People are people no matter what!

Why would someone, in this case myself, say "People are people, no matter what"?  I believe that we are losing how special we really are.  I do understand that we are all totally depraved individuals, only seeking self gratification but there is a cultural shift to make people no longer special but God did.

"Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

   " So God created man in his own image,
    in the image of God he created him;
    male and female he created them."

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:26-28 ESV)

I hear it all the time, you can't pick or read any articles that deals with humanity, medical or ethics and not find it mentioned but what is it?  The quality of life, is usually the word thrown around.  Just imagine you've just had your first baby and the Doctor and Nurses are fussing and you think somethings wrong.  Then they bring you your baby and you notice she has downs syndrome. The Nurse, pats you on your shoulder and tells you shes so sorry.

I use this incomplete illustration because I have heard Doctors and Nurses who have said "this child should not have been allowed to be born, what is there quality of life going to be".  What they have forgotten is that even this beautiful child is created in the image of God and dismissed because she's not going to be like everyone else.  That's OK, because you know everyone else usually isn't so great, that's why the path to Hell is a broad road.

I want to leave on a question because there is a lot more and I want to continue talking about this.  The question is: "How do we steer society back to one that celebrates life?"...to be continued...

 

I welcome 2009, even though it doesnt need my approval!

For the few people who read my blog, happy new year! It has been along time since I posted anything and feel a little guilty. I have struggled this last few months with some pretty deep emotional and spiritual issues. All made that much more difficult by the conflict in former church and My family choosing to leave it. I am hoping that 2009 will offer both a time to heal and a time to grow in my faith.
The kids are doing great and mom is well, for everyone who knows my wife she is being Sarah. I am blessed, outside of our Lord, they are my rock. I am still in the process of becoming a chaplain candidate for the Missouri National Guard. I have several decisions to make in this upcoming semester.

The Things I must Decide:
1. I can graduate in the spring of 2010 with one degree (M.Div or MACO)
2. Or I can graduate in the spring of 2011 with both (Both M.Div and MACO)
3. If I do the CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education) residency it pushes everything back an additional year.
4. A couple of my professors think I should go on and get my PhD, in either pastoral care and counseling or in just counseling. They think I would be good at training future chaplains or people who care and counsel others.

They all sound simple, but in order to graduate with both or just one I have to schedule classes in an exact way. CPE will throw everything off! Also, with the Guard and active duty options I have to look at deployment immediately after graduation. Which is OK but then what do I do, especially if I am still in the Guard? Then if you throw in the whole getting a Doctorate, an actual PhD, not a D.Min, that's three years of classes and an additional two years to write a minimum of a hundred page desertion.
So, please pray for me! First for discernment of God's will and to bring my will into alignment with His. Secondly, what ever decision that I do end up making that my family and I can find peace with it.

How God changes His children

I have finally finished my first credit hour of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE). This summer program changed my life. I spent upwards of 70 hours a week at the hospital, Saint Luke's in Kansas City. A lot of the time was split between Saint Luke's on the Plaza and Saint Luke's South, which anyone from Missouri or Kansas knows Johnson County. Each hospital had its own personality, of staff, patients and experiences.
God opened my eyes to what the effect of the Fall is and just how far we are away from our heavenly Father. How sin ravages our bodies, a lifetime of it effects everything, even how we die. How our pride and arrogance keep us separated from His glory and the amazing gift of Christ crucification but also the strength that the Holy Spirit can bestow. I have seen mankind's underbelly, people who have worked hard to be good and who become the targets of random violence just because of where they live. Hatred of Man for Man and how that is played out in our interactions with each other, beating, stabbings and abandonment. The ravages of drugs, alcohol, on the person and there families and finally death. Watching death and how it can be so utterly terrifying or can be such a sign of His Grace. Watching people deny God and die, I would realize that there suffering wasn't ending as they hope but was going to be eternal. Do you know how heart wrenching that can be, how you can plead with someone, praying that the Holy Spirit would come and dwell within them, asking if not begging them to except Christ. Only to watch them die, unrepentant and afraid?
God also showed me how love and compassion knows no race, age or gender. That He pours out His love to us and carries us through what should and can be the scariest things that ever happen to us. How many believers ministered to me, the Chaplain Intern, in his times of need. They where the ones sick, they where the ones in need of compassion, yet the Spirit moved them and gave them strength to minister to me and show me love. The love that comes from the fellowship of believers and how they can bring that to those in greatest need.
I ran out of my own strength about the 3rd week, God put me in my place. I got what is called "Compassion Fatigue", or as it may be better known as type of burn out. I cared to much, opened myself to others peoples emotions and suffering to much and tried to do it all on my own strength. I was taught how to rely not on myself but on God and the people He puts in my path. I will expand on all these topics, the people I met (no real names) and my current school semester, soon...