Stress Relief - A Weekly Article from the Fire & EMS Chaplain

"Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord--Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here--has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit." Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized..."

- Acts 9:17-18 (NIV)

To quote the line from the old gospel song, "Amazing Grace," - "I was blind, but now I see."

Yesterday, I went for my pre-op appointment to make certain that I am a candidate for LASIK surgery. If you are unfamiliar with this, it is a procedure where a laser is used to reshape the cornea. The goal is to achieve 20/20 (or as close to it as possible) vision. To those of you who have never worn glasses and/or contacts, I don't think you can appreciate how it will feel to be able to wake up and see across the room.

Anyway, the exam took 2 and 1/2 hours. And, I am a candidate. Next Saturday, I go for the surgery! I would appreciate your prayers for this.

I was thinking about this procedure and how it relates to my life before I came into a relationship with my REAL CHIEF... with JESUS. I was brought up in the church. I knew what it meant to "be religious." I didn't know what it meant, though, to have a relationship with HIM. So, even though I could "see" HIM when I "put on my religious glasses," I could never really see HIM clearly, because my wrongs (my sins) distorted my view.

But, then I asked CHRIST to become the INCIDENT COMMANDER of my life and, all of a sudden, I could see HIM clearly, without the need of my "religious glasses."

This same experience happened to the Apostle Paul - he once was blind, but, now could see... by meeting JESUS.

Next Sunday, I don't know if I will be able to sit down and write an article, as I have an appointment for my one-day follow-up after the surgery. So, I am giving you fair warning. Of course, if my eyes are able to focus on the task, I will most certainly be sitting here, pounding away at the keyboard.

But, by next week at this time, prayerfully, I won't need glasses anymore!

Are you blinded by religion? Is your "vision" clouded because of sin in your life? Call out to CHRIST and ask HIM to become your REAL CHIEF. Then, join me in saying, "I was blind, but now I see" clearly, as I serve...

...On HIS Shift,

"Using Your Power"

August 24th, 2003

" For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline."

- 2 Timothy 1:7 (NIV)

Sorry this is coming to you late today. I just got home from a "Wild At Heart" men's conference with about 120 men from my church.

We went up to the hill country of Texas on Friday morning and came back this afternoon.

We studied, we shared, we laughed, we even shed a tear or three. But, most importantly I believe, we learned (or, at least, began to learn) what our REAL CHIEF wants from us as men who follow HIM.

As I started to write this week's article, I immediately thought about Tim Allen on the "Home Improvement" television show... men's retreat??? OH-oh-oh... in the famous Tim Allen grunting voice. "MORE POWER!" heheheheheh

We did get to do some very cool stuff... shoot guns (skeet shooting), shoot ourselves down 100 foot waterslides... jump off of a tower onto a giant mattress in the lake, causing someone sitting on the other end to be launched twenty feet in the air... ahhhhhhhhhhhhh. It was great.

But, the most impactful activity on me, was climbing a telephone and sitting on the edge of a three foot by three foot platform and being attached to a "zip line" as you looked two hundred feet below you to the lake. The zip line? Oh, just a mere NINE HUNDRED and THREE feet across to the other side of the lake!!!

As soon as I freed myself from that tiny little perch... ZING off I went. It was one of the most awesome feelings!

Our REAL CHIEF, our verse this week says, gives us a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. As men, especially as Christian men, we are to "attack" everything in our lives with this supernatural power... our jobs, our relationships, our marriages. When we do so, we go forth with HIS strength, HIS love and HIS power as we strive to boldly serve...

...On HIS Shift,

"Ripple Effect"

August 17th, 2003

"So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, "Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."

To the woman He said, "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you."

To Adam He said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, `You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."

- Genesis 3:14-19 (NIV)

According to statistics from the MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) website; "More than 17,000 killed every year in alcohol related crashes. One person dead every thirty minutes. One person injured almost every minute."

I have made so many drunk-driving ~~accidents~~ crashes in my career, that I can't even begin to guess at the number.

The worst part is the affect that it has on so many people, other than the drunk. Because one person chose to get behind the wheel of a 3000 pound motorized hunk of steel while drunk, the ripple effects last forever.

