Happy Tuesday! 

When I work on-call I get some comp time.  So, in trying to work out this whole self care thing, I am doing another on-call at JPS tomorrow evening from 6:00 pm until 8:00 am on Thursday.  Following the on-call I return to Huguley for worship and debriefing and then I can go home again.  I love working with the patients, but the over-nighters are kind of a bear and I am still wrestling with the physical recovery following the on-call.  I realize that this is sort of an extended intensive study class and an extraordinary training ground, but I am not used to pulling all-nighters!! In short, I am still prayerfully discerning God’s call for me in the area of pastoral care and the avenue in which I am to serve. 

Prayer:  “Father, my time of prayer is often filled with personal desires.  I pray that one of my greatest desires will be to fully enjoy the gift of the Holy Spirit.  May I desire His influence over my life more than any possession, practice or probability. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.”

“The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.”

Lamentations 3: 22-23

This morning I led worship at Huguley.  We begin each day with a brief worship.  It is a great way to begin each day and the worship sets the tone for the day. I thought tonight I would share my devotion from this morning.

The movie Joyful Noise, starring Queen Latifa and Dolly Parton, is not a great movie, but the music is off the chart.  In part of this movie, Queen Latifa experiences great brokenness in her life and tries to control her surroundings to the point that she finds herself in control of nothing. There comes this very poignant moment when she takes all of her brokenness to the church, sits down at the piano and sings the plaintive old Negro Spiritual, “Fix Me Jesus.”  I began our worship with this piece of music.

When patients come into the hospital they are broken in some way.  They believe, whether they are wheeled, ambulatory or carried in, that the people who are skilled in the science and art of healing will do all they can to “fix” the patient’s brokenness. The patients bring themselves to the highest place, a hospital.  These folks surrender themselves over to strangers trusting that the strangers have the skills and compassion to fix whatever is wrong.

We, who have good physical health, can still carry brokenness around with us.  This brokenness cannot be detected by a lab draw or an x-ray or CT scan.  This brokenness can only be “fixed” by the Master Healer.  We must surrender ourselves to the highest place; the feet of Jesus.  Whether we step into His presence or crawl through our own muck and mire of sin or someone gently carries us, we can go before the Father who sits on the mercy seat. He grants forgiveness, mercy and compassion to all who come before Him, no matter what we lay before Him.  We make the same request as the patient in the hospital; to be fixed in Jesus name.

Take joy in the journey.  Wear comfortable shoes and get some sleep.  Count your blessings and say your prayers.  Love you all and keep praying! 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 only moved by what I believe and I believe God.