Messy Places

Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.  

Matthew 9:35 

Emergency room.  You don't have to be an ER nurse or physician to know what takes places behind the swinging double doors and the hanging curtains of an emergency room.  Thanks to television's preoccupation with the high-adrenaline drama and trauma of an ER, the whole world seems to know the inner workings of an emergency room.  Maybe you've done time in the crowded waiting room of a nearby ER, or perhaps you were the one they wheeled through those double doors.  But whether or not you've personally experienced an emergency room, there is a simple truth about ERs that we all know intuitively: emergency rooms are messy places.

Do you know why? Because people come to them in the middle of a crisis.  Step into an ER, and you might experience the coagulating odors of vomit, urine, blood, Lysol, antibacterial antiseptics, and exotic medicines -- all wafting together in the frenetic air of that saving place.  Just a few moments earlier those gurneys and beds had been draped with gloriously clean, white, sterile sheets, surrounded by septic walls and floors and drapes.  But in a split second that sterile environment turned dirty, splattered, and contaminated.  But that's OK, because everybody who works and lives in a hospital knows: "This is why we exist, this is why we are here -- to get stained and exposed while we scramble as a team to save another life." 

Isn't that the way it's supposed to be with the church of Jesus? Aren't we supposed to be soiled and stained, and at times smelly, saving places for people in the midst of a crisis, people who come just as they are in desperate hope of being saved and healed before it's too late?  Doesn't the very example of Christ while He was here in our midst (as Matthew 9:35 portrays) define the church's emergency room mission as a hospital for sinners? 

Then can you imagine an emergency room that requires its patients to get cleaned up before showing up? Are you kidding!? There isn't a hospital or ER in the world that requires you to clean yourself and heal yourself before they'll admit you.  You're supposed to come as you are.  Because ERs and churches are supposed to be messy places, where people keep showing up in the middle of a life-threatening crisis.  Where better to show up than the church of Jesus?  DKN

Praise the Lord for messy places!  I'm sure every week when I show up to church thinking I have it together, I am in reality a big ole mess.  I am grateful to claim the promise of Philippians 1:6, "Be confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it..." Hallelujah! 

In other exciting "life" news... Katie and Tia came to visit me in Fresno! We had a fun weekend exploring California!  Katie liked it so much that she is moving here in 3 weeks! Time cannot pass quickly enough! It will be great to have her here with me.  

At Woodward Park with Katie

Sabbathing at Pastor Graham's house with Tia and Katie

Hiking around Yosemite

One week after Katie and Tia left, I flew to Chicago to be a Groom's maid in a good friend's wedding.  It was my first time having the honor of being a Groom's maid, and definitely loved every second of supporting Russell and Chloe in their next chapter of life.

Katie rescued me from the Chicago airport and drove me all the way to Berrien Springs. 

Good friends are such a blessing! 

Hanging with Russell (Groom)

Jason (Bride's Man) and I just before the ceremony. 

 Groom's attendants - all 17 of us! 

Last and certainly not least, about two weeks ago, I received a phone call from the University of Pittsburgh letting me know that I was accepted to their Nurse Anesthesia program!  The news was overwhelming!  I am sure I experienced every emotion humanly possible within the span of a few minutes.  (I suppose for those of you who know me, know that really isn't that uncommon. HA!) I am happy, excited, nervous and blessed to start this next chapter.  I rest in these facts: God's timing is perfect.  God knows what He is doing.  God has my best interest at heart.  With that being said, I step forward in faith.    

Until next time! 

Stay well. Stay Happy.