May 2003

The "instruction book" for life is the Bible.

"Giving Your All"

May 25th, 2003

" Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. "

- John15:13 (NIV)

Tomorrow, we celebrate "Memorial Day."  It is a day set aside to honor those who have given the ultimate sacrifice so that we may enjoy the freedoms we do... like the freedom to worship.

Below is from an email sent to me:

MEMORIAL DAY 2003

I watched the flag pass by one day.

It fluttered in the breeze.

A young Marine saluted it,

And then he stood at ease.

I looked at him in uniform

So Young, so tall, so proud,

With hair cut square and eyes alert

He'd stand out in any crowd.

I thought how many men like him

Had fallen through the years.

How many died on foreign soil?

How many mothers' tears?

How many pilots' planes shot down?

How many died at sea?

How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?

No, freedom isn't free.

I heard the sound of taps one night,

When everything was still

I listened to the bugler play

And felt a sudden chill.

I wondered just how many times

That taps had meant "Amen,"

When a flag had draped a coffin

Of a brother or a friend.

I thought of all the children,

Of the mothers and the wives,

Of fathers, sons and husbands

With interrupted lives.

I thought about a graveyard

At the bottom of the sea

Of unmarked graves in Arlington.

No, freedom isn't free.

Thank a veteran today... they have truly served...

..On HIS Shift,

"E.M.S. - A System To Save A Life"

May 18th, 2003

"Then Jesus said to them, "I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?"

- Luke 6:9 (NIV)

Today is the start of "National EMS Week." I'll bet a lot of you weren't aware of that.

I started in EMS in the days of BP (before paramedics). If you had an EMT patch, you were tops in the field.   Though I never rode one, I actually saw one-man ambulances back then.  The first ambulance I rode in, in 1972,  was a 1969 Cadillac hearse-conversion hightop... complete with a Q-2 on the roof.  We carried a few splints, some gauze and an oxygen bottle.  Artificial respirations were actually done mouth - to -mouth in most cases. Rubber gloves were something you wore when you delivered a baby... because the OB kit was the only place you would them.

I got my EMT in 1974 and my Paramedic certification back in 1976. We watched and lived the infancy of EMS.  I can still remember walking into an ER with the patient tubed, IVs hanging and meds pushed.   And the looks on nurses faces?  OUCH!  If looks could kill...

I also remember the public education programs from the late 70's.  We had bumper stickers and enamel pins that had the Star of Life on them and the words "EMS - A System To Save A Life."

Well, here were are; twenty plus years in the future and we have really grown as a service.  I don't exactly remember when it was, but recently a paramedic asked me about working on Sundays... "Is it okay?  I mean, I feel bad working Sundays."

2000 years ago, THE FIRST FIRST RESPONDER, Jesus Christ, had healed somebody on the "Sabbath."  (The Sabbath, Saturday, is the Jewish holy day.  Today, Christians celebrate Sunday as the Sabbath).  The ruling Jews of HIS day, the Pharisees, approached our REAL CHIEF and accused HIM of working on the Sabbath... a sin in the Jewish religion.  But, our REAL CHIEF answered their accusations with the question posed in this week's verse... "Is it lawful to do good... to save a life... on Sunday?"

Let me tell you this... if you are working a shift on Sunday, you are doing good... you are doing exactly what Jesus Christ, HIMSELF, was doing 2000 years ago... healing.

If you are off Sundays, by all means, find a church home.  Otherwise, keep doing what HE has assigned you to do...

...On HIS Shift,

PS - Happy Emergency Medical Services Week, 2003.

I am proud to be serving along side you.

- Skip

"Motherly Love"

May 11th, 2003

"While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, "Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you." He replied to him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" Pointing to his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."

- Matthew 12:46-50 (NIV)

Six-year-old Angie and her four-year-old brother Joel were sitting together in church. Joel giggled, sang, and talked out loud. Finally, his big sister had had enough. "You're not supposed to talk out loud in church." "Why? Who's going to stop me?" Joel asked. Angie pointed to the back of the church and said, "See those two men standing by the door? They're hushers."

A mother was preparing pancakes for her sons, Kevin, 5 and Ryan, 3. The boys began to argue over who would get the first pancake. Their mother saw the opportunity for a moral lesson. "If Jesus were sitting here, He would say, 'Let my brother have the first pancake, I can wait.'" Kevin turned to his younger brother and said, "Ryan, you be Jesus!"

A mother was at the beach with her children when the four-year-old son ran up to her, grabbed her hand, and led her to the shore, where a seagull lay dead in the sand. "Mommy, what happened to him?" the son asked. "He died and went to Heaven," the mom replied. The boy thought a moment and then said, "Did God throw him back down?

A wife invited some people to dinner. At the table, she turned to their six-year-old daughter and said, Would you like to say the blessing?" "I wouldn't know what to say," the girl replied. "Just say what you hear Mommy say," the wife answered. The daughter bowed her head and said, "Lord, why on earth did I invite all these people to dinner?"

Well, as you all know, motherhood is not all fun, like we just read. The whole process of becoming a mother, means a great deal of pain. But, did you know that was NOT God’s plan? Apparently, His design for woman meant a pain-free childbirth. But, then, came the first sin. We read in Genesis 3:16, part (a); To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children.”

But, despite all of the pain, there is great joy in motherhood, isn’t there? Ladies, do you remember what it was like? Not the pain… the joy? Do you remember the joy YOU felt? The joy of holding your little one for the very first time? The joy of feeding them for the first time? The joy of watching them take their first step? The thrill of listening to them call you, “Ma-ma” for the first time?

Our REAL CHIEF said,"For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."

What is the “will of the Father in Heaven?” His will is that HIS love is shown to all. Who is my mother then? My mother is all of you who are following our REAL CHIEF’s instructions.  It is for all of you who have spread and shown the love of Christ to your children and to all of us around you. YOU are the moms who serve...