An inconvinient truth.

No this topic doesn't refer to Al Gore, that said, I would like to talk about hospitals and the counselling that most hospitals administer through a Chaplin. I am a regular person with regular thoughts, but when I feel overwhelmed I make my way to my local hospital where I find solace and guidance through the ministry of the Chaplaincy, more specifically the spiritual resources associated with that. Although I am no longer an out patient, I still feel a very strong connection to the time I spent as a patient back in 1999 and because I still struggle with those same issues, the community does have resources still available to me, albeit there is now red tape to cross over (in a metaphorical sense) if I still want to be a member of that community (which I am) but to participate in those other things that the hospital offers for people like me.

I am a firm believer in the local church in times of crisis, but what the local church cannot offer in the same way as a hospital, is a bed and doctors for someone who is experiencing a psychological crisis which may have lasting consequences for the person suffering and the family involved. Hence the ministry of the Chaplin. I have tried to develop a relationship with my Chaplin, and I think that although he doesn't know my name, I believe he knows who I am.

I have gone to him several times, just to talk, his name is Don Shields. Back in 1999 I had a patient doctor relationship with the chief of psychiatry at Markham's Hospital, which lead me to seek further help from the programs that the hospital administers. To me, Markham Stouffville Hospital is a second home, I frequently visit the hospital to pray and to seek spiritual guidance, and for that I am thankful. I like being in an environment that is safe, and I still consider myself to be a recovering patient, more than an out patient and thankful for the religious freedoms, and the Chaplaincy that has ministered to me in the past.

Comments

The Parable of the Ten Virgins.

Matthew 25:1-13 I have discovered a remarkable interpretation of this parable that I would like to share with you. The story in the Bible goes like this: “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. 6 “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ 7 “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’ 9 “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy som...

Age of Brokenness.

We are living in an age of brokenness, no matter what age you are, you probably have been touched with relationships falling apart, which causes more and more people to live in isolation. In this generation there is less of an incentive to heal and reconcile relationships, but that doesn’t excuse the amount of people who are broken. Why people don’t seem to be motivated to heal relationships is because our beliefs about faith and God have changed, really giving us less of an incentive to do what our religion says. If I act from my personal beliefs, but the person that I am responding to has abandoned religious beliefs, than the response to my wanting things to be better can be misinterpreted and rejected then by someone else. Generally when a society has expectations about broken relationships, loneliness and isolation, and the beliefs are generally accepted, society becomes a more compassionate society, because all value the same things. When religious values are undermined and ...

The Biblical Meaning of “Life in the Spirit.”

“Life in the Spirit” is an example that the Apostle Paul gives in the book of Romans starting in chapter 5 and going through to chapter 8. He begins by telling us we are justified by faith (5:1), and have gained access by faith into the grace of God (5:2). We have been delivered from God’s wrath (5:9) and we have been reconciled to God through the death of His Son (5:10). He goes on to explain that through Adam all die (5:12), and that the free Gift of God brings justification and righteousness to the believing sinner (5:15-17). Through our conversion we are baptized into Christ and into his death, which frees us from the law and makes us dead to sin (6:2-4). He explains that just as Christ was raised from the dead, we are given new life in Christ (6:4). Our old unregenerate self was crucified with Christ so that our body of sin might be done away with (6:5-6). Because we have died to sin, we now submit ourselves to God being that we are now under grace, not the law (6:8-1...

The Super Blogosphere of a parallel word.

Search This Blog