It is a very emotionally difficult position to be in when a physician asks the family if they want them to do all they can to keep your loved one alive or if you want them to pass away naturally. That conversation, if unprepared for, is very hard to navigate because no one wants to feel like they are choosing … Continue reading →
There is one verse in Scripture that gives us God’s intentions of calling pastors into the service of His church and its Ephesians 4:11 which states, “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers.” The word that the King James translates as “pastor” is actually the word for “shepherd” and that is … Continue reading →
If you are a church pastor or a church lay person who has taken up the assignment of visiting church members during their hospital stay, this post is for you. I want to address seven points of etiquette and guiding principles when it comes to visiting a parishioner in the hospital. Unless you work in a hospital, the dynamics and … Continue reading →
For me, there is nothing more important in conducting a hospital visit with a patient than sharing an appropriate verse of Scripture. Sharing the right Bible verse will provide encouragement and hope for a Christian hospital patient and family. Here, I want to share some Bible verses for you to choose from to share on your visit. You can share … Continue reading →
The doctrine of the “second coming” or what some call “the rapture” are not presented in the Bible for an intellectual exercise but it is there to spur us on to hope. I realize that some students of prophecy think the second coming and the rapture are two different events, while many recognize them as the same. Here, I wish … Continue reading →
As a chaplain at a trauma hospital just miles from the beaches of the upper Gulf Coast, I frequently deal with patients and families who have had diving accidents. In my experience, diving accidents best sum up what it means to have your world shattered. Diving accidents means a family has come to our coast waters and beaches for relaxation … Continue reading →
A spiritual crisis is when tragedy strikes, or a traumatic event occurs, or circumstances weigh so heavily on your heart that you turn toward God and realize you’re disconnected from Him. The crisis becomes that you need God but you’re not sure He is there or you’re not sure how to receive His help or intervention. The crisis is that … Continue reading →
If you do a music app or some type of music download service that allows you to build a playlist, consider building one that will support your grief journey. Music can be therapeutic and having a playlist like this can help you grieve appropriately. Yes, listening to some of these songs will bring a tear to your eye but they’ll … Continue reading →
There are signs of dying when a loved-one is struggling with a terminal disease or for whatever reason is at the end of their life. People don’t die in real life as they do in the movies. Hollywood often portrays death as a split second closing of the eyes while the person is speaking in mid-sentence. Dying isn’t so clean … Continue reading →
I’ve been contemplating Ecclesiastes 1:11 which says, “No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them” (NIV). After we die, it’s just a matter of time until only our closest friends and family remember us. Life moves on for the living, and eventually even they die. Which means that … Continue reading →
Today, we recognize the whole person as having three interactive dimensions of body, mind, and spirit. We care for the body through proper nutrition and exercise. We care for the mind through similar efforts that help keep us grounded in reality and social behavior. But what about the spirit? How do we care for our spirit? Well, it is the … Continue reading →
The gospel is the good news of Christ’s redemptive plan to deliver us out of Satan’s grip in the world around us. It is the good news that Jesus stepped into humanity to become the sacrifice for our sins to rightfully redeem us from this fallen world. Here is what I call the ABC’s of the Gospel because they tell … Continue reading →
When a loved one dies, the love that you’ve had for them or with them does not die. Love and the relationship that you have had does not die with the person. You still carry that love with you and that is the reason you are grieving the loss. With the person no longer available for you to express your … Continue reading →
In the process of grieving, there is no time frame assigned or one-size fits all approach to assure a healthy grieving process. There are elements to healthy grieving that one can be intentionally incorporate into their grieving experience, and that is what I want to share here. I want to share some objectives to aim for as you move forward … Continue reading →
I want to address a topic that I find myself dealing with from time to time as a hospital chaplain and that is notifying children of a family death. It is not uncommon for children to be shielded from the condition of a dying parent or family member in the hospital. An unresponsive patient with breathing tubes and monitor wires … Continue reading →
In her 1969 book, “On Death and Dying,” Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, a Swiss American psychiatrist, introduced us to what we now know as five stages of grief. When she originally penned these stages they were called the five stages of death. At the time, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross was working with terminally ill patients and she cited these five emotions as what were … Continue reading →
Previously I shared a post on Styles of Grief but here I want to share a post on Types of Grief. I’m taking my lead from several sources that have referenced multiple types of grief. So I am going to yield to their wisdom, and am going to use the terms used by Liz Kelly, a licensed social worker in … Continue reading →
Sitting with families who are hearing the bad news of a loved-ones death is a near daily occurrence for me, as a hospital chaplain at a trauma center. Since transferring to this trauma hospital and having this regular occurrence of witnessing people’s reaction to a death notification, my curiosity of grief styles has gripped my interest. The way people respond … Continue reading →
It wasn’t long into my hospital chaplaincy career that I figured out that physicians do not like notifying a family that their patient loved-one has died. I’m mainly referring to a patient who has come into the Emergency Department because of a trauma like a motor vehicle crash or a cardiac arrest. Typically the family of these patients are led … Continue reading →
When we open to Revelation 14, we find the three angel’s messages going out to the world in the midst of these end-times and just before the return of Jesus Christ. These angels are symbolic of the church giving these messages to the world. The word “angel” actually means “messenger” and that is what we see here in Revelation 14:6-12. … Continue reading →
I want to speak to pastoral care in the context of ministry within the role of serving as a pastor. So here I wish to bullet a few points to consider. • Too often the image of a pastor is built around a “leader-executive” role, but not that of a shepherd. The pastor is expected to focused on getting butts … Continue reading →
There is one Former Seventh-day Adventist Facebook group that I still follow, probably because it’s not as angry as the majority of these groups are. Although it has recently occurred to me that it too has the one or two critics who have found their fame in their anti-SDA cause. Over the years I have joined about all of these … Continue reading →
We concluded Revelation 20 with the end of the millennium, the judgment of the wicked dead, and their fate in the lake of fire. What follows is the remaking of Eden and earth made new by fire and as we’ll see in chapter 21, Heaven makes it home on the earth made new. It is also worth mentioning that in … Continue reading →
You may not be familiar with the term “spiritual self-care” so I am going to give you some definition. First, “spiritual” means that element that is non-material in the holistic understanding of man as body, mind, and spirit. The spiritual aspect of our being that is most recognized with the religious that reaches beyond ourselves to a higher existence and … Continue reading →