STRESS RELIEF for Firefighters & Paramedics from Chaplain Skip

This is now our sixth week to be sharing with you from my journal of a Medical Missions trip we took to Ecuador in February. Last week's article took a look at our "day off." This week, we look at day 7 - a Thursday.

Sure... we had a little warning - the principal of a local elementary school asked if she could bring ALL her students to the clinic. 200 of them to be exact! So, we were to open early and would see 100 K - 3rd graders today and 100 4th - 6th graders tomorrow.

We "opened up" at 0900 and started seeing the kids in groups of six. Right after we started up, a man walked up and said his son was dying and could we come to house? Working with us was "Dr. Steve" - an American physician who has been working as a missionary doctor in Ecuador since 1975. Great man with a great spirit. Anyway, Dr. Steve tells the man, "Sure, but let's pray for him first." And, about five of us gathered around the man and prayed for his son.

Dr. Steve and I then walked up the mountain roads... and I do mean UP! These roads are cut at about a 15 degree grade. A couple of times I had to stop and catch my breath at the low-oxygen altitude of 11,000 feet! Dr. Steve was understanding and would stand and wait for me. We arrived at the man's home - an adobe brick structure with a bare concrete floor and a tin roof. There were two beds with a blanket hung between them. That constituted the entire house, with the exception of an old door laid horizontal, that served as the meal preparation area. There is no running water. There is no toilet.

Laying in the bed was our patient - the man's son. Who, in fact, wasn't dying at all. He was just very sick with what appeared to be a bad case of the flu. Dr. Steve prescribed some medication and the man's daughter to follow us back down the mountain to the clinic area to get the medicine.

On the way out the gate, a young boy runs up to us and asks us to come help his father. So, we follow the boy of seven to his humble home. Turns out the boy's father's foot had been run over by a car two days earlier. He had been seen at a hospital and had the x-rays showing no fractures. However, he had a very large abrasion on his foot that was on its' way to becoming infected. Dr. Steve and I then went back down to the clinic and he had me return to the man with some antibiotics, some antibiotic cream and some bandages.

We ended up seeing a total of over 400 patients on this day! The best part? Over sixty of them gave their life to CHRIST. Yeah, GOD!

That night, I was telling Cindy and Megan about it over the phone. When I told Megan how many of the people had given theirs life to GOD, her response was, "Is that all? There should have been more!" Yeah, buddy! Of course, it wasn't five thousand (as in our verse this week). But, it was a huge number to those of us serving that day.

We were all totally exhausted, yet ecstatic at the same time. This was a day to remember as we served...

...On HIS Shift,

Now you can post Prayer Requests and much, much more by registering with the all new Emergency Ministries forum board.

Simply go to www.emergencychaplain.org/forum. Right under the EM banner, you will see a "Check Mark" that says "REGISTER". Click on that, get signed up and start posting on many topics.

March 20, 2007

"Time Out - and About"

"...for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his."

- Hebrews 4:10 (NIV)

This is now the fifth week to be sharing with you from my journal of a Medical Missions trip to Ecuador. Last week's article was of a synopsis of days 4 and 5. This week, we look at our "day off" - which happened to be Valentine's Day and our Day 6 in Quito, Ecuador.

Our day off began for me sitting studying the SOG for LIFE (The BIBLE). I had been praying for and thanking GOD for teaching me humility. I was reading in Philippians 2:1-4 - "If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." No sooner had I read that, than a man I look up to, one of our Elders, sat down at the breakfast table with me. I asked him how he had grown to be so humble and told him what verses I had just read. Bob gave me a great reminder. He said, "Well, remember that Paul also wrote 'I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. (Romans 7:15)" He went on to explain that humility is something that even he battles with everyday.

So, with the day off to a great start, we all got to climb on the bus for a two hour ride through the mountains to a small Quichuan Indian town to shop at their market. On the way, we passed beautiful vistas, deep gorges (without so much as a guardrail beside the road), rose plantations and small towns... many of which had street vendors grilling fresh guinea pig - uh, no thanks. Also on the way, we got to stop at the marker for the equator - latitude 0-0-0. I had my photo taken with one foot in the northern hemisphere and one foot in the southern hemisphere, with my hands raised to GOD - pretty cool - getting to praise HIM in two hemispheres at once!

Then, it was on to the market. Those of you that know me at all, know that shopping isn't my idea of fun. But, you know what? I spent four hours going through that place picking out stuff for Cindy and Megan... like 100% Alpaca wool sweaters and some silver jewelry. At the end of our shopping spree, some young Quichuan Indian girls got on our bus, dressed in traditional garb, and sang three songs for us.

It was a great day off. We need that, you know? Every one of us needs the rest. GOD set the example when HE rested.

When you rest, you get re-charged to do HIS work. And, as you will read next week... we needed it for the next couple of days at the clinic!

Until next week, stay safe... get some rest...

...On HIS Shift,

Now you can post Prayer Requests and much, much more by registering with the all new Emergency Ministries forum board.

Simply go to www.emergencychaplain.org/forum. Right under the EM banner, you will see a "Check Mark" that says "REGISTER". Click on that, get signed up and start posting on many topics.

March 11, 2007

"In HIS Presence"

"I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone "like a son of man," dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance."

- Revelation 1:12-16 (NIV)

This is the fourth week to be sharing with you from my Journal of a Medical Missions trip to Ecuador. Last week's article was of a synopsis of Day 3 of the trip; This week we will explore days 4 and 5.

