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The Library
The Theater
The Den The Study |
Don't forget to send your prayer request, praise reports, etc. - http://www.emergencychaplain.org/forum
March 24, 2010 "Our REAL CHIEF - Supreme Incident Command" "But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body." - Philippians 3:20-21 (NIV)Have you ever been on scene of an emergency and things just seem to be going the wrong way fast? Even with a great incident commander and crews on location, things can go downhill and fast! This is true in life, as well... not just with our work, but in our personal life, too. Arguments. Finances. Neighbors. Friends. Family. The list is almost endless. What does this mean? It means we need an Incident Commander in life... someone to turn our worries over to and ask for help from... we need our REAL CHIEF. A few years back, a Christian artist named Twila Paris wrote a great song called "GOD is in Control." Some of the lyrics; "This is no time for fear - This is a time for faith and determination"
"There is one thing that has always been true - It holds the world together - God is in control"
Yes, our REAL CHIEF is in control. As Ms. Paris wrote, "Why start to worry now?" Turn the worry over to GOD. This is a time for faith and determination as we 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 17, 2010 "All Things Green?" "Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." - Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV)St. Patrick's Day. Here I thought, as maybe you have, that all this day was about is to hold a parade, see people drink green beer and to wear green. So, I decided to do a little research. I was reading several articles on the internet about Saint Patrick. Born somewhere in present day Ireland around 350 - 450 AD, Patrick was raised in a Christian family. In his teens, he allegedly denounced the faith of his family and moved to the coast. According to history, he was kidnapped when he was about 16 and sold into slavery. During his time in slavery, he served as a shepherd. And, according to the articles I read, it was while he was shepherding that he turned back to faith in our REAL CHIEF and GOD sent visions to him that he would return to his homeland of Ireland and preach the Gospel of CHRIST. He did return to Ireland and was said to have established the Catholic church there. One of the several interesting facts I learned about him was that he used the three-leaf clover to serve as visual reference to the Holy Trinity of GOD (GOD, the Father, GOD, the Son and GOD, the Holy Spirit). He is said to have died on a March 17th. So, today is meant to celebrate a man like you and I... a man who came to know GOD as his REAL CHIEF and was given the command from CHRIST.. "go and make disciples of all nations.." Saint Patrick was serving... ...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 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;
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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