This and That

My job is going okay. I finally got the clearance to go to Midland Memorial Hospital as the Resident liaison Coordinator. I spent one week there before having surgery on Friday. I donated my stoned filled gall bladder to the furtherance of medical science. Doing okay, very sore and I get tired easily. Sadly, I hope to be off work for a week, if not longer and will pursue looking for something else.

I love what I do, I adore my Residents, who are from all over the world. They are some of the finest, kindest people I have encountered. Leaving them will be hard, because I feel like I have a mission field at my feet.

On the other hand, the constant barrage of phone calls and daily chiding of my supervisor has taken its toll on my nerves. I pray for her on the way to work every morning.

Enough about the job, I know where I wind up is where God wants me. Good thing about where I have been is I have met some very nice people, in particular, Diana and Veronica. They are precious and have held me up during the daily nit picking sessions inflicted by my supervisor. I thank God for them and see His hand at work in spite of one person. Ya know?

This morning, I saw Relevant magazine laying around. My husband subscribes and it is a good read, very cutting edge. I saw an article and read it. I want to share. It is by Stephanie Gehring and the title is RUACH:

You are in your favorite coffee shop , sitting across from a friend. You've shared a huge peanut butter cookie and talked about old disappointments, how awkward you were in high school and what you still dream you might do in your life some day. There is a lull in conversation, and you stare out the window of cars driving in the rain. Suddenly, it hits you: He doesn't know Jesus. You feel like sirens are going off inside you. Your blood pressure rises and you sense the beginnings of panic: I haven't brought God up at all. Should I? Is there time? How do I start?

You remember the girl in high school who walked into the principal's office and asked to tell him about the most important thing in her life. He agreed, and at the end, he prayed, asking God to come be alive in him. She took the Great Commission seriously you think. And there you are, unable to think of a single Christian thing to say.

Paul was a missionary to the Gentiles, but he called himself "a Hebrew of all Hebrews." He grew up on the Torah and the rabbis' teachings, which shaped his earliest understanding of God. Hebraic thought is deeply, earthily physical; the clear distinction we feel today between "spirit" and "body" was not part of the Israelite worldview. In fact, the word that is translated "Spirit" in the Old Testament is the Hebrew word ruach, which means "breath." Spirituality to the Israelites, was not a disembodied concept. God was real, central, life-giving - if God withdrew His breath, all physical life would cease.

There is authenticity in our breath. Breathing is not a whim or an intellectual choice. If you breathe God, you see yourself fist as a creature, a being, a loved one, and not first as a tool, a thing meant to accomplish a task. Your central purpose is not to be a human argument for the Christian faith or doctrine, and your worth does not depend on your ability to convert people. God is God, He is there, life-giving and true, regardless of what you do or say. God is waiting anxiously for you to come and be loved, to come and follow, to breath. That is all; that's the point of being alive.

And that changes everything. You grow less afraid of people. You begin to stop feeling guilty about not sharing and start to have something the share, something deeper than Christian sounding words. With God breathing in you, it is less frightening to be honest. You become willing to let others see God's presence in your life. Your words , your choices and the tone of your life become part of the same thing, one story, telling not what you think you should believe, but what you have actually known in the goodness of your God.