It seems that the team adapted to the way GOD needed to use us. And, HE was good to us... giving us "the right amount" of patients every day. For example, day 3 (Sunday) was the first day of clinic and we saw a little over 100 patients. Well, to be honest, that was all we could have handled due to our setup... we were learning as we went.

Monday, we a little over 150. Tuesday, we saw over 250. Then, as we will see in future articles, we saw over 400 each day on Thursday and Friday - for a total of almost 1300 patients.

Monday, we added a fourth person to our triage team... Gayle is our Pastor's wife and I didn't know it until about 2 months ago, she is a RN - just doesn't practice anymore. Well, she got "back in practice" and it was great to have her.

God showed me something really special this day, too. We found ourselves triaged whole families at once - sometimes six or seven at a time. I was triaging a mom and her four kids, the oldest being 15. Cindy and I's youngest is 16, so it kind of hit home. What struck me was how, every time I check a vital sign on one of her family members, she would lean in as far as she could to watch. I would turn and look and she would have this huge smile on her face. I could just see the excitement, the amazement, the curiosity and the fascination. I found myself praying that one day, Megan would want to come on a mission trip with me and see this - experience this.

We also found out that the father and the aunt of the two stabbing victims from Sunday gave their lives to CHRIST today!

Our Tuesday morning worship time was very rich. Emily, our dentist, stood and read the above verses from Revelation. She asked us to close our eyes and pray. She asked us to picture JESUS in our own way, as the Apostle John did in Revelation... to picture HIM standing right there in the room. To picture HIM hold you and loving you. To see HIS brilliance, HIS glory, HIS love, HIS peace.

That really set the tone for me. HE was real, personal, standing along side us on the side of that mountain, seeing HIS people get medical aid... some for the first time in their life.

Our REAL CHIEF wants so much for you to see HIM stand right there in front of you with HIS arms reaching out. HE is saying, "I love you."

Thank you for allowing me to share this journey with you. Thank you for allowing me to serve alongside you...

...On HIS Shift,

Now you can post Prayer Requests and much, much more by registering with the all new Emergency Ministries forum board.

Simply go to www.emergencychaplain.org/forum. Right under the EM banner, you will see a "Check Mark" that says "REGISTER". Click on that, get signed up and start posting on many topics.

March 4, 2007

"A Servant's Life"

"...a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."

- Luke 12:15(b) (NIV)

This is the third week to be sharing with you from my Journal of a Medical Missions trip to Ecuador. Last week's article was of a synopsis of the first two days of this journey with GOD. This week, we will talk about Day 3 of the trip;

Those of us in public safety know a couple of things; First, we don't make much money and, second, we love what we do (Okay... MOST of the time! heheheh).

Well, having been to Ecuador, I have discovered that we make a fortune, compared to what our counterparts earn there. Get this; the average income in the capital city of Quito is $253 per month. However, outside the urban areas, like where we served on our mission trip, the people make on the average of $2 per day. I tell you that to try and help paint a picture of the people and the community where we served.

We left early that Sunday morning for the 1 and 1/2 hour bus ride through the streets of Quito, through the tunnels, through the poor side of the city and up into the mountain are south of Quito... and about 1000 feet higher than the city (which is about 9500 feet itself!). The last few miles are dirt roads lined with sheep, dogs, people and brick ovens. We arrive with the intention of attending services at the little church where our clinic was set up: Santospamba. Since the clinic was set up in the church building, services were held under the awnings outside... awnings that would later be transformed into triage areas, kids areas, pharmacy and prayer and counseling.

The service was mostly in Spanish (go figure, huh?) and it was thrilling hearing all the Worship and Praise in Spanish.

Right after service, we went to work getting everything set up to start seeing patients. Well, two of the locals didn't want to wait... they walked in asking for help... you see, they had been in a knife fight about 10 hours earlier. They had lost. So, the team went to work. Since things weren't unpacked yet, we found everything we needed except suture thread. So, one of our docs actually used the patients' own hair to sew up a head wound. Right out of the missionary doctor's handbook!

Later that day, I had a pre-eclamptic woman come through my little spot in triage. She was pregnant with twins. To make a long story short, she ended in the prayer tent and accepted CHRIST as the manager of her life. We prayed that she understood that it was a MUST for her to go to and hospital in Quito and have those babies. Our prayer was answered and on Thursday, we got to see her get out of a taxi with twins in hand!!!

We saw around 150 patients that first day. We saw some we couldn't help... and that was painful. One was a beautiful little girl of 16 who had burn scars from injuries incurred when she was 2. She wanted us to "fix" her scars. She was brokenhearted that we couldn't help.

We drove the hour and a half back to the city... exhausted, yet uplifted. I felt so used by GOD. And, I felt so blessed to be able to serve like that.

Serving folks who live in total poverty, yet who still manage to smile and hug, is such a huge gift from GOD. I am so happy that GOD wanted to share with me. I am so glad that HE is teaching me that our life does NOT exist on how much we have. Sometimes, it is on how much we give....

...On HIS Shift,

PS - Be sure and check out our new Forum - www.emergencychaplain.org/forum

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It is my prayer that the verses we discuss help each of you as it has helped me deal with the amount of stress we are all faced to deal with.

If you are not yet saved, I have Good News for you. Jesus loves you very much and His Holy Spirit is drawing you to Him. To learn more, click here.

Chaplain Skip writes STRESS RELIEF every week, usually on Sunday afternoon