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| Spirituality in Everyday Life | 09:14 PM, 05/18/2012 |
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Sometimes, uncertainty might be only certainty A few months ago, I returned to work as a hospital chaplain and have rediscovered what it’s like to straddle the chasm between certainty and uncertainty, between clarity and obscurity.The hospital constantly reminds me that uncertainty is the only form of certainty. If you come here seeking moral inevitability or religious certitude, you’ll run headlong into insanity. For instance, if you beli... Read on... Running gives purpose to bravado Two months ago, life was good. I'd lost 28 pounds while jogging with my pound puppy Toby, I was writing my second book, and at 54, I still had comb-able hair. In short, I was feeling on top of my warped and wobbly world. Then my wife introduced me to Eva Nelson, a teacher colleague from our church. After a few minutes of church chat, Eva mentioned her recent half marathon runs and challenged me to race with her team. ... Read on... Learning to forgive in a war zone On Easter morning, 2009, I was the chaplain in the Air Force Field Hospital in Balad, Iraq when three patients were wheeled into our emergency room from a Black Hawk UH-60L helicopter. The first patient had shrapnel in her right eye and a broken left hand, but seemed OK.
Suddenly she blurts, “I couldn’t save him! He’s dead, isn’t he?” “Who?” someone asks. <... Read on... Trust me, God isn't finished with me yet When a recent reader left me a voicemail suggesting that I wasn’t worthy of my chaplain title, I shrugged. That’s OK, I thought, I’ve heard that before.One of those occasions happened during the infamous “toilet week” of my 1999 Saudi Arabia deployment. I call it that because it’s the same week my deployment supervisor told me that I didn’t make the major’s promotion list. ... Read on... Vet takes his final flight The man dying in one of our hospital beds last month was nearly 90. He was old enough to die, but the question his family was asking when I walked into his room was whether he was ready to die. “Hi, I’m Chaplain Norris,” I said to the octogenarian. “A chaplain?” he asked with the lilt of delighted surprise. Then with a toothless smile he added, “H... Read on... Ministry on both sides of the trigger Last year, while deployed to the 548th Intelligence Group at Beale AFB in northern California, the commander asked an airman to show me a sample video of insurgents killed by our aerial drone. The combat video was “scrubbed” of classified data and wasn’t much different than a YouTube video.In a cubicle outside the commander’s office, the airman clicked his keyboard and his screen filled with silhouettes that looked more like film negativ... Read on... War stress difficult to measure If you were following my column in 2009, you’d remember that I wrote about my deployment as the chaplain for the Air Force field hospital in Balad, Iraq. If you missed them, allow me summarize . In one, I mentioned counseling a soldier who was feeling guilty about killing people. When I tried to assure him that he was doing his job, he protested. “You don’t underst... Read on... Pastors aren't just chaplains in private life Whenever I’m asked what the difference is between a pastor and a chaplain, I often joke, “Chaplains are paid more.” But, as I discovered this month when I returned to work as a part-time hospital chaplain, the truth is more complicated.One key difference is that a chaplain serves at the location in which they are immediately needed. So, when a 53-year-old woman arrived in our emergency trauma room with the lights and sirens of Code 3, I was th... Read on... It's best to focus on the positives I was raised by a pastor-father who was fond of the verse "Abstain from all appearance of evil." (1 Thessalonians 5:22) The verse is a catchall for those who condemn what the Bible doesn't specifically oppose. In my father's case, it was alcohol. No surprise given the fact that our church covenant asked members "to abstain from the sale and use of intoxicating dri... Read on... Close encounters of the faith kind This past month, while looking for a car for my college daughter, I responded to a craigslist ad. A few moments later, the buyer sent an enthusiastic reply, expressing with certainty that God wanted me to have her car.Her assumption that I’d be interested in what she was selling sounded much like what I heard from another salesman a few days earlier after I’d finished my daily neighborhood jog. During the coo... Read on... |
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