Well, as of yesterday afternoon I guess I
am the new chaplain of the Galveston Fire department. I met with the chief and assistant chief for
about an hour to see what their expectations were. Sounds like they are really on board with the
position. It was also fun to hear bits
of their own God-stories. They seem very
excited about having someone available who has valid ministry credentials and
who also has a connection to the department and to Galveston. That would be me. Guilty on all counts. I officially signed up for the chaplain
training conference weekend. It will be
held at Southwestern Seminary in April up in Fort Worth. Even before the conference I’m meeting the
assistant chief for three days in a row the first week of April. He wants to introduce me to the fire fighters
on each shift. After that I will have
access to each station to make visits and get to know the guys a little
bit. The assistant chief apparently
wants me to have a uniform, too. He
mentioned it four times while we were talking.
He also said they would get me some business cards and add my name to
their website. The secretary wanted to know
my cell phone number so I could get on the pager system they use for major
fires. The chief just wanted to know what
to call me. I told him most folks at
Seaside call me Pastor Kelley, but I get called a lot of things. His compromise name was “Chappy.” I could live with that.
After the meeting I went over to the
hospital to check on the little premie baby we have been following as well as
Uncle Jerry. Haisley is doing
great. I had no trouble getting in to
see her this time. I finally made “the
list.” She was tucked away in her
isolette, so I just prayed for her and left I’m pretty sure she winked at me before
I walked away, though.
Uncle Jerry is another story, though. He has been in there for two weeks now, and
they still don’t know what caused the internal bleeding. They have one more scope test scheduled for
today. He told me one story while I was
there. Seems he was having an ultrasound
done, and the tech doing the test was constantly complaining about the quality
of pictures he was getting. He finally finished,
and went into the next room. The door didn’t
close, though, and Jerry overheard him say he was going to delete the last two
pictures. Jerry lost it. He screamed at him that it was not his
decision. It was up to the doctors. Sounded like he really reamed him out. A few hours later the doctor came by. Jerry had been telling the story to everyone
who would listen, especially doctors, so this one was no exception. This one, though got a concerned look on his
face. He said he hadn’t seen those
pictures yet, and left to take a look at them.
He returned about an hour later with a grin on face. He said, “Those two pictures that you stopped
him from deleting were the very ones we needed to determine that we don’t have
to do surgery.” Jerry still tears up
when he tells that one.
Before I left another doctor came in with
his entourage of medical students. All
the students were female, by the way. He
asked about the test scheduled for the next day, then quietly sent the students
into the hall. I thought he was going to
do an exam of some kind, so I was trying to get myself out of his way. He stopped me, though, and proceeded to tell
an off color joke. Something about a
nurse misunderstanding a doctor’s orders and giving a patient Bud Light instead
of a butt light. Proctologist
humor.
Psalms 71:23-24 says, “My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you — I, whom you have
redeemed. My tongue will tell of your
righteous acts all day long”
Father, thank you for the new opportunity
to minister in the fire fighter community.
And could you reveal some information to the docs doing Jerry’s test
today? He’s looking really tired. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment