The Work of the Chaplain
By: Ralph Thompson
You may be familiar with the Green Berets of the US Army. They are highly skilled and trained for special operations. They spend much of their time practicing and a lot of time doing ‘routine’ duties….then the call comes in and they spring into action. Green Berets take care of the jobs that no one else can.
Emergency Chaplains are the ‘Green Berets’ of the pastoral army. We may not be in the physical shape as our military counterparts, but we are highly skilled and trained for special operation. We spend time practicing our skills and taking care of routine tasks…and then the call comes in. Emergency Chaplains spring into action and take care of the jobs that no one else can.
Calls can come in anytime…day or night. Sometimes they come in 2 or 3 at the same time. Some days there are no calls at all. No matter how often or when the calls come, we seek to go and help those who are in crisis.
Our estimated cost for providing chaplaincy is about $25 per hour and we are able to offer counseling, comfort and crisis response because of your generous gifts. Let me share a few examples of what your donations have allowed us to do recently:
A monthly gift of $25, (One hour) provided a counseling session for an individual.
A monthly gift of $50, (Two hours) provided care for family members waiting in the Emergency Room while a loved one was being treated for critical injuries sustained in an automobile accident.
A monthly gift of $75, (Three hours) provided ministry care for the family of a 33 year old man who died in his sleep.
A monthly gift of $100, (Four hours) provided two pre-martial counseling sessions for a young, newly engaged couple.
The call for assistance where the young man was found dead came in the early morning. Although I have attended countless families during similar circumstances, the time that I spent on that scene stretched every area of training that I had under my belt.
That call placed me face-to-face with a young widow and a fatherless child who went to bed just a few hours earlier with no thought of waking up a widow or not having a daddy.
Our paramedics had discontinued CPR just prior to my arrival and were waiting for me. They gave me a briefing and took me into the next room and we delivered the death notification to the man’s wife.
For the next three hours I rode the emotional roller coaster with this family. Denial…anger…bargaining…acceptance…back to denial and through the cycle again…and again…and again. If you have ever been through anything like this, you understand. If not, you don’t.
I made phone calls. I greeted neighbors. I took phone messages. I gave family members directions over the phone while they drove. I held her while she cried. I listened to her when she asked how God could let this happen. I stood there while she pounded on my chest and demanded that I call the paramedics back to help her husband.
God gave me a special privilege to minister to this Christian family in Jesus’ Name during the greatest crisis they have ever experienced.
In my follow up with the young widow, she remembered the raw moments of that morning but she wanted to thank me for being there with her. She believes that God sent me there that morning to take care of her. I believe that God sent me there, too.
Thank you for being a part of this important work that the Lord has given us to do.
