Running with Jesus

Last Sunday, my husband and I attended First Baptist Church Arlington and heard Dr. Wiles the pastor preached on Isaiah 6.  Dr. Wiles is also an adjunct proffesor at Truett teaching preaching 2 on Wednesday mornings.  His sermon included a section about King Uzziah found in 2 Kings.  I really enjoyed how his brought the context of Isaiah into his sermon and even made practical apllication out of the choices King Uzziah made eventually leading to his death and ruin of his reputation.  I would encourage you to listen to this sermon from Dr. Wiles.  below is a link to his sermon from this past Sunday titled, “Holy, Holy, Holy.”

http://www.fbca.org/sermonarchive#!/swx/pp/media_archives/15898/episode/27670

I work with a man from Zimbabwe named Jericho.  He was telling me about weddings in his countryand as he was describing the process I found some similarities between this culture and the cutlure in the Old Testament.  In Zimbabwe a man must get consent from the brides father and pay the bride price.  Most of the time this would be cattle like cows or goats.  Jericho said that when he got decided he wanted to marry his wife now he was very poor like in the case of Jacob in Genesis 29.  Luckily for Jericho he did not have to work for forteen years to finally marry the woman.  It would have been customary to give his bride’s father a gift but her family are Muslims and that culture does not require such gift.  

Jericho also said that is would not be unusual for for the bride’s family to be extremely demanding of the groom and often times grooms go poor trying to fulfill all of these demands and are left with no money for the wedding or even a ring.  As a pastor in Zimbabwe Jericho has had to work with young couples with trying to live up to cultural standards of a wedding along with the cultural demands of the bride’s price. 

Thousands of years later the culture of the Old Testament is still seen in numurous countries like Zimbabwe.  Some people old true to what the Bible says at all cost even if it means paying a hefty bride price.

At times I feel as though my wounds are too deep to be able to minister to anyone.  Being a chaplain in a hospital constantly serving those families who have lost loved ones can be very humbling.  There are moments where my own grief and sadness washes over me revealing all my wounds in front of a person or family who is also grieving.  I am supposed to be their rock, their place to lean on.  I never thought that my own wounds could make me a better healer. 

Jacob wrestles with the Lord and ends up walking with a limp the rest of his life.  Wow, how humbling.   The father of nations, the strong fortress of his family wounded and mamed.  Jacob continued serving the Lord with his limp and God continued to use him for great and wonderful things. 

²⁴And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. ²⁵When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. ²⁶Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” ²⁷And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” ²⁸Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” ²⁹Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. ³⁰So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel,saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.” ³¹The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.

I always thought that wounds were a sign of weakness, that people would see my scars and think that I am not capable.  But when I shared my story of my father’s heart attack with a twenty-three year old man who just lost his mother, the healer in me truly came out.  This young man’s stoic expressions dissapeared and tears roled down his face.  Sharing my wounds allowed this man to recognize his own wound of his mother’s death and thats the beginning of the healing process.

I hate being interrupted.  Being interrupted during a movie is a big one for me like; the screen shuts off, some is yapping loudly on a phone, a child is screaming, or someone has to get up to use the bathroom.  UGHHH!  I get super frustrating.  Ironically all these interruptions can occur while I am preaching.  It throws me completely off sometimes but I’m learning to adjust.  As Pastors, ministers and especially chaplains our whole carreers are built upon interruptions.  This week I am carrying the hot pager (yes, they still make pagers).  The hot pager or on call pager is the go to pager for the hospital when I chaplain is needed.  I have the honor of carrying this for an entire week.  I go to the store with it, I take it into movies, I work out with and it even sleeps right next to me becuase when it goes off I have less than half an hour to ge to the hospital.  The worst of all these interruptions is when I am fast asleep and at 3:00 AM it screams out at me.  I have to throw on my clothes, put make up the sleepy bags under my eyes and rush off to the hospital normally to find someone dying or worse someone who has past away. 

There are other interruptions in ministry that seem absolutely frustrating and unneccesary until you look back and see God working through that intteruption.  The Bible is full of these divine interrupitons that normally come in the form of angel or messanger of the Lord.  We see this with Abraham and the messangers whom he shoes hospitality.  We also saw this with Joshua who encounters the commander of the Lord’s Army.  In the New testament Mary and Joseph’s lives are interrupted with by an angel of God.  Perhaps God uses interruptions to get us out of the routine lifestyles out of the norm, in order for us to be apart of something miraculous.   

