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i love my job. i love working at a church, spending my days supporting the work that goes on here. the interesting thing is, most people don’t realize how varied and unexpected most days are when you work at a local church…especially one with a relatively small staff (currently we employ 3 people full time and 3 people part time).

there are a lot of moments where i find myself unsure of what to do. oh sure i usually have a philosophical or intellectual playbook, but there are many instances where i am just thinking to myself, ‘wow…didn’t know that was going to happen today.’

a few months ago i was holding down the fort by myself when a call came in from a lady whose husband was in the hospital. they had recently started coming to the church, i don’t think i had officially met them yet. she called from the emergency room where her husband was dying of a sudden, fatal respiratory problem. she called to ask if someone could come and pray for her husband.

it was the middle of the day and, being that all of our elders and deacons have non-ministry day jobs, i was the only person on duty. i’d never gone on such a mission by myself and i remember thinking, ‘wow…didn’t know that was going to happen today.’ i certainly didn’t know i would be venturing out in such a way on my own. i grabbed some anointing oil (though i had never personally anointed someone) and got in the car, knowing full well that i had no idea what to say to this woman who might lose her husband, let alone know what to do if he died in front of me. i was thankful for the drive over, giving me an opportunity to pray in a moment of ministry where i was just clueless of what God was about to do, while still excited about being a part of it.

once i parked i realized i didn’t know where to go. i had never done this before. time was of the essence, so i prayed a bit more for direction (spiritual and literal) and eventually found myself in a tiny room waiting for the wall phone to ring, signifying i could enter the ER.

as i waited i became more excited about this opportunity and more aware of my lack of ‘expertise.’ it was a sort of surreal moment of adventure in the midst of suffering. i wasn’t happy this guy was in the hospital, but i was expectant of God’s work and amped up to be even a small part of it.

at the end of the hall was a room to the left where i officially met this man and wife for the first time, though only the wife was conscious.

now, i’ve had good instruction in the area of what-not-to-say-when-you-visit-the-sick-and-dying (thanks mom and dad), so i said little and spent most of our time praying. each minute that went by i realized more and more my dependence on the Lord and His plan for this siutation.

i’m not sure how long i stayed, but eventually i found myself in the car headed back to the office, back to the things i had planned to accomplish that day. none so unusual as praying for the urgently sick, none so important as interceding for that family, just the regular ministerial things that needed accomplishing on that particular afternoon.

it was a moment that stands out, an opportunity for ministry i don’t think i’ll soon forget.

by the way, i totally forgot to use the anointing oil, so i’ll have to remember next time. the gentlemen in the ER was miraculously healed a day or two after my trip over to the hospital. praise be to God!

blessings and maranatha

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in general, moments in ministry | November 8th, 2007