On the receiving end of wonderful care
As a pastor I have more opportunities to visit hospitals than the average member of the community. In the time here in Peoria I’ve been impressed with the three main hospitals. I must say that the architecture in them is befuddling until you figure out their systems. But the care in them is remarkable.
And when I say care I mean (1) the care of the facilities (clean and well kept), (2) the care of security and confidentiality, and (3) the customer care they extend. Jami and I were on the receiving end of the latter earlier this week and we both feel that she was in good hands the entire time.
It had been some time since I had waited for someone in surgery. The last time we received timely reports from the volunteers staffing the waiting room. What a marvel now to be updated through a status board, replete with color codes to let you know if your loved (by their 7-digit number) was in pre-op, in the midst of the procedure, or in recovery. Since I had given them my cell number, I received text updates, too.
All of these advancements are simply the extension of the care our loving Father in heaven provides for us. He did not merely set the cosmos in motion and step away. No, He is intimately involved in our care, day-in and day-out, through His Holy Spirit and His only-begotten Son, Jesus, about whom St. Paul wrote to the Colossians in the first chapter: 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
God bless your Holy Week with an ever-deepening appreciation of God’s care in time and His providential care for the hereafter in eternity.
A Chance Encounter.
I had started to write this blog before lunch, but I hadn’t left myself enough time to finish it. Since I didn’t want to keep my lunch date waiting, I stopped midway through the third paragraph and headed out.
While I was out, I decided I might as well make the hospital visits, too. It’s a beautiful, sunny spring day in Peoria and the drive downtown was a pleasure.
After my last visit at the Order of Saint Francis medical complex I was walking down that very long hallway to the parking garage. About to overtake a group of three in conversation in front of me and to the right, a young man was overtaking me on my left. He appeared to be the age of our son, Chase. As he came up beside me, he said, quite simply, “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:30).
I wasn’t wearing my clerical collar, but I did have my Pastors Companionbook in my left hand, which has a very small cross outlined in gold on the cover. The perceptive young man noticed that, deduced I was a fellow believer in Christ Jesus, and took a moment and a chance to encourage me in my day.
My response? I said, “Amen!” We talked a little bit as we made our way out of the hospital, he to the top floor of the garage and me to first ramp. And we blessed one another as we parted.
I doubt that I’ll run across that young man anytime soon. But it’s refreshing to remember that he and his like are out there. That little comment/connection made my day.
"The Kingdom of God is like..."
“The Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed…” When I read those words my mind often pictures the large shrub of a mustard plant that has grown from such a humble beginning as a mustard seed. Perhaps yours does, too.
Among the many excellent points that Anthony Esolen makes in a Touchstone magazine essay from years ago is that we are apt to think that the parable has to do with the lowly beginnings of the Kingdom, beginnings that are then swallowed up in greatness and are never seen again.
If that were His point, Jesus could have said, “The Kingdom of God may be compared to the cedar of Lebanon, the mightiest and most beautiful of all the trees, even though it came from a small seed.” But, He didn’t.
The emphasis here certainly doesn’t exclude the great and wonderful things God has brought about in the world. Not at all.
But the emphasis is that the greatness of God can be found in the seemingly smallest of things. In the Christian faith the small is not transcended and dismissed.
And one example would be the thief on the cross next to Jesus; the thief who comes to faith. The greatness of God is found in a movement of the heart.
Whatever brought them there, these two beside Jesus were not good men. They were wicked men deserving of this worst of punishments. But something turned in the one man’s heart. It was an impulse, the smallest and most secret of responses to the call of God. The thief who has been so bad says to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” This is the mustard seed, the speck of yeast in the dough. “Truly I say to you,” says Jesus, “this day you will be with me in Paradise.”
All the wonder, power, and grace of God is in this almost imperceptible turn. Thanks be to Him for this gift and for its continued growth in us.