The other morning I got page to come to the hospital where an elderly woman was about to pass away.  I hurredly put myself together and went to the hospital to find a sweet family saying goodbye to their mother.  They shared stories about life growing up and how blessed they were to know her and be part of her life.  I was so blessed to be about of that moment with that famile. Often times the greatest stories of God working in my life begin with loud annoying pages in the middle of the night.

In 2 Samuel 18: 9 King David’s son, Absalom, gets his big head stuck in a tree.

⁹And Absalom happened to meet the servants of David. Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of a great oak,and his head caught fast in the oak, and he was suspended between heaven and earth, while the mule that was under him went on.

At first read, I imagaine this man literally dangling in mid air with his hair all tangled in the branches of the tree, his clothes snagging on the bark, and his body squirming to get free.  The man was stuck!  But then the phrase “suspended between Heaven and Earth” caught my attention.  Could this possibly mean something more perhap an in between place of being?  Maybe he was caught between this life and the next and Joab simply put him out of his misery.  In medical terms this would be called DCL – Discontinued of LIfe.

I have seen this in between place a little to often for my liking.  Working in the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit a DCL will most likely take place at some point.  I often wonder about those have been prounouced brain dead or no longer able to breath on their own.  Sometimes families keep them alive on life support for quite some time.  Are they still here with us or have the souls moved on?  Could they be suspended between heaven and earth?

The media and entertainment world has always enjoyed using the Bible in not so accurate way.  I find some secular material that uses Bible stoires to be extremely fascinated and at times very insulting.  But when I get past the blasphemy and approach these movie scenes, television shows or other media material with a secular perspective I begin to see how the world might view God’s word.  There is a Simpson’s episode that I recently watch that involved three popular stories from the old testament.  This episode was aired in 1999 and in my opinon provide an interesting “worldly” perspective on Old Testament stories. 

Storyline

Each family member has a dream after they nod off during a boring church sermon. Marge imagines she is Eve to Homer’s Adam,being expelled by God (Ned) from Eden for eating the forbidden fruit – as well as for killing Gary the Unicorn. Whilst Homer sees himself as Solomon wisely giving judgment on the division of a pie,Lisa is a Hebrew slave helping Moses Milhouse lead the kids to freedom from Pharaoh Skinner by flushing all the toilets and parting the waves for them. Bart is David,fighting Goliath’s son Nelson,with the help of shepherd boy Ralph,who comes back from the day to get rid of the bully. Written by don @ minifie-1 

Although I am not a big fan of the Simpsons(I prefer family guy), I believe that this controversial episode provides interesting insight to modern cultures views on the Bible.  What do you think?  Is this simply blasphemy and insulting to Christianity or does this help us understand the world in which we live?

There is a theme that I have seen throughout my few years of ministry.  I am not what people expect to see especially as a chaplain in the hospital.  Most of the time for patients, family members or staff, this is a pleasant misconception.  However for some people it is very difficult when reality, what is standing right in front of them, is not what they had envisioned or expected.  God uses unexpected people in unexpected ways.  The first church I served in, I was the first woman ever to preach in the church and the second church I served, the church had never seen a woman serving as the student pastor.  This theme in my life has been revealed more clearly to me now that I am serving as a chaplain.  Some people are caught off guard when I walk into a patient’s room and introduce myself.  I have heard several phrases like, “Aren’t you too young for this job?”, “How old are you?”, “Aren’t chaplains supposed to be old, white men?”  I used to dismiss myself by saying something like, “Well I’m sorry you expected someone else.”  But now I have embraced my calling as a young, white female and I find myself saying things like “I’m not that young” or “I’m old enough.”  When I dismiss myself, it opens the door for others to dismiss me. 

            Reading the story about David in I Samuel has really encouraged me as a young, female pastor serving God against people’s expectations.  I wonder if David had a difficult time being a King that did not fit the expectations of people.  David was anointed to be king although he was not tall and strong like Saul and he was not old enough according to the criteria of men. 

³³And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.” …³⁸Then Saul clothed David with his armor. He put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail, ³⁹and David strapped his sword over his armor. And he tried in vain to go, for he had not tested them. Then David said to Saul, “I cannot go with these.” I Samuel 17

He did not fit the age or physical criteria that the people of Israel expected.  David was small and the youngest out of his brothers who were also not supportive in anyway.  But God used David in incredible ways, ways that were so miraculous that the only glory or praise given had to be given to God. 

Jesus also came in an unexpected manner.  Born in a cattle stall, working a as carpenter, dying a criminals death.  The Israelites expected a King like David, who would come and destroy the enemy right in front of them.  Those that do not let go of their expectations miss out on an incredible work that God was and still is doing through unexpected people.  Each day I need to remember that what others expect or even what I expect is not always what God will do.  I am not what people expect and that’s ok with me because I know that God will continue to use me without the approval of man’s expectations.

The is an Emmy award winning television show on Cinemax call Dexter.  The summary of this show basically is a serial killer who kill serial killer.  Yes, extremely complicated but fascinating.  Dexter, a forensic blood splatter expert working for Miami detective agency, has a deep desire to kill people and at a very young age turned his power/desire for killing into good with the help of his father, a well known police officer.    Dexter wants justice and the only way he can find justice is by killing and slicing people up.

When reading Judges 19, a similar situation is taking place.  A Levite, lets call him Dexter, has decided to kill his concubine after she is gang raped and then slices her body into peices and ships the body parts to the other tribes of Israel looking for justice.  In both scenarios I have an issue with how Dexter is looking for justice.  On one hand we have the murder of muderers and on the other we have the murderer of the innocent.  The first American Dexter seems semi-normal in comparison to the Levite Dexter.  What is justice?  Is the death of the innocent or the guilty bring forth justice?

So often we hear the old saying home is where the heart lies but for some cultures and traditons, home is where the Bones lie.  I work in a hospital in Dallas and I have heard several requests from families for help getting their loved one back to their homeland.  A hispanic family from Mexico lost the matriarch of their family.  They were having difficulty finding a funeral home in Dallas who would be willing to take the body across the border of Mexico to be buried.  One morning several days after the body had been take down into the hospital morgue the sons came and ask if they could just take her themselves instead of having to go through a funeral home.  This of course could not happen for many reasons some being illegal.  Can you imagine them taking this decaying body all the way down to Mexico without any refrigeration?  It reminds me of the scene in Little Miss Sunshine where the grandpa dies and they steal his body out of the hospital.  Ughhh…this is not good. 

I found myself not understanding fully why this was so important to them until I put myself in their shoes.  What if my mother or even grandmother had died in another country?  I would most certianly want her to be buried in America, paticularly in the place we call home. 

In Joshua 24, the people of Israel final burried the bones of Joseph.  They have been carrying his rotten bones for almost half a century.  I would definately hate to be the chaplain in charge of moving that body.  Ughhh…this is not good.  But it was important for the Israelites to take one of their patriarchs and put his bones on home turf.  Being a family, a community, means being together whether living or dead.  Home is important to community.

I’ve lived in several different states across America and one thing that seperates the South from all the rest is their hospitality.  I remember the first years I lived in Texas after coming from Denver, Colorado.  Everyone ways at you even when you’ve never met them before in your life.  People move over on the shoulder of the highway for you to pass by without even giving you the finger.  Whenever I visit my granny for Sunday lunch, she would always be in the kitchin cooking up a storm, wanting to make sure everything is just right for everyone.  At times we would we would be so full from the meal that we’d take naps on her couch.  Even when I would bring friends she has never met before, she’d show more hospititable to them.  These human beings could be crinimals for all she cared.  A person was a person to her.  She put an extra roll on their plate, make sure they did not help with the dishes and even gave them the leftovers to take home.     

In Joshua 2, a prostitute named Rahab showed some hospitality.  She took in complete strangers, men who were actually spies wanted by her government.   I’d like to think, Rahab fed these men and gave them rest from their journey.  Rahab even hid these men up on her roof in stalks of flax from the king of Jericho.  When the king’s men came to search for them, she lied and sent them away, risking her life for wanted strangers.  I think that goes far beyond southern hospitality.  My grandmother sent her visiters home with leftovers, Rahab sent her visitors home with their lives.  My grandmother would be so proud of Rahab and her southern hospitality.