In the worst cases I have seen, the ones killed are laying in the roadway, usually badly mangled, and family members show up on scene. Can you imagine the horror? It's bad enough knowing that your sixteen year-old died a traumatic death... it's another thing entirely seeing you loved one in that situation. Thus begins the "ripple effect" (definitely no pun intended - ie:ripple wine) -

The drunk goes to jail, or the hospital, or the morgue. His/her family suffers financially and emotionally. Divorces can happen because of it... businesses lost... driver's licenses gone.

On the victim(s)' side of thing; their families are left without a father, or a mother or a child... or an entire family unit. This means that future generations of that family may never exist because of the one sin of driving drunk.

Our verses this week tell that same story; one sin has a ripple effect that lasts forever. The serpent talked Eve into taking the forbidden fruit. She, in turn, talked Adam into doing likewise. Thus, serpents are despised, women have pain in childbirth and men have to sweat and toil to make a living.. all because of one sin.

I want each of you to stop and think the next time you are at a party... or wherever - don't drink and drive. Help others, who might not follow our REAL CHIEF, prevent a ripple effect... Let them know you will drive them home. Why? Tell them because you care for them and so does our REAL CHIEF and you are doing it while serving...

...On HIS Shift,

"In The Heat Of The Day"

August 10th, 2003

"He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."

- Isaiah 40:29-31 (NIV)

This past Thursday, in "the heat of the day," around 1600 hours, we were toned out to a motor vehicle accident with possible entrapment. That day, Houston's heat record was shattered: we hit 104 degrees. This beat the old record of 101 set back in 1963. With our ever-present humidity, the heat index was 116 degrees... in the shade, mind you.

We arrived on scene and found two vehicles with heavy damage. My patient was in the right, rear passenger seat.... but, she wasn't a passenger - she had been the driver. The impact had broken her seat back and she had wound up in the back seat.

Anyway, one crew member applied a cervical collar from outside the vehicle, as I crawled inside what was left of her little car. I was able to get an IV started on her, as we waited for the fire department to arrived with the extrication tools. I stayed with her the entire time... as we were covered with a tarp while the extrication was under way. I assured her I would stay with her until we had her loaded in the helicopter, that we had called for.

While we were inside the car, my supervisor peaked in through what used to be a back windshield. He looked at me and said, "Why don't you come out of there for a while and get someone to relieve you?" He had looked in and seen me drenched in sweat. It had to have been over 120 degrees inside that batch of twisted metal and plastic.

I told him that I was okay... because, what he didn't see was me holding that lady's hand. At that brief moment in time, I was her only contact and I wanted to make sure she was being comforted to the best of my ability.

In a matter of about ten minutes, we had her extricated and loaded in the helicopter. The lady may never remember me, but I think she will remember that someone stayed with her and held her hand... which helped her get through that ordeal.

Our REAL CHIEF is like that... HE is there for you... to hold your hand during the catastrophes in your life... "to renew" your strength.

Allow HIM to comfort you... to "hold your hand" as you serve...

...On HIS Shift,

"Sweaty & Bloody"

August 3rd, 2003

"One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, he saw at the water's edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat."

- Luke 5:1 - 3 (NIV)

At church this morning, I was reminded of a great thing about our REAL CHIEF; HE meets you on your turf!

Greg Johnson, our Worship Pastor, preached this morning on ministering to those around you. But, he reminded me of how that started - with CHRIST.

Early on in HIS ministry on earth, JESUS went to where the people where - in the case of the verses for this week, to the fishing docks. Think about it - sweaty, smelly fishermen who had been out all night and hadn't caught a thing. So, not only are they smelly and sweaty, they are "ticked off," too! But, our REAL CHIEF came to them to touch their lives in a real and personal way.

First, HE had them put their nets out again - knowing that they had been fishing all night with no catch. When they did as HE asked, the BIBLE says that they caught so many fish that their nets began to break and their boats almost sank!

And, JESUS provided some STRESS RELIEF for them right then - HE told them not to worry, but that HE was going to teach them to be "fishers" of men. THE CHIEF , HIMSELF, was going to teach them. The BIBLE then says that the fishermen "left everything" to follow HIM.

So, there you are... all sweaty and bloody and you've been up all night on calls. Our REAL CHIEF comes to you, just as you are, in a real and personal way and is offering to teach you how to go out into this world and teach others about HIS love and HIS mercy as you serve...

...On HIS Shift,

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.

STRESS RELIEF is written every week, usually on Sunday afternoons.