Those of you who know me know of my desire to be a road chaplain for a police department. Yet for many of you, I haven’t explained why I have a passion for it. For me, I feel called to this position for many reasons.
One of the toughest parts of the job, as any officer will tell you, is doing death notifications. To have someone arrive at your doorstep and tell you that your loved one is dead is a bit of news that nobody wants to hear. The care that the chaplain extends to that family differs depending on the chaplain. Some might make the notification and leave. Others may stay and calm the family while calling a family friend or pastor to take care of them.
My hope is that I can be a chaplain who helps restore shalom. One definition for shalom is, “peace. Nothing missing, nothing broken, wellbeing, and complete.” For a family whose life has been torn apart by tragedy, I would hope that I can do what I can to help them get the resources they need to deal with the grief they are experiencing. And to an extent, that trajedy will always be a part of them… shaping who they are. The difference has to be the resources available to help put that person in a direction that will bring them to restoration.
If I were to have a mission statement for my chaplaincy, it would be this quote by Jonathan Edwards:
“The strength of a good soldier of Jesus Christ appears in nothing more than in steadfastly maintaining the holy calm, meekness, sweetness and benevolence of his mind, amidst all the storms, injuries, strange behavior and surprising acts and events of this evil and unreasonable world.”
Or to look at scripture it says this, “the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” (Matthew 4:16)
In essence, hopefully I can be a light in their darkest hour or I can surround them with people who will help them through the trouble times.
One of my favorite music videos is by Simple Plan. The song is “Untitled” and as you watch it, you will see the depth and emotion that goes on when a family experiences something tragic. Their world is shaken dramatically. So as you watch this video, remember that amidst all that darkness, chaplains can be a light.
Untitled
Simple Plan
I open my eyes
I try to see but I’m blinded by the white light
I can’t remember how
I can’t remember why
I’m lyin’ here tonight
And I can’t stand the pain
And I can’t make it go away
No I can’t stand the pain
Chorus:
How could this happen to me?
I’ve made my mistakes
got nowhere to run
the night goes on
as I’m fadin’ away
I’m sick of this life
I just wanna scream
How could this happen to me?
Everybody’s screamin’
I try to make a sound but no one hears me
I’m slippin’ off the edge
I’m hangin’ by a thread
I wanna start this over again
So I try to hold onto a time when nothing mattered
And I can’t explain what happened
And I can’t erase the things that I’ve done
No I can’t
How could this happen to me?
I’ve made my mistakes
got nowhere to run
the night goes on
As I’m fadin’ away
I’m sick of this life
I just wanna scream
How could this happen to me?
I’ve made my mistakes
got nowhere to run
the night goes on
as I’m fading away
I’m sick of this life
I just wanna scream
How could this happen to me?
I had heard this song before, but then Chris used it in worship one week… he mixed it in with another song. I never thought of the profound message behind the song and how powerful it was. Typically in my blog I like to post music videos and lyrics of songs that I really like or that are with me at the moment. When looking for a music video for this on YouTube, I found that a video called “Lifehouse’s Everything Skit” was the most viewed video, so I checked it out.
At first I thought it was going to be interpretive dance, but it actually turned into a very meaningful video for me that illustrates how we often get separated (in some ways) from God through our own selfish actions and the actions of others. For me, I could see both sides of the coin. It was incredible how much she tried to be free from the things that was keeping her weighted down. I also realized as I watched it that perhaps we can sometimes get in the way of people connecting with Jesus.
It’s a powerful song and a powerful video. I hope you enjoy it.
Everything
Lifehouse
Find Me Here
Speak To Me
I want to feel you
I need to hear you
You are the light
That’s leading me
To the place where I find peace again.
You are the strength, that keeps me walking.
You are the hope, that keeps me trusting.
You are the light to my soul.
You are my purpose…you’re everything.
How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?
You calm the storms, and you give me rest.
You hold me in your hands, you won’t let me fall.
You steal my heart, and you take my breath away.
Would you take me in? Take me deeper now?
How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?
And how can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?
Cause you’re all I want, You’re all I need
You’re everything,everything
You’re all I want your all I need
You’re everything, everything.
You’re all I want you’re all I need.
You’re everything, everything
You’re all I want you’re all I need, you’re everything, everything.
And How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?
How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?
How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?
One of the things in my Christian walk that has needed improvement is my prayer time. I’ve been spending a LOT of time in prayer over the past year, yet it doesn’t seem consistent to me. One of the ways I want to improve upon that is having a little time at the end of each day to spend with God. That’s where this thing comes in:
It’s called a prie-dieu, which in French means, “pray [to] God.” For those of you who don’t know, I spent many years at a Catholic school and it was not uncommon for me to go to Mass (service) two times a week, which included using a prie-dieu to kneel and pray.
Well my uncle is a Catholic priest and was very gracious and gave me this prie-dieu which survived a fire in the church many years ago. My hope is that by placing it at the end of my bed, that it will serve as a reminder to spend a little time with God before I go to sleep.
To me, it’s almost like I’m “checking in” with God. Almost to say, “hey God, here are my praises, my concerns, etc.”
Do any of you have any special ways of approaching God in prayer? How do you spend time with Him? I know my way may seem odd to some, but I find it very relaxing and an appropriate posture for prayer.
I came home today feeling down and a little discouraged. It happens from time to time, sometimes we allow things in our life to consume us… and nothing else in the whole world seems as important as what we’re struggling with right then.
It’s in times like these that I like to take walks. I’ve lived in this apartment complex for a few months now and I’m very lucky to be right next to the park. And I love it… take a look at this scene….
Standing on the dock on this pond gives me such great peace and serenity… it gives me time to think about how complicated we humans make things. Matthew 6:25-27 is a great verse for me:
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”
I actually love my walks in the park because there is a lady who goes around the pond in the evening with her dog and just tosses bits of bread all around the trail for the birds. It’s a beautiful thing.
Once I was done with my walk around the park, there was still daylight, so I decided to grab my basketball and shoot the basketball around. And I don’t know it’s like for some of you guys, but shooting a basketball around by myself is one of the more relaxing things I do. It gives me quiet time… and I often process through things as I shoot the ball around (which is probably why my shots aren’t that great when I’m deep in thought). It also reminds me of a simpler time when I was younger and would take my basketball next door and just shoot around until the sun went down.
I guess my whole reason for this post is to remind myself to slow down, take it easy, not let things bother me so much. I am so thankful for that quiet time that I had today. And if you haven’t had your quiet time today, here’s a 60 second video I took of my view from the dock… take in the sounds… it’s pretty relaxing.
Today I am starting a new section on the blog dedicated to apologetics. For those of you who have never heard of apologetics, it is “the field of study concerned with the systematic defense of a position, or of religious or occult doctrines.”
For today’s post, I will be posting a few videos about Scientology. To read more about Scientology, you can go to http://www.apologeticsindex.org/s04.html. These posts relating to apologetics are not meant to attack other faiths, but to promote the spread of knowledge on this topic. Feel free to leave your comments after watching the videos. Today’s post on Scientology is the first round of many.
Scientology: Inside the Cult
BBC Panorama: Scientology and Me
Scientology: The Shrinking World of L. Ron Hubbard
