April 5 – “Final Intros”

Yesterday I met with the final shift of firefighters.  For some reason I didn’t know too many of these guys ahead of time, and of the three I did know, only one was actually there.  I think the other two were doing a water training exercise of some kind.  I don’t know if the lack of prior relationship had anything to do with it, but the first meeting was really slow.  There was just not much activity.  They did tease a little bit with one guy by making fun of his driving, but beyond that they seemed to be all business.  Or all bored.  I couldn’t tell which.  The one comment that was made asked us to make sure as we developed the chaplain position that we honor each individual fire fighter’s wishes regarding their own clergy being contacted in any emergency.  I assured them that that was already on our list.  I also asked them to tell me things like who their own clergy is during the times I visit the stations.  I did meet the guy who is the acting battalion chief for the shift.  I talked briefly to the husband of a girl who used to come to Seaside.  And I congratulated another guy on the pending birth of his first child. 

The last meeting was actually kind of fun.  The guy who was supposed to introduce me wasn’t there yet, so I just jumped right in.  When I first arrived I didn’t see anyone around, so I went into the living quarters.  I could hear the guys in the bedroom area discussing one of the policy changes the department had handed down, so I went back into the truck bay.  This time I noticed a guy by himself cleaning a fishing reel.  We struck up a conversation about fishing.  He and a buddy run a deep sea fishing operation on their days off, so we had something in common.  I told him a little about my Dad’s days operating a deep sea boat years ago.  Nice guy, but very quiet.  The trucks from the other two stations began to arrive, so the rest of the crew came out to greet them.  The one guy I knew was a captain at that station.  I baptized him when he was a teenager.  The meeting itself didn’t take very long.  They were all very welcoming and seemed pleased to have me on board.  I hung around for a while and listened to the resident story teller hold court with tales about other guys in the department.  Very funny stuff.  I also met a fellow who told me about his camping days with Boy Scouts as well as a time when Nathan helped him to expose his true identity at a union meeting.  Enough said about that one.   

I guess now I just have to get the training session behind me on the weekend of the 19^th and start making the rounds of the stations to get to know the guys better.  There are many other things that I’m sure will come up, but I’ll just take those one step at a time. 

Psalms 84:1-2 says, “How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty!  My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.”

Father, direct my movements with the firefighters.  Keep them safe.  Amen.