Casual Call
For the past three years I served as a volunteer chaplain at our local hospital. I have logged over one thousand hours and gained valuable experience. Visiting and praying with patients have enlarged my compassion for the human condition. Being with families who lost their loved one from disease or accident has reminded me of the frailty and brevity of life.
Recently, I applied for a casual call chaplain paid position at the hospital. This means I will be on a rotation list with other hospital chaplains responding to emergencies that involve trauma accidents and death. Although I have done this as a volunteer, this new position involves day or night calls on a scheduled basis. A new challenge for me.
Interestingly, I started my pastoral ministry fifty years ago at a large metropolitan parish that had casual call ministry to three major hospitals. Still wet behind the ears, I was thrown into life and death situations at all hours that shook my very foundation. When I left that assignment, I swore I would never be a hospital chaplain again. Life has a way of changing your outlook and priorities.
It can be said that I am spending many of my waking hours with the sick and dying. In addition to being a local church pastor I am now an on call hospital and hospice chaplain. In these later years of ministry, I feel more fulfilled and energized than ever before.
Growing up I knew it was somewhat of a disappointment to my father that I didn’t want to follow in his footsteps as a doctor. Sometimes when I walk the hospital halls or stand in the ER, I wonder if my dad isn’t looking down and smiling and saying, “I knew you had it in you son.” I think my Heavenly Father is saying the same thing.
Sorry, I need to go, the pager is calling!
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