Happy Monday!

I have finished the first draft of my paper and just sent it to my beloved editor. I am putting the paper to bed for the night and placing the finishing touches on it tomorrow night and turning it in on Wednesday. Please offer up a prayer for this paper. It is a bit different than the other papers I have written.

Geni worked her first teaching job at Burton Hill today and had a wonderful day. We are so excited and proud of her.

John 14:18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

I think God began to work on me becoming a hospital chaplain 22 years ago. Geni was born at John Peter Smith Hospital. She had severe jaundice and a heart murmur at birth. She was immediately placed on the NICU until her release a week after she was born. I phoned at each nursing shift change and made thrice daily visits to see her. This experience gave me an opportunity to see a side of life I would not have seen otherwise.

There was this tiny, preemie named Victoria who was just across the way from Geni in the NICU. She was perfectly formed, but just very small. All Victoria needed to do was grow. There was a sign on her incubator bed that read “Please help my Mom to come and visit me. Please help my Mom to give me a bath.” This broke my heart. I was visiting Geni every chance I could and as often as they would let me in the door and calling a dozen times a day and this little baby who never cried, but just wanted to be held and loved had no one to come and give her the nurturing care she so desperately needed. It was then I decided that when I had finished raising my family and retired from teaching, I was going to go to hospitals and rock babies. Little did I know where that promise would lead me.

God promises in His Word that He will come to us and comfort us. He promises that we will never be alone. When we are a part of the family of God, we are never orphans. When we cry, God hears us. When we are sick in body and soul, He is there to bring His healing grace. When we laugh with joy, God rejoices with us and when we travel far from him by our own choice, the angels in heaven rejoice that we have returned home. God loves us so much that He even calls Himself our Father and claims us as His children. What an amazing family to which we belong. We are sons and daughters of the King!

Take joy in the journey, bring a jacket and don’t forget your crown!! Love you all so very much brothers and sisters, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.

Gcapplenotes@aol.com

I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe and I believe God.