Has Anyone Noticed Job Titles Have Changed?

Has Anyone Noticed Job Titles Have Changed? http://mentzersmoment.blogspot.com/2011/04/has-anyone-noticed-job-titles-have.html

Do You Hate Dirty Windows?

Do you hate dirty car windows as much as I do?  Traveling around as a chaplain I find dirty windows get on my final nerve.  There have been times I have pulled over in a parking lot to clean the streaks, filth, or road grime which accumulated on my windows.  When sunlight hits the window at just the right angle it adds to the glare and distorts my vision further.  During the winters we struggle with a brine solution the road departments place down to help with clearing snowy roads. It gets splashed on your windows from the vehicles in front and you go through gallons of washer fluid keeping the windows clear.  I have tried a myriad of cleaners and solutions to get them as clean as possible.  I have used baking soda or soda pop to neutralize the road acids. I have made solutions of ammonia, vinegar, Dawn and newspapers to get them clean.  Of course, I have purchased the stand-by Windex or other glass cleaners, but still the windows remain streaked.  Nothing I do gets them completely clean!

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is
darkness, how great is that darkness!" (Matthew 6:22-23 NIV)

Jesus sandwiches this passage amid his teaching on the Mount.  The listeners are common people with the common concerns of daily life. Food, shelter, clothing are just some of the problems on their minds.  Now fast forward two-thousand years and our needs have not changed much.  We strive just like those Jesus taught for these and even more and as we strive for more and more our eyes become cloudy.  Our eyesight changes from healthy to unhealthy as we changed the direction of our eyes.  It becomes a slippery slope when the peace promised by the angel over Bethlehem disappears as we seek things and not Him. Jesus asked those to consider the darkness which comes from unhealthy eyes.  In John 1:5 NIV, John tells us that God is light and there is absolutely no darkness in Him.  As our eyes become unhealthy, what happens to our view of God?  Our thoughts of God, faith, Jesus, church become clouded from our dirty eyes.  The distortion increases until we can no longer see clearly.  Peace is replaced with strife, confusion, and dismay as the things we seek cannot fill the hole in our souls like God did. The solution to the problem of our streak-filled windows (eyes)--the right cleaning solution--pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, just like others who have a pure heart.   

"In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for special purposes and some for common use. Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work. Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. (2 Timothy 2:20-22 NIV)

We need to pull over, stop and change directions! We may also need to change posture from standing to kneeling as we turn back to HIM.   Focus upon what God has called us for--to live unparalleled lives in him.  He has called the weak things of this world to glorify him by actions, words, and worship.  The things which distort our vision maybe the very things we need.  But, do we need God more?

The Disease of ALS

I have learned many medical terms in five years with hospice.  Many times the nurses would see my puzzled look during Inter-Disciplinary Group meetings and would tell me what words like dyspnea and hypovolemia (shortness of breath and reduction of blood or fluids) meant.  In the service to people coming onto hospice, there are multiple questions concerning the patient's past medical history and certain standards which must be met before admission.  There is always a sadness for us if they do not met those standards because it is also obvious they need help and there is nothing we can do because of Medicare.

The disease of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is no different and the Glad Notes our nurses use are three pages of in-depth standards which the patient must meet.  I have had two people within my extended family who both suffered from this terrible disease.  One of them, Pop, was like my father after my dad passed away.  When Vicki and I asked Pop and Granny to substitute for my parents at our wedding, they lovingly agreed to the part.  Pop took his role very seriously because on the eve of our wedding, at forty-three years of age, Pop began to give me a father to son talk about marriage.  One of his wise proverbs was to never complain or offer assistance about my wife's cooking.  He said to eat everything she makes with a smile.  The second proverb dealt with having an argument with my beloved.  He told me he and Granny had never had a fight.  I told him he was either a saint of the world's biggest liar.  He never told me how he did it, but after his death from ALS, I told that story at the graveside committal.  The audience laughed but Granny told me later it was true.  Whenever she was ready for a fight, Pop left the area until she calmed down.  I sure wish he had said that part fifteen years earlier.

It took two years of Pop having unknown symptoms before I got the call from Granny, "Steve, Pop has ALS!" I heard the fear and uncertainty in her voice.  You see Granny and Pop dated only 26 days before they got married and now over sixty years of marriage faced a certain and final conclusion.  I asked Granny if they had suggested hospice and she said they would be coming in soon. Over the next several months I could hear the decline in Pop's voice.  However, his Tennessee humor never faded.  When I got the final call, I wept and cursed the disease which took away my Pop.

Today, as I write this blog, there are tears in my eyes for Pop and all the Pops, Toms, Gregs (Vicki's uncle) and others who are affected by this disease.  But the fight and research against this disease which has affected me personally needs your financial support.  Please give.  Just $2 is all we are asking.  Thanks.