to be our specialty…
4. The first person to examine my godson thought it very possible that his cardiac issues were a result of his recent bout with Covid…the second thought that foolish and “quite rare’….and I’m quite certain I could tell you which political party each belonged to…which is a terrible way to do medicine…
5. The scene at the hospital was overwhelming…all the ER rooms were full and there were people on gurneys in all the halls…some were there more than 24 hours, as I passed them when I first arrived on Monday afternoon and they were still waiting when we left last night…saddest for me were the elderly who had no one to advocate for them…the system is broken…
6. I’ve been in both of the local hospitals ER’s in the last two weeks, first with my mother, them with T…and I wonder why we don’t have volunteer pastors available in these places to pray with the suffering…or if the hospitals would allow such…seems like a very needed ministry…
7. I note that in many of the divisions that beset us, both sides are trying to protect something they cherish…if they are wrong, they are wrong for the right reasons…we need to acknowledge this and offer grace to each other…we will need the humility that comes from the Spirit to reconcile and heal…
8. Cable news commentators will have much to answer for on that Day when all things are exposed…
9. The two most dangerous and necessary things to pray for are patience and humility…
10. “Standing for Jesus” is always done on a cross, not a platform …
# 10… True
All of the above! If we canât talk civilly to each other, weâll never get anywhere with anything. And, Christians should be the first to jump into dialog mode.
âwe are âministers of reconciliationâ â
Someone even said âpeacemakers.â
#6 – Didnât we used to refer to them as chaplains?
CK,
I’m sure there are still paid chaplains, but I’ve never seen one in all my time in the hospital.
I brought my oil stock with me to anoint Trey and his mom…and felt like I should go through the whole packed ER and offer the same to the suffering.
I’m not sure how the hospital would look at that…
I have known plenty of chaplains over the years. Just as corrupted as anything unfortunately.
Long before I married my wife, she was hospitalized for a while. She had a Pastor who would come to her room and serve her communion and also recite the Lord’s Prayer with her. This is the same Pastor that married us back in 2010. He has since “retired” from being a Pastor but I absolutely cannot imagine him not still ministering to people with his presence.
I semi regularly go into the ER waiting room to pray for the sick and/or injured, who are strangers, mostly because it is across the street from the university where I evangelize. Iâve prayed more for people whoâs directly asked me to pray for them there, or pray for someone there in a coma whom they know.
I donât know my âtrack recordâ đ, but then scant reports I have are somewhat encouraging but pretty small. I have seen miracles.
COVID radically limited it, just as its limited ministry in various places, such as in jails and prisons.
I donât know how many others do so.
I will add, some very discouraging encounters happens when people who are themselves very sick or their relatives are (a college student who had both parents dealing with terminal cancer), donât want you to pray for them at all.
I know many pastors do visitation, but I donât know what the overall situation looks like.
A friend who prays for the sick has had some amazing results is an ER Doctor; very cool how he combines the science and faith in Jesus!
Michael, I wonder re: the hospital. I try to hear from God about who to pray for. Who knows how effective I am at properly hearing.
The two chaplains I met at our hospital were not Christians; the head guy was a humanist.
Jtk,
Bless you.
I’m not as interested in healings as I am in letting people know that Jesus is with them…letting the suffering know He is present and cares.
May your tribe increase…