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Emergency Ministries is an IRS 501.c.3 organization and donations are tax-deductible and greatly appreciated. PO Box 9121 * Spring, TX * 77387 Don't forget to send your prayer request, praise reports, etc. - http://www.emergencychaplain.org/forum
March 9, 2010 "Burned Out" "If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied." - Exodus 18:23 (NIV)I was reading an EMS-related BLOG the other day... go figure, huh? One of the topics being discussed was EMS burn-out. No, I am not talking ripping off the starting line in an ambulance... I am, of course, talking about all the stresses of the job that seem to 'silently' mount up over time. The result can be someone leaving the field... or worse. I have to confess to you that I struggle with this quite a bit... especially at the and of a 24-hour shift. But, then again, I'm old :>) What causes this cumulative stress? Well, let's see... off the top of my head;
Death of a co-worker Lack of 'proper' defusing of incidents ("Internalizing") Also, I believe another huge contributing factor is not having GOD as your REAL CHIEF. If it wasn't for HIM in my life, I'd been gone a long time ago. I honestly don't understand how people in public safety can go through what we go through without HIM. Our verse this week discusses this phenomenon. Moses is feeling inundated (burned out) because of the number of people coming to him to solve their problems and legal cases. GOD instructs him to appoint 'lower court' judges to help him. Notice that we not only have to follow HIS directions, HE must command the operation. That is giving up the problem. That means giving it to GOD. Also notice that we won't be stress-free. HE promises that we will be able to handle the stress. And, everyone will benefit if we are under less stress. If we are under less stress on the job, we minimize the symptoms of burnout; constant fatigue, apathy, anger outbursts, depression, etc. And, the people around us also benefit. We can't change our call volume. We can't change the horrific scenes we are sometimes exposed to. We can't change why people call 9-1-1. However, GOD can change us. For HIM to do that, we must first relinquish command to HIM. Need help talking to HIM? Email me (skip@emergencychaplain.org). I want to help you learn how to reduce burnout by asking for mutual aid from our REAL CHIEF and then learn how to serve... ...On HIS Shift,
Copyright © 2010 Chaplain Skip Straus and Emergency Ministries. Don't forget to send your prayer request, praise reports, etc. - http://www.emergencychaplain.org/forum
March 3, 2010 "The Fifth Day" "So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." - Genesis 1:21-22 (NIV)So you're sitting there reading the title of this week's article and you've read the verses for the week and you are sitting there asking, "So, what does this have to do with 'stress relief'?" Glad you asked. My beautiful wife Cindy and I just got home from vacation, celebrating our fifteenth anniversary. We went on a great cruise to the southern Caribbean, making stops at five islands. I got to go scuba diving at every island (see where I am going with this?).
Cindy got to ride on the dive boat on a couple of the excursions and took some awesome pics and I took along my underwater camera and took some pretty cool shots, too.
(Check out my Facebook page; http://www.facebook.com and add me as a friend (Skip Luvshiswife) and look at all the photo albums). I just took up diving about 8 months ago. I love it. Know why? It is one of the best stress relievers that GOD has given us (nice segway, eh?).
On the fifth day of creation, our REAL CHIEF created marine life. On my dives this past week, I saw some of the creations HE made - including some that I had never seen before; a sea snake, brown-spotted moray eels, scorpion fish, black sea urchins, red-heart sea urchin, a seahorse, reef sharks and much more.
Our verses for the week tell us that after HE created them, HE blessed them. Well, HE blessed us by allowing us to witness just a very small sampling of some of the most beautiful aquatic life, islands, reefs and beaches in the world. I feel so truly blessed.
Who knows? Maybe one of these days we will get to dive together. Until then, know that I feel blessed to be serving alongside each of you as you serve... ...On HIS Shift,
Copyright © 2010 Chaplain Skip Straus and Emergency Ministries.
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Copyright © 1999-2010 Emergency Ministries. All Rights Reserved.
Emergency Ministries is a non-profit organization under IRS code 501.c.3
PO Box 9121 * Spring TX 77387
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