When I tell people that I am a nurse, they usually gain an attitude of respect. When I add that I work in the ER, some have romantic images of heroism and glory. Well, there’s no hero here. Don’t get me wrong. We do everything that you see on TV shows like ER and Scrubs (the medical stuff, I mean). We treat everything from cuts and scrapes to massive heart attacks. The truth of the matter is that without our intervention, many of our patients would not have lived. But the heroic attitude, the “congratulations, you saved that man’s life,” the sense of fulfillment and peace that you would expect after a particularly difficult case was resolved just doesn’t exist. We’re expected to save lives. It’s part of the job description. People just aren’t very impressed when you do what is expected from you.
It seems like the same thing happens in ministry. A pastor, minister, or missionary is expected to change lives. A church that is not growing or making changes in the community is seen as a failure. A missionary who doesn’t report converts sometimes seems like he is not worth his financial support. But when churches do grow and conversions do happen, we often take it for granted. I mean, really, isn’t ministry the job of a minister? Do they really need to be congratulated for doing their job? The truth is that it is a hard job and a little recognition and glory would be nice.
But the glory doesn’t belong to us.
We live in a world of hurting people, people who desperately need God. Our job is to help direct them toward Him. He’s the One who does the real work of saving lives, and He should get all of the glory.
Lord, thank you for saving me. I’m sorry that I am so hard hearted most of the time and that I take for granted all that You have given to me. Please forgive me. Be glorified in all that You’ve done in my life. And Lord, help me to give all the glory to you when the life that you have given me somehow makes a difference in someone else’s life. I am no hero. That job is yours.
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Calling
"Do our lives provide evidence of our calling? How we live seems more important than what specific task we do, when it comes to living a life worthy of our calling."
This quote is from an article that I read today in urbana.org. It was quite timely, as I had an especially difficult time controlling my anger and frustration at work yesterday. You can find it in its entirety by pasting this into your browser search window: http://www.urbana.org/wtoday.ephesians.cfm
This quote is from an article that I read today in urbana.org. It was quite timely, as I had an especially difficult time controlling my anger and frustration at work yesterday. You can find it in its entirety by pasting this into your browser search window: http://www.urbana.org/wtoday.ephesians.cfm
Friday, June 02, 2006
Creator
I had the best day the other day. My roommate, Lindsey, and I went driving in my convertible (which I recently bought from my parents) to the coast.
We started off in Redondo Beach and took a long relaxing walk on the sand. Families were playing in the surf. Young people were getting tossed around on their body boards. A few young men were surfing, and there was one guy attempting to parasail. We watched as a few pelicans plunged into the water to catch a meal, and we stood admiring a beautiful hawk that was hovering on an air current near the top of the rocky cliffs. We even got to see a small crab that was trying to escape the dangers of the beach after floating in on a mass of seaweed.
After leaving Redondo Beach, we drove down the coast a little way and discovered a lookout point in Palos Verdes. From behind the safety railing, we could see that the tall cliffs that we were standing on plunged down to a rocky shore, but, of course, I could not stay behind the railing. As I approached the edge of the cliff, I discovered an amazing sedimentary formation right at the shoreline. It looked as if there was a spring that escaped from the ground about 50 feet from the shore. It deposited enough minerals to make a circular formation that extended out in irregular striations and created an excellent tide-pool environment (something that I would love to explore sometime soon). The area must have been rich in sea life, because there were sea lions nearby, and one of them was doing cartwheels right in front of us. He was sharing the wealth of fish with a couple of pelicans who plunged greedily into the water. The seagulls looked as if they were really enjoying themselves as they effortlessly soared on the air current. The mixture of perfectly blue skies and cool sea breeze made me feel as if I could fly also. I managed to convince myself that wings were required to fly and decided to wait until I got to heaven to attempt flight on my own.
I found the words, "this is so beautiful," and "awesome!" escape my lips several times. I think God is glorified when we find enjoyment in something He created, whether it is in nature, music, the spoken or written word, or in our relationships with one another.
God, thank you for being such a wonderful artist to create all of the sights, sounds, feelings, scents, and tastes that you created. And thank you for creating us with all of the senses to be able to enjoy these things so thoroughly. What an amazing Creator to form so many beautiful things and then fashion beings to enjoy them.
We started off in Redondo Beach and took a long relaxing walk on the sand. Families were playing in the surf. Young people were getting tossed around on their body boards. A few young men were surfing, and there was one guy attempting to parasail. We watched as a few pelicans plunged into the water to catch a meal, and we stood admiring a beautiful hawk that was hovering on an air current near the top of the rocky cliffs. We even got to see a small crab that was trying to escape the dangers of the beach after floating in on a mass of seaweed.
After leaving Redondo Beach, we drove down the coast a little way and discovered a lookout point in Palos Verdes. From behind the safety railing, we could see that the tall cliffs that we were standing on plunged down to a rocky shore, but, of course, I could not stay behind the railing. As I approached the edge of the cliff, I discovered an amazing sedimentary formation right at the shoreline. It looked as if there was a spring that escaped from the ground about 50 feet from the shore. It deposited enough minerals to make a circular formation that extended out in irregular striations and created an excellent tide-pool environment (something that I would love to explore sometime soon). The area must have been rich in sea life, because there were sea lions nearby, and one of them was doing cartwheels right in front of us. He was sharing the wealth of fish with a couple of pelicans who plunged greedily into the water. The seagulls looked as if they were really enjoying themselves as they effortlessly soared on the air current. The mixture of perfectly blue skies and cool sea breeze made me feel as if I could fly also. I managed to convince myself that wings were required to fly and decided to wait until I got to heaven to attempt flight on my own.
I found the words, "this is so beautiful," and "awesome!" escape my lips several times. I think God is glorified when we find enjoyment in something He created, whether it is in nature, music, the spoken or written word, or in our relationships with one another.
God, thank you for being such a wonderful artist to create all of the sights, sounds, feelings, scents, and tastes that you created. And thank you for creating us with all of the senses to be able to enjoy these things so thoroughly. What an amazing Creator to form so many beautiful things and then fashion beings to enjoy them.
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